Former WWE star Apollo Crews(now wrestling asUhaa Nation) never shied away from opportunity, especially if it required a new start. Though he was mostly featured as a face throughout his tenure at the Stamford-based promotion, one day, the idea came upon him to shed his good demeanor for bad. Presenting himself as a man who embraced Nigerian royalty, Crews was unsure just how far he'd have to go to play the part."So, I pitched the idea at the time, and apparently the first thing Vince [McMahon] said at the time was, 'Is he going to have an accent?' That wasn't something I was planning on doing. The idea that I had was to not portray it in this kind of way," Crews revealed during his interview on "Insight." "And I remember I was really strongly against it at first because it didn't make sense to me. As I kid, I had a lot of Nigerian-American friends, so we would imitate our parents and do that accent a lot as kids...But by no means did I think I would be doing it on TV in front of millions of people or anything to that level."Later, in his interview, Crews added that when pleading his case on feeling uncomfortable about imitating the accent,McMahon found a way to talk Crews into doing it. Still uncertain after, Crews did what he was told, and thus a new star was born.Though his run as a heel only lasted eight to nine months during WWE's "ThunderDome" era in 2021, Crews ironclad ways secured his first-ever capture of the Men's Intercontinental Championship against then champion Big E in the company's first-ever Nigerian Drum Fight at WrestleMania 37. Crews held the championship up until the August 13, 2021 edition of "WWE SmackDown," ending his 123-day reign to Shinsuke Nakamura.If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Insight with Chris Van Vliet" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
