Analyzing Apollo Crews' Main Event Potential Following NXT TakeOver: Respect

When NXT Superstar Apollo Crews beat Tyler Breeze at Wednesday’s TakeOver: Respect special, the 28-year-old wrestler showed the world that he has legitimate main event potential in WWE.

The match between Crews and Breeze was much shorter than it should have been for two Superstars on their level, but they both made it work and sold hard for each other. While Breeze always looks ready to get the call up to the main roster, it was Crews who really impressed.

Crews is great in the ring and one of the best athletes in NXT. While his size leaves most casual fans thinking he is just a power wrestler, he is so much more. There is no doubt he has the moves built on strength in his arsenal, but he also has a touch of finesse like Neville.

Add the fact that Crews knows how to tell a convincing story, and the combination of athleticism and ring awareness makes him one of the brightest prospects in NXT right now.

One of the biggest issues wrestlers face coming up in today’s WWE is perception. How they are looked at by the officials backstage and by the WWE Universe is a huge factor in which stars make it and which stars falter. For Crews, his freakish physique will satisfy the old-school wrestling minds who care about how a star looks—I’m looking at you, Vince McMahon—but it will be his in-ring work that endears him to the next generation of bookers and fans.

Another reason Crews will be an asset for WWE is that he can appeal to all demographics. He always has a giant smile on his face and an infectious positive attitude, and he has the potential to be the clean-cut babyface the company loves. With the right booking and proper storytelling, Crews could be making children smile in a John Cena-type role while still making hardcore fans happy with his raw athleticism.

The ability to be a clean-cut babyface while still getting hardcore fans to support him is what will make Crews one of the top names on the main roster someday.

An issue for many stars when they reach the top is the inability to adapt and work with anyone, but that will not be a problem for Crews. As a man who sharpened his teeth on the American independent wrestling scene and in the dojos of Japan, Crews understands what it takes to wrestle any style, and he has shown the ability to change on the fly and produce a great product in the ring.

For all the positive things I’ve said, there are also some things Crews and the WWE Creative team must work on before taking his game to the next level. Most importantly, the writers must do a better job of translating Crews’ personality to the weekly NXT show. It hasn’t been long since his debut, but he has a ton of charisma, and they’re not allowing him to show it on television. They should use backstage promos and storylines to humanize Crews for the casual fans and let him flourish as the entertaining character in and out of the ring.

The ideal way to show more personality would be to have Crews possess two different personas. One persona would be the happy-go-lucky guy in the backstage area who thinks positive and is the clean-cut babyface the company needs, while the other persona would be the brutal in-ring competitor who gets ultra-serious when he steps into the ring.

Again, this would help Crews appeal to casual and hardcore fans alike.

With WWE more open than ever to giving former indy wrestlers the opportunity to shine in NXT and now on the main roster, the path has been laid for Crews to ascend to the main event level on NXT or on Raw and SmackDown.

Forget the NXT Championship. Crews deserves to at least fight for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship within the first two years of his start in the company, and he should win the belt at least once within the next four to five years.

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