10 Wrestlers WWE Gave Up On In 2016
7. Apollo Crews
It’s easy to understand what Vince McMahon sees in Apollo Crews. The former Dragon Gate standout is absurdly athletic, exciting, and has one of the most marketable looks in the company. If he were a few inches taller, Crews would be Vince’s ideal wrestler, and he’d have likely found his way into the main event scene by now.
Sadly, it became apparent a long time ago that Crews was called up from NXT far too early. He’s a flashy in-ring performer, but he struggles greatly with microphone spots, and that’s probably why we haven’t seen him in a significant feud since his call-up. When your gimmick is nothing more than “guy who smiles a lot,” you’re probably not going to make significant advances up the card, and Crews barely even shows up on SmackDown anymore.
WWE wouldn’t have called Crews up if they didn’t have plans for him, but whatever those plans were, they’ve clearly been abandoned. He was gifted regular jobber squashes upon arrival and won a brief feud with Sheamus in June, but Crews has done next to nothing since. For now, WWE have given up on the idea of him being anything more than an occasional midcarder, but they can’t fix Crews’ problems until they start letting him show some personality on-air.