4 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE SmackDown (24 Jan - Results & Review)

4. Apollo’s Latest Mini-Push Begins

Add Tessitore to the long list of announcers who have told fans Apollo Crews has 'all the tools', 'he’s exciting', 'he just needs to fulfil his potential' etc etc. Look, we've heard all of this before, and it’ll take way more than a four-minute win over Johnny Gargano to get people hyped about him or turn the guy into a WWE megastar. Apollo is kinda just hanging around the tag-team division without a partner, and he doesn’t actually have any character to speak of beyond smiling.

Got to be honest, the match vs. Gargano was far too mid-tempo and uninteresting. If WWE actually came through on one of these three week pushes for guys like Crews, then maybe things could be different. You just know he'll be right back to doing the grand sum of sod all within a month though, so it's hard to invest emotionally in what he's doing.

How many times can commentators sell the dude as a thrill ride without anything tangible for the fanbase to point towards as evidence? It's rinse and repeat with Apollo, has been for many years now, and he's someone many likely forget is even still on the roster most weeks. Harsh? Yes. True? Also yes.

There was silence during his entrance and the match vs. DIY's recently turned Gargano for a reason. People point blank refuse to get fooled by this trick for the millionth time. This writer hopes he's totally wrong about it, 'cause it'd be nice to see Crews get fleshed out with some proper direction, but it's a 'fool me twice' scenario with him at this stage.