Apollo Crews, now going by Uhaa Nation again, said he knew his WWE release was coming two days before the company called to make it official.
WWE released Crews on April 24, ending an 11-year run with the company. He was part of the large wave of talent cuts that came right after WrestleMania 42.
Crews told Chris Van Vliet on a recent episode of Insight that he realized something was wrong on the Wednesday after WrestleMania. That was the day WWE’s travel department called to tell him he wasn’t needed for SmackDown that week.
“I was in Vegas for Mania, got home, and on Wednesday after Mania, I got a call from travel, and they said I’m not needed for SmackDown. In that moment, I instantly knew. ‘Friday, they’re going to call me and that’s going to be it.'”
Two days later, he was proven right. Crews said the call came while he was at his son’s basketball practice and lasted only about 45 seconds.
“I didn’t really feel anything. It’s not like it was, ‘Ah, I don’t care’; I just didn’t give it enough time to process. Not that it was unexpected, but the fact that I did expect it kind of softened the blow. It wasn’t that I didn’t care, but I wasn’t overly emotional about it.”
Before his release, Crews had been wrestling mostly on WWE Main Event. His last televised match came on April 23, when he lost to Mr. Iguana. A week earlier, he also competed in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal on SmackDown.
Since leaving WWE, Crews has gone back to the Uhaa Nation name. He also made a surprise appearance at TNA Slammiversary on June 28 in Boston, where he faced Mustafa Ali and Rich Swann in a three-way match for the TNA International Championship. Ali won the match.