A heel turn could elevate Apollo Crews into a potential WWE main event star

Apollo Crews was lost in the shuffle after a surprising call-up after WrestleMania 32 from a quick stint in NXT, but maybe a heel turn will help his cause significantly

I remember the night after WrestleMania 32 when Apollo Crews made his debut in front of the best non-pay-per-view crowd of the year. The first thing that came to my mind was, “As beloved as he is in Triple H’s eyes, Apollo Crews is going to become WWE Champion someday and I’m so excited to see this happen.”

I know it sounds crazy now, but seriously … I even tweeted it out.

It may look a bit wild — and we’ll get into that shortly — but let’s think about this: Apollo Crews is a gifted athlete. He’s incredible in the ring at times because when you look at him, you don’t expect him to be able to do the things he can do. The flat-footed moonsault after the military press gets me every single time.

When you see him perform, you see a star.

It’s everything else that turn people off of him.

Who is Apollo Crews? He was given a name that was made famous by a black boxer in one of the most popular series of movies in the history of cinema and the black guy that has his head explode in Old Spice ads, but who is he?

His personality is … well, there is none. He’s basically the human version of SpongeBob Squarepants where SpongeBob goes completely normal and is more boring than a Joe Buck-Troy Aikman broadcast on Fox during a fall Sunday. There’s just nothing to him other than a fun offense that gets a few kids in the crowds to say “oooh” and “ahhh”.

This sounds relatively familiar, doesn’t it? Well, it should.

Remember The Ro … er, Rocky Maivia?

I’ve mentioned this comparison before with Roman Reigns’ situation — to a certain degree. Reigns had The Shield who become mega-stars together, but as for Rock and Crews, they have and are going to have to evolve as a star in WWE.

A potential and relatively simple solution: why not turn Crews heel?

This is always the suggestion for wrasslin’ folks across the web whenever a star seems to be struggling to gain ground, but this turn could make sense. Crews has been a nobody seemingly since being called up to the main roster last April and a change in attitude can do wonders. It did for The Rock. It’s doing the job for Dolph Ziggler, who has been really solid in the last couple of months since his turn and feud with Crews and Kalisto.

Despite the positives, there is some issue with turning Crews. It’ll come with some extra work. Crews doesn’t speak much and when he does, it’s as bland as a glass of unsweetened tea.

It’s like the scene in Coming to America when Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall go to the Miss Black Awareness Pageant with Randy Watson (played by Murphy). When everyone is praising and hollering at what’s being preached on stage by Reverend Brown (played by Hall), you hear Prince Akeem — Murphy’s main character of the movie — yell, “I am very happy to be here!”

That’s Apollo Crews when he speaks in front of a WWE camera.

So, how do we fix this situation?

Well, if we’re going to turn Crews, he’s obviously has to do something that a bad guy would do. (No, we can’t have him just flick toothpicks at the camera during promos. That’s called “gimmick infringement” and that is a no-no.)

Whether it’s on Mojo Rawley in a tag team match leading up to the Andre the Giant Battle Royal at WrestleMania 33 next month or backstage in a conversation with Kalisto, Crews has to gain himself an edge. This can work because at least in the early going, he can just go on rampages and not really explain himself.

Think of the week after Kevin Owens attacked Chris Jericho. When Owens cut the promo in the spotlight — literally — the week after the Festival of Friendship, he simply dropped the mic and left us wondering why for another week. It kept the build going until Jericho’s return at Fastlane during Owens’ match with Goldberg.

Now, I’m not saying Crews vs. Kalisto is the new Owens vs. Jericho, but it could build Crews as a guy that’s tired of being overlooked and seen as nothing.

If you want him to speak, keep it short and sweet, but impactful, too. It’s almost like Mr. T as Clubber Lang in Rocky III. “Prediction? Pain.”

Let his ring work do the talking. He can do just about anything in the ring, and let’s be honest, that spin-out powerbomb would look pretty sweet through a ringside announce table on Kalisto to use an example.

Next: FanSided's WWE Superstar Power Rankings: Post-Fastlane Edition

There’s still time for Crews to become a big-time star. But, it might be time to make him someone fans can actually dislike, rather than continuing to see a valuable piece be as useful as the empty catering containers backstage.