SmackDown star credits Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman for his success and self-belief [Exclusive]

Apollo Crews has opened up on his newfound success and self-belief, crediting Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman for the role they played in his recent rise on SmackDown.

In an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda Wrestling's Rick Ucchino, the new Intercontinental Champion said Roman Reigns taught him that he needed to believe in himself before anybody else could believe in him. He also said Paul Heyman had always believed in him as a performer, even if his own self-belief was lacking.

"One thing that Roman has taught me is that you have to believe in yourself. Once you believe in yourself, everybody else will believe in you. You can’t doubt yourself. And Paul Heyman has always believed in me, even at times more than I ever believed in myself. And then I started to believe in myself. I started to believe what everybody else, or what the two of them, believed. Me realizing that has helped me a lot. You have to believe in yourself if you want other people to believe in you. And that is what I think the problem was before. I just was not believing in myself."

"But if you look at somebody like Roman, he believes everything he is doing. He has that confidence, the swagger. He knows he’s the man and everybody else knows it. So for him to take his time and give me some advice, I’m very thankful for that."

"And Paul Heyman, he already knows how I feel about him and he’s done nothing but good things. He’s done nothing but help me along the way and shown me what he believes. And now I believe it. And everybody else will believe it. If they don’t believe it by now, they are still going to believe it."

Roman Reigns successfully defended the Universal Championship at WrestleMania 37

#WrestleMania 2021 is in the books. Thank you for everything, @WWEUniverse! We do it all for you.#AndStill @HeymanHustle @WWERomanReigns @WWEUsos pic.twitter.com/KHqHXuteEx

— WWE WrestleMania (@WrestleMania) April 12, 2021

After an intense buildup, Roman Reigns did exactly what he said he was going to do and "stacked" both Edge and Daniel Bryan to retain the Universal Championship at WrestleMania.

However, some fans online have noted potential technicalities that could come into play, regarding how Roman Reigns secured victory. WWE Official Adam Pearce has since begun taking note of potential issues with Reigns' pin over Edge and Bryan, with the situation likely to be addressed on tonight's SmackDown.