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Apollo Crews is set to defend his United States Championship this Sunday at Backlash against Andrade. It's the first PPV Title defense for Apollo in his WWE career, and it very well could be his last if reports are as accurate as they sound.
In case you've been living under a rock for the last couple of days, news broke Thursday night that Paul Heyman is no longer the Executive Director of Monday Night RAW. WWE released a statement saying:
“In an effort to streamline our creative writing process for television, we have consolidated both teams from Raw and SmackDown into one group, led by Bruce Prichard. Paul Heyman will concentrate on his role as an in-ring performer.”
While Bruce Prichard will now be in charge of both the RAW and SmackDown Creative, the Wrestling Observer is reporting that Vince McMahon is now focusing more on WWE's on-screen product himself. The hiring of Paul Heyman as Executive Director of RAW was seen as a long-term move. Heyman was reportedly set on the future. His goal was to build new stars on Monday nights, like the new United States Champion Apollo Crews, who had been underutilized for much of his main roster career.
When the COVID-19 pandemic forced the shutdown and bankruptcy of the XFL, Vince McMahon reportedly returned much of his focus to the WWE. That led to creative differences with Paul Heyman, as Mr. McMahon is more interested in the present than the future. Which could mean bad news for several of the young stars who have carried RAW through the empty arena era, especially Apollo Crews.
Apollo Crews' push could be over soon
Sportskeeda's Senior Journalist Tom Colohue has released his weekly news and rumors video and is backing up what others are hearing. A number of wrestlers backstage are worried about their position on RAW, now that Paul Heyman is no longer Executive Director. One man who should definitely be worried according to Tom, is Apollo Crews.
"A lot of people who were pushed by Paul Heyman in his time in that role, are likely to suffer now... Ricochet is someone we've already seen had the rug pulled out from under him. Apollo Crews is apparently someone that Vince McMahon really isn't a fan of, and we could see this push could end sooner rather than later."
Colohue went on to say that doesn't mean Apollo Crews will drop the U.S. Title this weekend, but it could happen soon. Crews is the only star Tom mentioned by name, but apparently, there have been talks backstage that Heyman has been pushing the "wrong people". So a number of the more heavily featured stars in recent weeks could indeed see their status on RAW change in the coming weeks.
As for Heyman himself, the statement from WWE said he will be focusing more on his "in-ring" performances, which means it's very likely that Brock Lesnar will be returning to WWE TV soon, with his advocate by his side.
