WWE Hall Of Famer Mick Foley took to social media recently after watching Apollo Crews (Uhaa Nation) in action on NXT television. Foley wrote the following on Facebook.
“DID I JUST SEE THAT? That’s what I kept asking myself while catching up on ?NXT? last night, and seeing Apollo Crews in action. While the road to stardom to ?WWE? can be paved with roadblocks – both physical and psychological – I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see this man playing a major role on WWE Raw, ??Smackdown? and PPV for years to come.”
Additionally, Foley also responded to fan feedback on Crews in the comments on the post. Below is what Foley added:
“I think the major consensus is this guy is a rising star, and if a few breaks fall in his favor, the sky seems to be the limit for him in WWE. As is usually the case, finding the right opponents, and creating memorable programs – as opposed to having a good series of random matches – is the key to really breaking through in sports entertainment.”
Following this week’s edition of NXT TV, below is an updated look at the scheduled lineup for NXT Takeover: Brooklyn, which airs live on the WWE Network on Saturday, August 22nd.
NXT Championship (Ladder Match)
– Finn Balor (c) vs. Kevin Owens
NXT Tag-Team Championship
– Blake & Murphy (c) vs. The Vaudevillians
NXT Women’s Championship
– Sasha Banks (c) vs. Bayley
– Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Tyler Breeze
– Samoa Joe vs. Baron Corbin
– Apollo Crews (formerly known as Uhaa Nation) will make his NXT debut
– Appearances by Hideo Itami and others are expected as well
Former independent wrestling sensation Uhaa Nation, who recently signed with NXT, will be making his official debut with the promotion later this month.
Uhaa Nation will now be known as “Apollo Crews” in NXT, and will debut at the Saturday, August 22nd NXT Takeover: Brooklyn event, which airs live on the WWE Network the night before WWE SummerSlam.
As of right now, there is no official word regarding who Crews’ opponent will be at NXT Takeover: Brooklyn.
– Former independent wrestling sensation Uhaa Nation, who has been getting rave reviews for his work at recent NXT live events, is now using a new theme song. Coincidentally enough, the song was featured on the first episode of TNA Impact Wrestling on Destination America. There is currently no word yet as to whether or not this will be his permanent theme song. You can check out the song below.
https://youtu.be/tlbYPBqhaak
– The Rock and Kevin Hart took part in a photo shoot for their new film, “Central Intelligence” on Sunday. The Rock posted the following clip from the shoot.
EVOLVE issued the following statement in response to indy star Johnny Gargano competing against Uhaa Nation at last night’s NXT TV tapings from Full Sail University.
They noted that Gargano is still under contract with WWN and will be returning to Evolve in New York this summer.
“Johnny Gargano wrestled Uhaa Nation at last night’s NXT taping in a dark match. Watch their first ever match at EVOLVE 27 here. We are very happy that WWE gave Gargano this opportunity. We have all traveled the road with Gargano and watched him go from the pre-show FRAY! on the first ever DGUSA event to his historic reigns as DGUSA Champion. If there is ever a WWN Hall Of Fame, Gargano is sure to be on the first ballot. It is only with your support that Gargano has accomplished all these things. Gargano remains under WWN contract. He will return to EVOLVE in New York on August 15th and 16th. We can already announce one of the huge matches he will be involved in that weekend. After what happened at EVOLVE 44, it’ll be Gargano vs. Ethan Page in an Anything Goes Match at EVOLVE 47 in Queens, NY at La Boom.”
Uhaa Nation and Johnny Gargano wrestled in a dark match that took place prior to the tapings. Uhaa won with a military press followed by two standing moonsaults.
Check back later tonight for full spoiler results from the NXT tapings.
– The official WWE Tough Enough website has a new video interview up with Billy Gunn. Gunn, who will be serving s one of the trainers on the new season of the show informs the contestants what they can expect. You can check out the video at WWEToughEnough.com.
– Although he confirmed the news himself via social media earlier today, WWE is now officially advertising rapper Machine Gun Kelly as a guest star for the June 15th edition of WWE RAW in Cleveland, Ohio. WWE.com wrote the following about his scheduled appearance:
“Machine Gun Kelly is returning to the WWE Universe.
The hip-hop star who played John Cena to the ring at WrestleMania XXVIII and provided an official theme song of WrestleMania 29 will reunite with the Superstars and Divas of WWE when he appears as the Guest Star of the June 15 edition of Raw in advance of the release of his second album, due later this summer. Is a reunion with Cena in the cards for MGK, who will be guest-starring in his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio? A musical performance of his new single, “A Little More?” Tune in to Raw June 15 at 8/7 C live on USA Network to find out!”
– NXT Diva Lina Ranene announced that she and Uhaa Nation will be making their NXT debut at the live event tonight in Venice, Florida. Ranene tweeted the following:
WWE has published a video of NXT General Manger William Regal presenting Uhaa Nation with his NXT contract to sign. He’s not referenced by name, so there’s a good chance he’ll be getting a new NXT ring name in the near future.
Last month, he spoke to WWE.com about how which WWE/NXT talents he’s looking forward to working with:
“Oh, there are so many. You’ve got Neville, Finn Bálor, Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens. Luke Harper, we had a lot of fun in DGUSA. Dolph Ziggler. The list is endless. Kalisto… There are just so many talented guys here. You’ve got Hideo Itami. There’s so many that it almost seems like there’s not enough time. You want to go out there and wrestle them all at one time. Another one is Solomon Crowe. I got to wrestle him before during WrestleMania Week in New Jersey for EVOLVE, and he’s just a guy I want to learn so much from. The list is endless.”
One of the new members of the new NXT rookie class, independent wrestling sensation Uhaa Nation, recently spoke with the official WWE website about signing with the company. Below are some highlights from the interview.
On what aspects of his game he needs to work on: “Definitely working on my mic work, talking. I’m not the best. I didn’t get to do a lot of it on the indies. But as far as learning, I’m game for anything, and I’m just going to soak up any amount of knowledge I can get. You can never learn too much, no matter how far you get. The fact we get an opportunity to be here with guys who have been around the world and just have that wealth of knowledge, those guys who have been to the stage that we’re trying to get to, the fact they take the time out to teach us and help us is amazing. I’m definitely going to take advantage of it. I’m going to soak everything up that they tell me, like a sponge, incorporate it into my style and try to find that happy medium, where it’s some of the stuff I do, along with what they show me. From there, hopefully everything takes off and goes smoothly.”
On some matches and wrestlers he’d like to work with in the company: “Oh, there are so many. You’ve got Neville, Finn Bálor, Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens. Luke Harper, we had a lot of fun in DGUSA. Dolph Ziggler. The list is endless. Kalisto… There are just so many talented guys here. You’ve got Hideo Itami. There’s so many that it almost seems like there’s not enough time. You want to go out there and wrestle them all at one time. Another one is Solomon Crowe. I got to wrestle him before during WrestleMania Week in New Jersey for EVOLVE, and he’s just a guy I want to learn so much from. The list is endless.”
Sesugh Uhaa (Uha Nation) spoke with Scott Fishman of The Miami Herald about getting advice from some familiar faces before signing on the dotted line with WWE to become part of the new rookie class of NXT.
Below is an excerpt from the interview;
“Kevin Owens was one of the guys I talked to leading up to this process. There was also Finn Balor and Chris Masters, who I became friends with doing work in England. Just talking to them about not just the tryout, but being a part of the roster. Things you had to do to get here. One of the recent conversations was with Kevin Owens because he did one not too long before mine. A good friend of mine, Ricochet, offered advice as well. Kevin and others just told me to be myself and work hard, help other guys, be a leader and things of that nature. It was good to get to talk to them and see how they felt about the tryouts and being here. These were guys who have been on the indies for years and made that transition. In my mind, they made it possible for me to make that transition as well.”
Check out the complete interview at MiamiHerald.com.
In the article, the former Uhaa Nation commented on finally coming to work for WWE.
“I’m just going to keep my mouth closed, my eyes and ears open and listen and if there’s something they want me to do different I’ll try it out,” said Uhaa.
“The knowledge and experience these guys have is well beyond any kind of acknowledge I have,” he continued. “I was talking to my dad about this other day and I told him that there’s no place I’d rather be than right here.”
Check out the complete article at SportingNews.com.
– Paul Heyman’s Heyman Hustle site has published exclusive photos of the Bella Twins from WrestleMania weekend.
– According to new business data released by WWE, February’s Fastlane pay-per-view did 43,000 buys (27,000 domestic, 16,000 international).
– Recent WWE signee Uhaa Nation was one of several talents who began training at the WWE Performance Center on Monday.
– “Stone Cold” Steve Austin announced on Twitter that he’ll be addressing the rumors regarding his relationship with WWE on Tuesday’s Steve Austin Show podcast at PodcastOne.com.
– Following months of speculation, independent pro wrestling star Uhaa Nation is finally scheduled to head to NXT. The indy wrestling sensation announced his departure from Dragon Gate USA on their March 1st event after losing to BxB Hulk for the “Open the Dream Gate” title.
– Due to the fact that she secured a role in the new WWE Studios movie “Interrogation,” WWE Diva Lana is expected to take some time off from WWE television in the near future to film the project. Whether or not this affects Rusev’s character remains to be seen.
– Despite agreeing to terms with the WWE, independent wrestling star Uhaa Nation is scheduled to work the next set of WWNLive.com events.
– Former WWE Superstar Shad Gaspard, who was part of the “Cryme Tyme” tag-team, has a small role in the new film, “Get Hard,” which features Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart. Gaspard can be seen in the trailer below at approximately the 1:30 mark as the character “Big Ass Julien.”
Sesugh Uhaa, known to pro wrestling fans as Uhaa Nation, one of the best independent prospects in the world, has officially agreed to terms with WWE.
As noted recently, Uhaa had participated in a WWE tryout camp and afterwards, sent out word to promoters that he wasn’t going to be accepting any independent dates after a certain point, so his coming to terms with WWE was ultimately expected.
As noted several times in the past, there has been a lot of speculation regarding WWE signing top independent professional wrestler Uhaa Nation.
The latest word going around is that WWE offered Nation a developmental deal, however there is no word yet as to whether or not he has accepted the offer.
For what it’s worth, there has been some talk going around on the independent wrestling scene about Nation no longer accepting independent bookings past a certain date.
There were some reports going around this weekend that California-based independent wrestler Uhaa Nation has signed a developmental deal with WWE.
Nation was one of the top standouts at a tryout camp held at the WWE Performance Center in September. Nation impressed company officials so much that WWE trainers flew to Reseda, California to watch his match at a Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG) live event the following month.
Nation, who has been wrestling since 2009, is said to be “a very high priority for WWE.” Billed at 6-0 and 240 pounds, Nation is known both as a high-flyer and a power wrestler.
At this weekend’s Preston City Wrestling event from the UK, there was a lot of buzz that Nation has signed with WWE and will be heading to the Performance Center in Orlando soon. Nation defeated former WWE Superstar Chris Masters on the card to win the PCW Championship.
According to Reddit.com user MetsFan4Ever, a person who claims to be a former WWE employee and has broken several news stories before, WWE is interested in signing California-based independent wrestler Uhaa Nation to a developmental deal.
Nation had a tryout at the WWE Performance Center last month and impressed company officials so much that WWE trainers flew to Reseda, California to watch his match at Friday’s Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG) live event.
Nation, who has been wrestling since 2009, is currently “a very high priority for WWE.” Billed at 6-0 and 240 pounds, Nation is known both as a high-flyer and a power wrestler.
MetsFan4Ever also clarified a recent report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, which stated that due to budget cuts, WWE TV extras (ie. police officers, security guards) had their appearance fees from $250 to $100.
According to MetsFan4Ever, WWE only cut the appearance fee by $50, so extras are paid $200. Members of Adam Rose’s Rosebuds, which are typically NXT and independent wrestlers, earn $100 per show.