As we noted earlier this evening, WWE.com is now listing Titus Worldwide member Apollo Crews simply as “Apollo” indicating WWE has dropped his last name, Crews.
According to Daniel Wood of Sportskeeda, WWE making the call to drop Apollo Crews’ last name stems from last week’s tragic high school shooting in Parkland, FL, as the shooter’s name was Nikolas Cruz. Following the shooting, which left 17 high school students and teachers dead, Vince McMahon made the call to drop Apollo’s in-ring surname to avoid any possible connection with the school shooter, despite the two names being spelled differently.
Read Also: Nia Jax and Apollo Cheer For Their WWE Mixed Match Challenge Charity
Wood added an email was issued from WWE citing the name change and confirming the Titus Worldwide member will now be referred to simply as Apollo, because Vince McMahon never wants to hear the last name of Cruz again following the recent tragedy.
Below is a photo of what Apollo’s profile now looks like on the WWE website:
Yet another name bites the dust.
Add “Crews” to the ever expanding list that includes Samson, Adrian, Alexander, Antonio…. pic.twitter.com/rg9wMfaCYQ
— WrestleVotes (@WrestleVotes) February 19, 2018
On a somewhat related note, we reported over the weekend that WWE NXT star Donovan Dijak has launched a GoFundMe campaign to benefit victims of the Parkland shooting, and you can contribute by following the link below:
Please RT
Devastated about the shooting in Parkland, a community that is part of the @WWE & @WWENXT family as we run shows at #NXTCoralSprings.
If you have any money to spare, I will make sure it gets to the victims/families. Please donate, thank you.https://t.co/jh9VI1Ljmg pic.twitter.com/EGwV2TDx2B
— Donovan Dijak (@DonovanDijak) February 15, 2018
Sportskeeda