Apollo Crews gets a name change

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WWE.com is now listing Apollo Crews as only Apollo on his official roster page.

He was still being referred to his original name on television as of last week. Apollo joins a long list of other talents have who’ve had quiet name changes including Erick Rowan, Luke Harper, Antonio Cesaro, Elias Samson, Adrian Neville, Big E, Alexander Rusev and more.

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According to a report by Daniel Wood of Sportskeeda.com, WWE confirmed in an email that the name change was made due to last Wednesday’s tragic high school shooting in Parkland, Florida, where 17 people were killed and 15 more were taken to hospitals, making it one of the world’s deadliest school massacres. The suspected perpetrator, Nikolas Jacob Cruz, was arrested shortly afterward and confessed to the shooting. He was charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder.

According to Woods, WWE wants to avoid any possible allusion to Cruz. This decision came straight from Vince McMahon as the WWE Chairman and CEO never wants to hear that last name again following this tragedy. Despite the spelling difference, the pronunciation is the same.