Backstage reason why MVP walked out of Extreme Rules with the WWE US title; timeline for Apollo Crews' return revealed
Heading into WWE Extreme Rules, it could have been said that Apollo Crews was going to head into the weekend with a lot of energy. Currently, on the back of his first real major push in WWE, Apollo Crews has been riding high. Naturally, ahead of his first major title defense against MVP, it appears that his run came to a sudden stop... or at least an intermission. With Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer reporting that Apollo Crews was absent from television due to testing positive for Covid-19, there is now some worry about the position of Apollo Crews on the roster.
Now, during a recent Facebook Live Stream on Sportskeeda Wrestling's account, Tom Colohue talked about the match being canceled and when WWE actually found out that they had to replace the match on the card.
WWE discovered Apollo Crews' match had to be canceled hours before Extreme Rules
WWE's Apollo Crews vs MVP match for the United States Championship at Extreme Rules had to be canceled, and now it has been reported by Tom Colohue that WWE only found out about the match having to be canceled hours before the event. Kevin Owens and Murphy had to step in at the last moment.
"Apollo Crews has been off TV for two weeks and was expected to be back by now, but has not been confirmed to be 'cleared'. MVP 'taking' the title was done because Crews could be back as soon as RAW this week. He could have literally been cleared the very next day. He could also not be back another week, because they expected him to be back last night. They will test him now. If he is fine, he will return, if he is not, he will wait another week. Kevin Owens and Murphy found out very late on that they would be competing in the pre-show because WWE didn't know about the United States Championship match until very late in the day. That's how late it was when they found out about Apollo Crews not being ready to compete."
On WWE Extreme Rules, MVP took the title and claimed that due to the fact that Apollo Crews had not turned up for the title match, he had technically forfeited the Championship, and thus MVP was the new official United States Champion.
The future of the United States title and Apollo Crews' push now hangs in the balance in WWE, and it all depends on when Crews is cleared to return and compete.