Big E Praises Apollo Crews Ahead Of Intercontinental Title Match At WWE Fastlane 2021

Big E may be preparing to defend the Intercontinental Championship against Apollo Crews at Fastlane on Sunday, but that doesn't mean the reigning titleholder can't appreciate his opponent's recent improvements.

Crews' feud with Big E, and subsequent heel turn and change of character, has been a positive move for the former United States Champion. He will get another chance to take the Intercontinental Championship from the former New Day member this Sunday.

Speaking bout his opponent, Big E has been impressed with what he's seen recently from Crews.

Speaking on the ESPN Cheap Heat Podcast, Big E said: "Despite our beef, I’ve gotta say tip of the hat to him [Apollo Crews] for stepping his game up. He’s a guy who could have easily just kind of been happy to be there and you kind of see slowly decline and you don’t see him on TV anymore and then he’s just kind of gone.

"He put the onus on himself to step up and in this business, man, you wanna face the best. It’s iron sharpens iron so I wanna see guys be at their very best. I wanna see them bring it, I wanna see them reinventing themselves, I wanna see people at their best and he’s a guy who always had the look, he always had — he looked like a million bucks.

"Man, he reminds me in a different way, not quite like Cesaro but in the same way like you’ve seen him do Lucha stuff and strength stuff in a similar vein. Dude, Apollo can do moonsaults, beautiful moonsaults effortlessly. The stuff he does in the ring, you expect a guy 50 pounds lighter than him to do and then he’ll show you his strength too so he’s such a cool and unique blend I think of kind of what a modern-day wrestler is so it’s cool to see him start to grow as a personality."

H/T Post Wrestling