Big Cass

Big Cass
Cass in May 2018
Birth name William Morrissey
Born (1987-08-16) August 16, 1987 [1][2]
Glendale, Queens, New York City, United States[1]
Residence Orlando, Florida, United States
Alma mater New York University[3][4]
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s) Big Bill Young[5]
Big Cass
Big Cazz[6]
Big C[7]
Colin Cassady
Billed height 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)[8]
Billed weight 276 lb (125 kg)[8]
Billed from Queens, New York[8]
Trained by Johnny Rodz[4]
Debut August 15, 2009[9]

William Morrissey (born August 16, 1987)[1][2][10] is an American professional wrestler, currently wrestling in the independent circuit under the ring name Big C. He is best known for his time in WWE, under the ring name Big Cass where he formed a tag team with Enzo Amore from 2013 to 2017. Together, they won the NXT Year-End Award for Tag Team of the Year in 2015.

Early life

William Morrissey[11] was born on August 16, 1987 in the Glendale, Queens neighborhood of New York City. He is of Italian and Irish heritage and attended Archbishop Molloy High School and served as a peer tutor, a homeless shelter volunteer and a National Honor Society member. He played basketball in his senior year and was featured in the Catholic High School Athletic Association Senior Classic All-Star game.[3]

After graduating high school, Morrissey received a scholarship to attend New York University (NYU), he entered the pre-medical track before shifting to studying economics.[12][4] While attending NYU, he played as a center for the NYU Violets from the 2005–2006 to the 2008–2009 seasons.[3] He co-captained the team for his final season.[13]

Morrissey has suffered from gigantism – when he was 7 he was already 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m). In 6th grade he was 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m). And in high school he was 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m), until his official height became 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m).

After graduating from NYU, Morrissey founded a ticket brokerage specializing in events held at Madison Square Garden and Yankee Stadium.[4][14]

Professional wrestling career

Early career (2009–2011)

Morrissey trained as a professional wrestler at Johnny Rodz's professional wrestling school in Brooklyn, New York City. He debuted in Rodz's World of Unpredictable Wrestling (WUW) promotion on May 30, 2009 under the ring name Big Bill Young with the gimmick of a cowboy, accompanying his storyline uncle Billy Walker to the ring.[15] His first match in WUW and in his career as a whole was on August 15, 2009,[16] and he went on to wrestle a number of matches for the promotion before signing with WWE in mid-2011.[5][17][18][19][20][21]

WWE

Developmental territories (2011–2016)

In June 2011, Morrissey signed with Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), which was WWE's developmental territory at the time.[22][23] Morrissey made his first televised FCW appearance in July 2011, portraying the dean of the University of Florida.[24] Morrissey wrestled his first televised match under the ring name of Colin Cassady on the September 4, 2011 episode of FCW TV in a disqualification loss to Richie Steamboat.[25] Cassady found no immediate success, losing matches for the rest of 2011 and in early 2012.[26][27][28] Cassady scored his first win on the March 11 episode of FCW TV, defeating Kenneth Cameron.[29] Cassady's final FCW TV match was on July 7 in a win against Aiden English.[30]

WWE rebranded its developmental territory, FCW, into NXT in August 2012.[22] Cassady debuted on NXT television on June 5, 2013 with a loss to Mason Ryan.[31][32] Cassady then formed a tag team with Enzo Amore,[33] who had also previously lost to Ryan,[34] and they labelled themselves "the realest guys in the room".[33][35][36] In real life, Cassady first met Amore at the age of 15, when they played basketball together at West Fourth Street Courts in Manhattan, New York.[12][37] Ryan defeated Amore and Cassady in consecutive singles matches,[38] but lost to them in a handicap match.[35] Ryan ultimately had the last laugh when he caused Amore and Cassady to be attacked by Tons of Funk (Brodus Clay and Tensai).[36] Amore and Cassady then feuded with Sylvester Lefort and his stable of Alexander Rusev and Scott Dawson.[39][40] On the September 25 episode of NXT, Amore and Cassady participated in a gauntlet match for a future title shot at the NXT Tag Team Championship; they started the match and defeated Tyler Breeze and CJ Parker, then beat Rusev and Dawson, before falling to their final opponents, The Ascension (Conor O'Brian and Rick Victor).[41] Amore suffered a legit broken leg in November 2013, which led Cassady to try his hand at singles competition, feuding with Aiden English.[14] Amore returned on the June 26, 2014 episode of NXT, saving Cassady from an attack from Sylvester Lefort and Marcus Louis.[42]

Enzo Amore and Cassady being managed by Carmella in March 2015

In early August, Amore and Cassady participated in a NXT Tag Team Championship number one contenders tournament, and they defeated Jason Jordan and Tye Dillinger in the first round, but were eliminated by The Vaudevillains (Aiden English and Simon Gotch) in the second round.[43][44] Lefort and Louis then renewed their rivalry with Amore and Cassady by attacking them and shaving Amore's beard and, as a result, Amore challenged Lefort to a match with the loser's hair as forfeit at NXT TakeOver: Fatal 4-Way on September 11, where Amore won the match, but Lefort ran away, leaving his partner Louis to lose his hair at the hands of Amore and Cassady.[45]

Amore and Cassady proceeded to form an alliance with the debuting Carmella after the duo had accidentally cost Carmella her hairdressing job as per the storyline, causing her to demand to get a job as a wrestler.[46][47] Carmella had her televised in-ring debut on the October 16 episode of NXT.[48] In March 2015, Amore and Cassady began a rivalry with then NXT Tag Team Champions Blake and Murphy, with the champions insulting Amore and Cassady while attempting to woo Carmella. Amore and Cassady defeated The Lucha Dragons (Kalisto and Sin Cara) in a number one contender's match for a title opportunity against Blake and Murphy.[48] Amore and Cassady received their title match at NXT TakeOver: Unstoppable, but they lost after Alexa Bliss interfered.[49] At NXT TakeOver: London, Amore and Cassady challenged Dash and Dawson for the NXT Tag Team Championship in a losing effort. They were granted another title opportunity against Dash and Dawson in March 2016 at Roadblock, which Amore and Cassady lost.[50]

Tag Team Championship pursuits (2016–2017)

On the Raw after WrestleMania 32, Amore and Cassady made their main roster debuts and confronted The Dudley Boyz.[51] On the April 14 episode of SmackDown, Amore and Cassady defeated The Ascension in their main roster debut match, advancing in the WWE Tag Team Championship number one contenders tournament.[52] In the finals, Amore and Cassady faced The Vaudevillains at Payback, with the match ending in a no contest after Amore suffered a legitimate concussion during the match.[53] In May 2016, Cassady's ring name was changed to Big Cass.[8] On the June 6 episode of Raw, during the match between Enzo and Cass and The Vaudevillains, Cass witnessed English attempting to injure Enzo in a similar manner of what Gotch did to him at Payback. This led to Cass attacking The Vaudevillains, including executing an East River Crossing on Gotch. At Money in the Bank, Enzo and Cass competed in a fatal four-way tag team match also involving The New Day, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson and The Vaudevillains for the WWE Tag Team Championship, which they lost. On the July 4 episode of Raw, Enzo and Cass helped John Cena from an attack by The Club, involving themselves in the feud between Cena and The Club. At Battleground, Enzo and Cass teamed with Cena to defeat The Club in a six-man tag team match.

At the 2016 WWE draft on July 19, Enzo and Cass were drafted to Raw.[54] Following Battleground, Enzo and Cass feuded with Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens, losing to them at SummerSlam. On the August 22 episode of Raw, Cass defeated United States Champion Rusev by countout to qualify for the fourway elimination match for the WWE Universal Championship. In that match, the biggest of his career, which also included Kevin Owens, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins, Cass was eliminated by Owens, marking the first time he was pinned on the main roster.

On the November 7 episode of Raw, Enzo and Cass joined Team Raw for the ten-on-ten Survivor Series tag team elimination match at Survivor Series, which Team Raw won. Afterwards, Enzo and Cass started a rivalry with Rusev. On the December 5 episode of Raw, Enzo was lured into a trap by Lana and Rusev. Big Cass lost to Rusev via countout on the Roadblock: End of the Line kickoff show. Cass lost a handicap match against Rusev and Jinder Mahal before teaming up with Enzo to defeat the duo twice, ending the feud.

Cass entered the 2017 Royal Rumble match at number 1 and was eliminated by Braun Strowman. At Fastlane, Enzo and Cass unsuccessfully challenged Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson for the Raw Tag Team Championship. At WrestleMania 33, Enzo and Cass faced Gallows and Anderson, Cesaro and Sheamus and the returning The Hardy Boyz in a fatal four-way ladder match for the Raw Tag Team Championship, with the Hardy Boyz emerging victorious.

Singles competition (2017–2018)

On the Raw following Extreme Rules, Cass was mysteriously attacked in the same way Enzo Amore had been before. The following weeks, Cass accused Big Show of being his attacker, which Big Show denied. On the June 19 episode of Raw, it was revealed that Cass was behind the attacks on Amore and that he faked his own attack in order to lure away suspicion. Cass admitted to this, expressing his frustration during his time teaming with Amore, and attacked him with a big boot, disbanding the team and turning heel for the first time in his WWE career.[55] On July 9 at Great Balls of Fire, he defeated Amore. The following night on Raw, Cass was attacked by Big Show, this action sparked a feud between Cass and Big Show. On July 31 episode of Raw, Cass defeated Big Show by disqualification when Amore attacked Cass during the match. At SummerSlam, Cass defeated Big Show with Amore being suspended above the ring in a shark cage. The next night on Raw, Cass suffered a legit knee injury, a torn ACL, during a Brooklyn Street Fight against Enzo Amore. Cass underwent surgery and was out of action for eight months.

Cass returned during the 2018 Superstar Shake-up, which moved him to SmackDown. On the April 17, 2018 episode of SmackDown Live, he interrupted the main event and attacked Daniel Bryan.[56][57] The following week on SmackDown Live, Cass would take Bryan's spot as the guest on Miz TV, where it would be later revealed that Cass had attacked Bryan backstage. At Greatest Royal Rumble, Cass would enter the 50-man Royal Rumble match at number 49, where he would eliminate Bryan, lasting until the final two before being eliminated by Braun Strowman. At the Backlash pay-per-view, Cass was defeated by Bryan after submitting to the Yes Lock, only for Cass to attack Bryan after the match. On the May 29 episode of SmackDown Live, he would unsuccessfully wrestle against Bryan and Samoa Joe in a triple threat Money in the Bank qualifying match after Joe applied the Coquina Clutch on Bryan.[58] At Money in the Bank, Cass lost to Bryan again in a singles match via submission.[59] This would be his last match with WWE, as he was released on June 19.[60] According to Sports Illustrated, Morrissey's release was due to behavioral issues, including public intoxication during a WWE tour and disobeying orders from Vince McMahon.[61]

Return to the independent circuit (2018–present)

On August 2, Big Time Wrestling announced that Morrissey, now known as Big Cazz (later changed to Big C), will make his wrestling return on September 21, after his 90-day no compete clause in his WWE contract expires.[6]

Other media

Morrissey (as Big Cass) made his video game debut in WWE 2K16 and has since appeared in WWE 2K17 and WWE 2K18.[62][63][64]

Personal life

Morrissey is a Republican and a Trump supporter.[65] In real life, he met Eric Arndt (Amore) when they played basketball together at the Cage of Manhattan, New York nearly 10 years before reuniting on NXT in August 2013.[12] Their decade-and-a-half long friendship ended after Morrissey suffered a legitimate knee injury and Arndt was publicly critical of him for not finishing their match after the injury.[66]

Championships and accomplishments

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Colin Cassady: Profile & Match Listing". profightdb. Retrieved May 24, 2015.
  2. 1 2 "Interview on From the Top Rope Ep20". Barstool Sports.
  3. 1 2 3 "Bill Morrissey – 2008 / 2009 Men's Basketball". NYU Athletics. Archived from the original on 30 June 2014. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Dilbert, Ryan (May 5, 2016). "Colin Cassady's road to WWE stardom: chronicling Big Cass' journey". Bleacher Report. Time Warner. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
  5. 1 2 Johnson, Mike (September 24, 2010). "Loaded event set for Halloween weekend in Arizona: Dreamer, Abyss, Foley, Legends Battle Royal, Dennis Rodman, Samoa Joe, Rhino, Snow, Orton, Atlas and lots more". PWInsider.com. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
  6. 1 2 Droste, Ryan (August 3, 2018). "Big Cass Set to Make his Return to the Wrestling Ring". Comic Book. Retrieved August 3, 2018.
  7. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/btwpro/photos/a.272462784708/10156593099269709/?type=3&theater
  8. 1 2 3 4 "Big Cass". WWE. Retrieved December 27, 2016.
  9. ↑ https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=146872
  10. ↑ "Colin Cassady – old NXT profile". NXT Wrestling. Archived from the original on May 18, 2013. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
  11. ↑ "Week in Wrestling: Enzo and Cass talk music; Five questions with William Shatner". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved July 9, 2017.
  12. 1 2 3 Saxton, Byron. "Colin Cassady & Enzo Amore: 'The Realest Guys in the Room' – Page 1". WWE. Archived from the original on August 20, 2013. Retrieved June 28, 2014.
  13. ↑ "2008 / 2009 Men's Basketball Roster". NYU Athletics. Archived from the original on 30 June 2014. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
  14. 1 2 Saxton, Byron. "Riding solo: Can Colin Cassady go it alone?". WWE. Archived from the original on April 23, 2014. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
  15. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lW9LT3_PTM
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  18. ↑ WUW. "WUWHype13". YouTube. Archived from the original on July 22, 2016. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
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  25. ↑ Trionfo, Richard. "Florida Championship Wrestling Television report: Will Aksana tear two brothers apart?; Maxine is back in charge". PWInsider.com. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
  26. ↑ Trionfo, Richard. "Florida Championship Wrestling TV report: FCW 15 Title match; the Ascension in singles action; a tease for something good to come next week". PWInsider.com. Retrieved July 1, 2014.
  27. ↑ "Florida Championship Wrestling TV report for 12–18". Wrestling Observer. Retrieved July 1, 2014.
  28. ↑ Trionfo, Richard. "FCW Television report for February 12: Title Match". PWInsider.com. Retrieved July 1, 2014.
  29. ↑ Trionfo, Richard. "3/11 FCW Television report: Leo Kruger gets a rematch, the former Chris Hero makes his television debut, Maxine has one less thing to worry about and more". PWInsider.com. Retrieved July 1, 2014.
  30. ↑ Trionfo, Richard. "FCW Television report for 7/8: Steamboat and Rollins defend their titles; Ohno; Rollins; and more". PWInsider.com. Retrieved July 1, 2014.
  31. ↑ Bongiovanni, Darren. "Looking at the WWE & TNA win/loss records: Week 23". PWInsider.com. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
  32. ↑ James, Justin. "James's WWE NXT results 5/29 & 6/5: Wyatts defend Tag Titles, NXT Women's Title introduced, #1 contender battle royal, Parade of released NXT wrestlers in matches". PWTorch.com. Retrieved July 10, 2013.
  33. 1 2 Saxton, Byron. "Colin Cassady & Enzo Amore: 'The Realest Guys in the Room' – Page 2". WWE. Archived from the original on August 23, 2013. Retrieved June 28, 2014.
  34. ↑ James, Justin. "James's WWE NXT report 5/15 & 5/22: El Generico debuts, O'Brian beats two NXT releases in same match, Bray Wyatt debuts mask, Natalya vs. Rae, more developments". PWTorch.com. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
  35. 1 2 James, Justin. "James's WWE NXT report 7/10: Wyatts vs. Team Regal six-man main event, NXT Women's Title tourney continues, Generico (Zayn), Mason Ryan, set-up for Charlotte's debut". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved July 14, 2013.
  36. 1 2 Namako, Jason. "WWE NXT results – 8/1/13 (tag team main event)". wrestleview.com.
  37. ↑ Locicero, Anthony. "Where are they now? Former Waldwick football player Eric Arndt". NorthJersey.com. Archived from the original on June 30, 2014. Retrieved June 28, 2014.
  38. ↑ James, Justin. "James's WWE NXT report 7/3 – WEEK 53: Bo Dallas defends NXT Title, Women's Tourney continues, Mason Ryan". PWTorch. Retrieved August 9, 2013.
  39. ↑ James, Justin (September 13, 2013). "James's WWE NXT report 9/11". PWTorch.com. Retrieved September 15, 2013.
  40. ↑ James, Justin (October 10, 2013). "James's WWE NXT report 10/9". PWTorch.com. Retrieved October 11, 2013.
  41. ↑ "James's WWE NXT report 9/25 - Week 65: Triple H makes "big announcement", Ohno/Hero returns, Zayn/Generico in action, Overall Reax". PWTorch. Retrieved July 7, 2014.
  42. ↑ Justin, James. "James's WWE NXT report 6/26 – Week 104: RVD faces NXT champion Neville, Summer Rae, Overall Reax". PWTorch.com. Retrieved July 3, 2014.
  43. ↑ James, Justin. "James's WWE NXT report 8/7 - Week 110: Rose finds his way into Zayn vs. Kidd & Gabriel issue, Overall Reax". PWTorch.com. Retrieved August 23, 2014.
  44. ↑ Jason Namako. "WWE NXT Results - 8/21/14 (Rose/Zayn vs. Cara/Kalisto)". WrestleView.
  45. ↑ Howell, Nolan. "Neville shocks, defies odds at NXT Takeover: Fatal 4 Way". Canoe.ca. SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved September 13, 2014.
  46. ↑ Namako, Jason. "WWE NXT Results - 9/4/14 (Tag Tournament Finals)". wrestleview.com. Retrieved September 30, 2014.
  47. ↑ Namako, Jason. "WWE NXT Results - 9/18/14 (Hideo Itami in-ring debut)". wrestleview.com. Retrieved September 30, 2014.
  48. 1 2 Trionfo, Richard. "WWE NXT report: one move to win a match; a Diva debuts; Zayn versus Kidd; and an update on Mojo Rawley". pwinsider.com. Retrieved October 17, 2014.
  49. ↑ Trionfo, Richard (May 20, 2015). "LIVE ONGOING WWE NXT TAKEOVER UNSTOPPABLE REPORT: BAYLEY AND CHARLOTTE VERSUS DANA BROOKE AND EMMA". PWInsider. Retrieved May 20, 2015.
  50. ↑ Middleton, Marc (March 24, 2016). "WWE NXT March 24, 2016". Wrestlinginc. Retrieved August 1, 2016.
  51. ↑ Caldwell, James. "4/4 WWE Raw Results – CALDWELL'S Complete Report on post-WM32". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
  52. ↑ "WWE Smackdown TV Taping Results For Tonight *Spoilers* - Wrestlezone". Wrestlezone. Retrieved April 15, 2016.
  53. ↑ "Enzo Amore & Colin Cassady vs. The Vaudevillains ended in a no contest". WWE. May 1, 2016. Retrieved May 16, 2016.
  54. ↑ "Enzo and Cass drafted to raw in July 2016 draft". WWE. Retrieved August 11, 2016.
  55. ↑ https://www.cagesideseats.com/wwe/2017/6/20/15835984/wwe-raw-results-recap-reactions-june-19-2017-cry-enzo-cry
  56. ↑ "WWE SmackDown Live results (April 17, 2018): Superstar Shakeup, Night Two". Cageside Seats. April 17, 2018. Retrieved April 18, 2018.
  57. ↑ "Daniel Bryan & AJ Styles vs. Rusev and Aiden English: SmackDown LIVE, April 17 2018". YouTube. WWE. April 17, 2018. Retrieved April 18, 2018.
  58. ↑ "WWE SmackDown LIVE results, May 29, 2018: Samoa Joe beats out both Daniel Bryan and Big Cass to gain entry into Money in the Bank Match". WWE. May 29, 2018. Retrieved May 31, 2018.
  59. ↑ "The key takeaways from WWE's Money in the Bank". SI.com. Retrieved 2018-06-19.
  60. ↑ "Big Cass released". WWE. Retrieved June 19, 2018.
  61. ↑ Barrasso, Justin (June 19, 2018). "Sources: Big Cass Released by WWE Due to Personal Conduct Issues". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved June 30, 2018.
  62. ↑ "Superstars and Divas featured on WWE 2K16 roster list". WWE.com. Retrieved August 23, 2017.
  63. ↑ "WWE 2K17 roster: All confirmed wrestlers and characters". Sportskeeda. Retrieved August 23, 2017.
  64. ↑ "WWE 2K18 roster: All confirmed wrestlers and characters". Sportskeeda. Retrieved June 16, 2018.
  65. ↑ Terror, Jude (July 13, 2017). "Report: Pro-Trump Views Of WWE Wrestler Big Cass Lead To Locker Room Heat". Bleeding Cool. Retrieved August 18, 2018.
  66. ↑ https://www.cbssports.com/wwe/news/wwe-comes-to-terms-on-release-of-big-cass-shortly-after-returning-from-injury/
  67. ↑ "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2017". The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved August 31, 2017.
  68. ↑ Zimmerman, Zack. "1/13 Zim's WWE NXT Live Coverage: Battle Royal to determine Bayley's next challenger for the NXT Women's Championship, Dash and Dawson vs. The Ascension, plus Elias Sampson and Tommaso Ciampa in action". prowrestling.net. Retrieved January 13, 2016.
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