Big Cass On His WWE Release: "I Made A Lot Of Mistakes In A Very Short Period Of Time"
Back in June at WWE Money in the Bank, Big Cass dropped another match to Daniel Bryan in a feud that suddenly turned very one-sided for the recently cleared Bryan. A few days later Cass reportedly had a meeting with Vince McMahon and would be released from WWE on June 19.
Backstage reports about his release ranged from personal conduct issues on a WWE European tour to ignoring Vince's direction about one of his SmackDown segments involving a little person dressed as Daniel Bryan. Cass asked Vince about getting in longer beat-down, but Vince said a big boot would be enough to get the point across. Cass ignored that and did the longer attack instead.
Cass' 90-day no compete clause is ending this month as he's advertised (first as "Big Cazz" and now "Big C") for a Big Time Wrestling event in Spartanburg, South Carolina on September 21.
Cass joined Booker T's Heated Discussions podcast over the weekend to talk about how he's been since his release from WWE.
"I'm doing good, just living my life right now," Cass said. "Hitting the gym, waiting for my 90-day [no compete clause] to end. Anticipating what's next on my schedule, trying to get myself in the best shape possible. Just living life, I don't know how else to say it."
Booker asked Cass directly how he went from being someone who WWE seemed high on to getting released from the company. Cass noted the mistakes he made in a short period of time led to his downfall.
"If I'm going to be honest with you, I made a lot of mistakes. I made a lot of mistakes in a very short period of time," Cass admitted. "I did some things that I shouldn't have done. I guess the company couldn't rely on me and couldn't trust me. Look, I'll just be honest with you, in my opinion, they made the right decision for them. It was the right decision to get rid of me at that point in time – not to say I won't be back – but at that point in time they definitely made the right decision for them. To be honest with you, looking at it they made the right decision for me. Everyone makes mistakes, but when you make that many mistakes in that short of a period of time then you lose people's trust and you're not reliable anymore."
Cass was also asked if he were in Vince's shoes, would he have fired himself from WWE.
"Yeah, I would have," Cass responded. "I definitely would have fired myself. If I was in Vince McMahon's position, I would have fired myself for sure, one-hundred percent."
Now that he's outside of WWE, Cass noted that he's not really familiar with the indie wrestling scene because when he first started wrestling WWE came calling only a year into his career. Once he's able to compete again it sounds like Cass is going to hit that scene in hopes of finding his way back to WWE one day.
"Here's the thing, I started with Johnny Rodz at his school when I was very young," Cass said. "I never really got to see what was out there. About a year into my training I got a call from WWE and they signed me. I got signed right away to FCW, so my whole career has been pretty much in FCW and NXT. But I never really got to see what else is out there. There's a whole world out there right now. I just want to get out there and see what else is going on, but I will be back, obviously the goal is to get back to WWE."
You can listen to the full interview by clicking here.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Heated Conversations with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.