What was supposed to be a fond farewell for a journeyman wrestler, quickly turned into quite the chaotic scene.
In a story broken by Voices of Wrestling, Big Cass aka CaZ XL, was punched out by WWE Producer, Pat Buck at tonight's WrestlePro show in Rahway, New Jersey.
PWInsider would go on to further confirm that Big Cass was acting erratic and threatening AEW Superstar Joey Janela. Their report would also note that both men were sharing a locker room the night before and there were no issues. Dan Maff, Joey Janela's opponent for the evening would tell WrestlePro staff that if Cass didn’t get his behavior under control, then he was going to handle it personally. This is reportedly uncharacteristic of Dan and was seen as a measure of how unprofessional Big Cass was behaving. Dan Maff and Joey Janela would move to a private room to be able to call their match properly.
From there, it is said that Cass only escalated his behavior, as he began accusing wrestlers in the locker room of stealing a sweater that he had. Cass reportedly threatened to beat up people in the locker room and this will continue until he was in a small area with SCU and Pat Buck, who were going over their match which was the main event of the evening.
Cass would accuse these wrestlers of stealing his belongings as well, before completely turning his attention to Buck. Reportedly, Cass said, “What are you going to do, tough guy?” Before spitting in Buck’s face.
Pat Buck, who was having his farewell match before going to WWE to become a Producer full-time, punched the former WWE superstar in the face. Reportedly, the second he hit the floor, Big Cass had a change in demeanor and was confused as to why he was hit. Rahway police then escorted Cass out of the building, allowing the farewell for Pat to go on as planned.
After the incident, Big Cass would sit outside the venue as police reportedly searched his car and he began making statements concerning himself that were alarming enough that he left the area in an ambulance.
In addition to the news reported by Voices of Wrestling and PWInsider, Fightful has learned that police asked Joey Janela if he wanted to press charges against Big Cass after the incidents that occurred. Janela declined, and said that Cass needed help.
After all of this, Cass ended up getting his car towed because he parked in the middle of the venue's parking lot, blocking other vehicles along the way.
There were several talent that told us that not only was Cass (and Enzo, for that matter) fine on Friday night around Joey Janela, that Saturday Cass was shaking hands in the locker room upon arrival. He was supposed to be a surprise, but had been in and out to his vehicle multiple times throughout the night, where people could see him.
WrestlePro had to have people standing in door ways in order to ensure that Cass didn't try anything erratic during the show, specifically Janela's match.
After being fired by WWE in mid-2018, Big Cass had a seizure at a House of Hardcore event in December of last year. Most recently, he has been trying to recover from his addictions and has even done some work with Diamond Dallas Page in an effort to get back on the right path.
Fightful reached out to both Joey Janela, and Pat Buck and as of yet, they have not responded.
