Well, it finally happened. The break up that has been hinted at and teased for several weeks finally took place, with Big Cass being revealed as the one who had been attacking Enzo Amore backstage. They angle was pretty decently done, with Enzo shining as he got emotional listening to his best friend essentially tell him that he's worthless.
I still have my doubts, though.
A few weeks ago, on this very site, I wrote that I felt Cass was going to flop hard as a singles heel. I said that it would start off just fine, as he's going to get plenty of heel heat for turning on one of the most popular acts on the WWE roster, but once the bloom is off that rose, Cass will be exposed. Honestly, I'm surprised that anyone else sees it differently. Someone, quick... tell me your favorite Cass moment on the mic that doesn't include him spelling the word "sawft". Someone, quick again... tell me your favorite Cass moment in the ring that doesn't include him receiving the hot tag and cleaning out the ring during tag team matches. Go ahead, I'll wait.
Anyone? I'm still waiting.
Exactly.
Putting it nicely, Cass still has a long way to go before he's "ready" to be any type of singles star on his own.
In the entire world of wrestling, there aren't many people who sound as "wooden" and "robotic" on the mic as Cass does. He sounds as if he has no emotion whatsoever and is reading from cue cards. Making that worse is the fact that he usually has no more than two or three lines to say, one of which is EXACTLY THE SAME THING AS HE SAYS IN EVERY OTHER PROMO, WORD FOR WORD. That's not a good sign at all. Now, that works when he's with Enzo, because people are paying attention to what Enzo says and then waiting for him to alley oop the catchphrase to Cass, who slam dunks it home for a big reaction. He doesn't need to be prime Mick Foley on the mic to make that a success. Splitting them up means that Cass has to handle mic duties on his own. No, he doesn't need to cut 20-minute promos every week like he was mid-2000s Triple H, but he needs to be able to say more than he's saying now, and he needs to have his words make a connection with live crowds all over the world. The promo he cut to announce the heel turn featured much better lines for him to use, but he couldn't help but sound overly rehearsed far more often than not. It's time to cut the promo that could very well define your entire career, and that's the best he could come up with? He isn't dead in the water or anything, but he isn't off to a tremendous start after being pushed into the deep end of the pool right away.
When he's actually wrestling, he isn't terrible, but he isn't exactly lighting the world on fire, either. As I said, all of his big moments come from receiving a hot tag and beating people up for a moment or two before helping to get the win for himself and Enzo. Now, he's supposed to handle eight-to-ten minute television matches on his own? What about longer matches on "pay-per-view"? Last summer, we saw a little bit of Cass as a singles wrestler while he competed in an elimination match for the Universal Title on an episode of Raw. He was in the match for about 15 minutes before being the first person eliminated, but he didn't do anything to stand out, other than being the tallest man in the ring. How much has changed in the last year or so? I guess we're going to find out.
Maybe I'm worried over nothing. There's always room for "giants" in wrestling. Look at the men in that category on the Raw side of the roster, though. Big Show is a "must see" based on his height and size alone. Braun Strowman is a "Monster Among Men" and is portrayed as one of the most terrifying men in the history of the business. Cass is just... tall... genetically. He needs to be booked in an entirely different way to take advantage of his height, and that isn't taking into account the fact that he isn't exactly getting his physique confused with those of Jinder Mahal, John Cena, and people like that. Go back and watch him turn heel. Watch him as he leaves the ring and throws his "Sawft" shirt down and walk away. Let's just say his upper body has more movement to it than some of the women on the roster can claim to have.
I don't think this is going to work. WWE took one of their most popular tag teams and split them up, leaving both men to (probably/possibly) fail as singles workers. Let's not forget that Enzo isn't exactly a tremendous worker. What does he do once the feud with Cass is over? None of this makes any sense. I get that Vince McMahon loves him some tall wrestlers. That's fine and dandy. He could've had Cass as a singles wrestler, even as a heel, but his biggest weakness could've been hidden by... having Enzo as his mouthpiece. How difficult would that have been? Enzo's character is already an annoying little bastard, cutting heel-like promos and doing heel-like things. Turn them both, make Cass the wrestler and Enzo the manager. It isn't rocket science.
Please don't even get me started that Kevin Owens, Tommaso Ciampa, Goldust, and now Cass have all turned on their tag partners... within a four month period. So, look for Matt Hardy to turn heel on his brother at Great Balls Of Fire, followed by Jimmy Uso turning on his brother on Smackdown two days later, followed by Zack Ryder turning on Mojo Rawley at Battleground, followed by Sheamus turning on Cesaro two weeks later, followed by Akam turning on Rezar at NXT Takeover: Brooklyn, followed by Big E turning on Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods at SummerSlam, and so on and so forth, therefore and thereupon, ipso facto, because apparently tag team wrestling is being killed off by WWE.
We'll always have the Young Bucks, I guess.
