Big Cass Talks His Problems In WWE, Vince McMahon Being "Furious" Over Cass Going Off-Script

Recently on Talk Is Jericho, the current and defending AEW World Champion Chris Jericho was joined on the podcast by nZo and CaZXL, formerly WWE Superstars Enzo Amore and Big Cass. Among many other things, CaZXL talked about his WWE departure, his seizure during House Of Hardcore 52, and his future goals in professional wrestling.

According to CaZXL, he was fired from WWE because he basically lost his mind. Apparently, the big man was dealing with mental health issues that he did not disclose to WWE.

"Yeah, it [has] been quite the whirlwind," CaZXL admitted. "The ups and downs, and then the very big ups and very big downs, so I know for me personally, I've hit some high highs, but my lows have been very, very low. Yeah. Yeah, I kind of just lost my mind towards the end. I was battling with some things, some mental health issues, that I didn't speak up about or tell anybody."

More specifically, CaZXL indicated that his alcoholism was getting out of hand and he went off script by attacking a little person during a live episode of WWE SmackDown Live in May 2018.

"So I was just out of control, drinking a lot, going off script on live television, which was a very, very big mistake," CaZXL shared. "Yes, yeah, I went out there in Montreal [Canada], a very smart mark crowd, and when I gave the little person the boot, I looked out in the crowd – and this segment was designed to get me mega heat, like mega f–king heat – and after I did that, I looked out in the crowd, and to be honest with you, I thought half the people were laughing. I guess they thought it was funny and in my mind, I was thinking, 'this is not what they want' because this was specifically designed to get me more heat, so I was panicking. Like, this is not the reaction they want, so I did what I felt was right and yeah [continued to beat down the little person] and when I got back through the curtain, it was very, very bad. It was a bad night for me. [Vince McMahon being unhappy] is the understatement of the century. Furious, no, he was furious. That was the first straw and rightly so. I mean, that was such a bad decision, so stupid."

The final straw came when CaZXL was out of control on a European tour and came to be viewed as a liability to the company.

"Tremendous anxiety and out of control, showing up to TV late, like, things I wouldn't do in a million years, like a year prior or two years prior," CaZXL recalled. "And then, on the European tour, again, I was out of control, completely just uncontrollable. And, yeah, I think that that was when they saw me as a liability and they were like, 'this is not good.'"

CaZXL, who indicated during the podcast that he suffered from depression and anxiety even in his NXT days, shared that he was depressed when he returned to WWE. Following his WWE departure, CaZXL suggested he continued his downward spiral due to the freedom or lack of structure.

"Yeah, and I think that the lifestyle I was living was because I didn't have responsibilities. I was depressed when I came back [to WWE from injury]. And the only thing that would prevent me from living that lifestyle was, 'I've got to get on a flight Saturday morning and I've got to go do a loop,' so Friday I wouldn't drink. But now, I had indie bookings, but I didn't consider them, like, a big responsibility at that point. Yeah, exactly, so there was nothing stopping me from living that life and when I was with WWE, I would live that life Wednesday and Thursday, and Tuesday night, but then Friday would come around, 's–t, I've got to fly out tomorrow – you've got to get your act together.' But without that structure in my life and that responsibility, I could pretty much do whatever the f–k I wanted." CaZXL continued, "so plenty of money in the bank and no responsibilities. I want to watch Netflix or HBO Go or whatever and drink all day. I could do that and that's what I f–king did."

With respect to CazXL's seizure scare at House Of Hardcore 52, the Queens, New York native acknowledged during the podcast that the seizure was from alcohol withdrawal.

"The seizure, it was from alcohol withdrawal," CaZXL confirmed. "So I had no education on that matter. I didn't know that alcohol withdrawal could kill you and the seizure is as far as you can get before you're dead. The seizure can kill you. I didn't know that you could have a seizure from alcohol withdrawal. Now, I know a lot about it because I researched the matter, but I had been drinking so heavily for so long that 13 hours without alcohol in my system put my body into shock. Yes."

Moreover, CazXL had some choice words for the person who filmed the seizure episode and posted it to YouTube instead of calling 911. 'The Big Bambino' went on to say that the seizure was his rock bottom moment and he decided to turn his life around at that point.

"With the amount I had been drinking, they were surprised I made it that far," CaZXL said. "And some asshole, instead of calling 911, recorded it [and] put it on YouTube. And I've got friends, and family, and people in the business, former coworkers watching. What a f–king dick. Yeah, and regardless, so that guy did that, and I have people that know me seeing this video, so it's embarrassing. So yeah, that's when I decided, like, this had to stop. Rock bottom. Almost dead. People see you at your weakest moment on YouTube."

CazXL stated that his goal is to be back with WWE or signed to a major pro wrestling company.  

"In terms of professionally, I got myself in the best shape of my life for a reason. I want to be back in [pro] wrestling. I'm going to take as many bookings as I can, work as many matches as I can, get the experience that I need to be a better performer because the ultimate goal is to be back in WWE or to get signed with another company, a big company, that's my goal."

Also during the interview, CaZXL reiterated his willingness to return to WWE without. In fact, the NYU grad said he would be willing to sign with any of the genre's major promotions without The Real1.

"Yeah and we're not tied down," CaZXL revealed. "nZo has so many opportunities in other forms of entertainment. And if he gets called by WWE to go back by himself, I'll be f–king cheering his ass on from my living room every Monday. If it's the other way around, he'll be cheering my ass on. And if it's New Japan [Pro-Wrestling], AEW, any big company, if we don't get called together, we're going to be fully supportive of each other."

Check out the podcast here or via the embedded player below. If you use any of the quotations from this article, please credit Talk Is Jericho with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.