Big Cass On Why Carmella Not Being With Them Is The Right Move, Suspecting They Were Being Called Up
Recently on Talk Is Jericho, former WWE United States Champion Chris Jericho caught up with WWE Superstar Big Cass. Among many other things, Cass talked about being called up from NXT to WWE Monday Night RAW, whether he was surprised by the warm reception from the RAW audience when Enzo and Cass debuted, and Carmella staying in NXT when the tag team was called up to the main roster.
According to Cass, everyone in WWE's developmental system hopes and waits to be called up to the main roster. Moreover, 'The Big Bambino' recalled that he and Enzo did not get their hopes up about moving on to the main roster, but that they had an idea that they were going to be called up after WWE Roadblock (2016).
"I think everybody down there is always waiting to be [called up]. Everyone's excited and waiting to be called up. But I don't think we ever really had a point where we thought, 'man, definitely, we're going to get called up.'" Cass continued, "I don't think we really, really got our hopes up until around WrestleMania time. We kind of figured something was going on when we did that Roadblock WWE Network special. It was [Dean] Ambrose and Triple H in the main event. It was in Toronto [Canada] and we had an NXT Tag Team Championship match with The Revival and after that we weren't booked on NXT television for the next two months going into 'Mania, so we thought, 'huh, something's probably going on here if we're not on TV anymore.' We lost to The Revival at Roadblock and we hadn't been seen since, so we kind of figured something was going on."
During the interview, Big Cass spelled out for us that he was not surprised about the crowd's positive reaction to Enzo and Cass' RAW debut because the crowd at the RAW after WrestleMania is very familiar with NXT.
"I honestly wasn't surprised because I know the crowd that's there the night after 'Mania and hardcore fans, a lot of fans from Europe, Germany, a lot of fans from all over the world, that hardcore WWE fanbase, so those fans are all familiar with NXT." Cass continued, "so I was kind of expecting a very good reaction because everybody was asking about it and it was, like I said, that hardcore fanbase."
On the subject of Carmella not being brought up to the main roster with Enzo and Cass, the big man said that Triple H told Carmella that she was being kept on her own for her own benefit and Cass agreed that it was for the best. Cass went on to say that having a hot chick is a heel move, so it was probably good for Enzo and Cass, the babyfaces, to be split from 'The Princess Of Staten Island'.
"[Triple H] told her it's what's best for her. And I've got to be honest, I believe it because if she came up with us, she would've just played second fiddle to me and Enzo and she wouldn't have been able to make as much of a name for herself. Her being on her own for a few months in NXT before coming up to SmackDown on her own, I think it really, really helped her because she's her own established character. Besides some fans that will chant 'how you doin'?', there's no real link between me and Enzo and her in terms of television product. The audience doesn't really know that except for a few, that small percentage that [are] NXT fans. Oh yeah, oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Having a hot chick with you is definitely a heel move. Yeah, because everyone [is] jealous and whatever it is. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly, so that did help us also because like you said, having the hot chick is just always the heel guy. How do you make this guy a bigger heel? You give him a hot valet. You put a hot valet with him. That has been done forever."
Listen to the Pod Of Thunder And Rock & Roll here. If you use any of the quotes from this article, please credit Talk Is Jericho with an H/T to WrestlingINC for the transcription.
Source: Talk Is Jericho