Bryan Keith Reflects On Teaming With Big Cass In AEW: “Being Around Him Made Me Constantly Wanna Be Better”

Bryan Keith looks back on his time with the former Big Bill.

For two years in All Elite Wrestling, Bryan Keith and Big Bill were paired together. For a portion of that time, they were known as members of The Learning Tree, which was led by Chris Jericho.

Big Bill, now back to Big Cass, has returned to WWE, and during Bryan Keith’s appearance on Knockouts and 3 Counts, he discussed his time with Cass in AEW.

Keith felt their dynamic was akin to that of the six-time AJPW World Tag Team Champions Holy Demon Army. Keith appreciated the run because it was a different aspect of his career.

“So, I never was a tag team. It was my first time I was in a legitimate tag team with someone else, and usually, the pressure’s on me; the work is up to me. So sharing that burden with somebody else is definitely cool, definitely something that I wasn’t so sure of. I know he’s a hard-working dude. I mean, look at him. He’s freaking 7-foot tall, chiseled, charismatic — you can’t teach it. They say you can’t teach it,” Keith laughed. “I just feel like being around him made me constantly wanna be better, made me wanna constantly strive to do better, and just learn from him. He came from one of the greatest tag teams, and just being in a tag team, and picking off his energy and just learning the way he did things and how he would carry himself was definitely an invaluable thing for me. Just being around him and being able to mirror him and learn from him is amazing so, I think that, as far as being my introduction to tag team wrestling or being in a tag team, it couldn’t have got no better than that. The big man/little man dynamic, you know, perfect as well and again, big fan of Japanese professional wrestling so I always loved Holy Demon Army, you know, (Toshiaki) Kawada and (Akira) Taue, and I always felt like that was kind of the dynamic with me and Big Bill. We had this f*cking ball of anger, ready to just whoop somebody’s ass all the time. Small as hell, but big personality. Then you got this freaking giant that, at a moment’s notice, he could rip your freaking head off if he wants to and it made for good matchups. We had great matchups with Gates of Agony, and we wrestled Top Flight a lot and I feel like it was, again, just something that I appreciated because it was a different aspect of my career. Being a singles wrestler for like, what? 14 years? Actually being able to see that side of professional wrestling and enjoy that side of professional wrestling. It was a really cool thing for me to go through.”

Keith is still with AEW/ROH. He last wrestled for the company at a Ring of Honor taping in August.

If the quote in this article is used, please credit Knockouts and 3 Counts with an H/T to Fightful for the transcription.