As part of the lead-up to Summerslam, Big Cass was interviewed by Brian Fritz of the Sporting News. In that interview, which you can read the full text of here, Cass spoke about Enzo's injury at Payback in May, and about wrestling without his little buddy for the first time in several years.
For those of you who don't remember, Enzo suffered a concussion when he was thrown into the ropes by Simon Gotch early in their match on May 1st. Cass had a great view, and he spoke about what was going through his mind at the time:
"He got thrown into the ropes and I saw everything; I saw him hit, I saw him hit the floor. I told the ref to check on him. Usually if something like that happens, it's as simple as, "Hey, ref, check on him." The ref checks on him, everything's all good. If he can continue the match, you continue. This time, I told the ref to check on him and there was no reaction. The ref checked on him again and there was no reaction. Protocol in WWE is get away right away, everybody get away and that's when I knew something was severely wrong."
Cass understood that even though the concussion wasn't severe, Enzo would be off of TV while he went through the concussion protocol. It was assumed that Cass would be off TV too.
"That night on the drive from Chicago to St. Louis, that was definitely going through my mind. That was definitely the talk of the car — if he's off TV, I'm probably going to be off TV, and that was a thought that went through my head. But then I showed up in St. Louis and was told you're in a match tonight so go out there and show people what you can do without Enzo, and show people what you worked so hard for, and also do this for Enzo. So when I went out there in St. Louis that night, there were a lot of emotions and a lot of carryover from the night before. I went out there with an aggression and intensity about me that I'm doing this for Enzo, that's my brother. He's sidelined right now, but I'm here to make a statement."
Over the next few weeks, Cass got a mini-singles push in Enzo's absence. He had a mini-feud with the Dudley Boyz, took out both of Los Matadores in a handicap match at a house show—yes, this pre-dates the debut of The Shining Stars—and he even got to get some face-time up close and personal with former WWE Champion Chris Jericho:
He got some foot-time up close and personal, too:
Cass said "it felt great" to know that the company trusted him to go out there on his own and get over.
"It definitely helps your confidence to know that the company is still going to take a direction with you while the other piece of your tag-team is sidelined. As you can imagine, it's definitely a confidence booster and definitely adds to that swagger you carry around."
Enzo returned on May 23, and he and Cass have quickly become one of the biggest fan favorite acts in recent memory.
At Summerslam on August 21, The Realest Guys in the Room face Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho in Brooklyn, their own backyard. Enzo is from New Jersey, Cass from Queens. It remains to be seen if they'll be put over the top by a little "home cookin'."
Keep it locked to Fightful.com for all your Summerslam news.
