Childhood & Early Life
Big Cass was born William Morrissey on August 16, 1986, in Glendale, Queens, New York City. He has an Irish and Italian ancestry. He studied at the Archbishop Molloy High School. He was a member of the National Honor Society, a homeless shelter volunteer, and a peer tutor.
His senior year in school saw him playing basketball. He was included in the Senior Classic All-Star game of the Catholic High School Athletic Association.
Following his high school graduation, he enrolled at the New York University (NYU) under a scholarship. He initially pursued the pre-medical stream but later changed to economics. During his NYU days (2005–06 to 2008–09), he played in the NYU Violets men's basketball team as a centre. He was also the co-captain of the team in his final season with them.
He founded a ticket brokerage following his graduation from NYU that specialised in selling tickets for events that were held at Yankee Stadium and Madison Square Garden.
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Career
He underwent training in professional wrestling from the professional wrestling school of American retired professional wrestler Johnny Rodz in Brooklyn, New York City. On May 30, 2009, he made his debut with the independent wrestling promotion ‘World of Unpredictable Wrestling,’ founded by Rodz. He performed with the ring name, ‘Big Bill Young.’
He signed with professional wrestling promotion, ‘Florida Championship Wrestling’ (FCW) in June 2011, which was the official developmental territory for the WWE, at that time. The following month he made his first televised FCW appearance while his first televised match was broadcast on the September 4, 2011 episode of FCW TV where he wrestled under the ring name, ‘Colin Cassady.’
After a series of losses, he registered his first win against Kenneth Cameron in a match televised on the March 11, 2012 episode of FCW TV. In his last FCW TV match, Morrissey defeated Aiden English.
In August 2012, FCW was re-branded by the WWE as NXT and Morrissey made his NXT television debut on June 5 the following year, in a match against the Welsh professional wrestler, Mason Ryan, but lost the match.
Morrissey joined hands with Enzo Amore, who also faced defeat against Ryan, to form a tag team, labelling themselves as "the realest guys in the room.” Morrissey knew Amore since his basketball days when the two first met as teenagers while playing together at West Fourth Street Courts in Manhattan, New York.
Morrissey and Amore got into a feud with Ryan. The duo also picked-up a feud with Scott Dawson, Sylvester Lefort, and Alexander Rusev.
The duo was joined by Carmella, and she accompanied them in several matches.
Although Morrissey and Amore eyed for the NXT Tag Team Championship, they remained unsuccessful in winning the title. Their attempts included a title match against defending champions, Blake and Murphy, at the NXT TakeOver: Unstoppable held at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida, on May 20, 2015; and against defending champions, Dash and Dawson, at the NXT TakeOver: London event on December 16, 2015.
Morrissey made his main roster debut with Amore on the Raw facing ‘The Dudley Boyz’ following ‘WrestleMania 32’ on April 3, 2016.
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The duo beat ‘The Ascension’ in their main roster debut match held on the April 14 episode of ‘SmackDown’ and progressed in the tournament that would determine the number one contenders for the WWE Tag Team Championship. The duo reached the final tag team match of the tournament held on May 1, 2016, at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois, at Payback event where they lost to ‘The Vaudevillains’ (Aiden English and Simon Gotch) by a technical knockout.
He changed his ring name to ‘Big Cass’ in May 2016. The fatal 4-Way tag team match held at the ‘Money in the Bank’ event at the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada, on June 19, 2016, for the WWE Tag Team Championship saw defending champions, ‘The New Day,’ (Big E and Kofi Kingston) winning the title beating tag teams of Morrissey and Amore; Gallows and Anderson; and The Vaudevillains.
Morrissey and Amore were drafted to Raw during the 2016 WWE draft. After beating the US Champion, Rusev, on the August 22, 2016 episode of Raw, Morrissey qualified for a four way elimination match that included Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, and Kevin Owens, for the WWE Universal Championship title. He was, however, eliminated by Owens.
Morrissey and Amore remained unsuccessful in winning the ‘Raw Tag Team Championship’ title when they lost against defending champions, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, on March 5, 2017.
The duo also participated in a fatal four-way ladder match for the Raw Tag Team Championship held at the ‘WrestleMania33’ at the Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida, on April 2, 2017. They competed against the defending champions, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, Cesaro and Sheamus, and The Hardy Boyz (Jeff Hardy and Matt Hardy) where ‘The Hardy Boyz’ emerged as new champions.
Morrissey turned a bad guy as he mysteriously attacked Amore and faked an attack on himself, and finally split with Amore. With this, he picked-up a feud with both ‘Big Show’ and ‘Amore.’ He underwent a surgery and remained out of action for eight months after suffering a legit knee injury while wrestling against Amore on August 21, 2017.
He made a comeback during the 2018 Superstar Shake-up. He was released from the WWE on June 19, 2018. The ‘Sports Illustrated’ attributed this ouster due to his behavioural issues, which included defying orders of Chairman and CEO of WWE, Vince McMahon.
On August 2, 2018, ‘Big Time Wrestling’ announced that Morrissey will make his comeback to wrestling on September 21, 2018, with the ring name ‘Big Cazz.’
