Hello everyone! Today, I’ll be discussing the split of the tag team Enzo A’more and Big Cass. Firstly, I’ve got to say SAWFT was one of the better babyface teams in recent memory, as they garnered huge reactions for their entrance routine, and regularly gained the support of the fans during their matches. It felt like a team who could win tag team gold at any time, despite never doing so. Unluckily, we never got to see the team achieve success.
It’s no secret that WWE is not a big fan of Enzo’s ring work. On the other side of the spectrum, they are very happy with Big Cass’. He was able to prove his worth as a singles competitor while Enzo was sidelined with an injury sustained against The Vaudevillains. There’s been talk of splitting them up for a while, but the problem is just that .. there should’ve been no talk at all. Not because I think WWE should never have split the team up, but because it gave fans a sense of doubt in Big Cass.
Remember how WWE dealt with the splits of Chris Jericho / Kevin Owens, and the NXT Tag Team DIY? Both were shocking despite rumours circulating weeks beforehand. Remember when the penny dropped for Chris Jericho? Remember Owens’ face before he attacked Y2J? How awesome was that? How unexpected and memorable was it? Unbelievably so. Same thing for DIY .. except they had Ciampa turn on Gargano after a brutal ladder match against the undefeated Authors Of Pain. The shock was real on both occasions.
WWE did a good job of building this angle. Enzo was attacked .. Cass was attacked, and we had possible suspects in The Revival and Big Show. However, the angle took a turn for the worst the second Corey Graves accused Big Cass (not last night, but a few weeks ago). Am I the only one who knew it was Cass after Graves questioned him? It was a big fat spoiler which hurt the pay off. It never needed to happen at all .. instead, the focus should have gone to Big Show, Revival, and a couple of other suspects.
Big Cass should have been the last person we’d suspect, but instead .. he became the predictable choice. So last night on Raw .. when WWE announced Kurt Angle would find who attacked them (although he was never going to find out himself), everyone was waiting for the moment Cass would show his true intentions. And again, Corey Graves ruined it further by somehow obtaining footage ..
(Let me go on rant here .. how in the hell does Corey Graves have access to all this security footage and insider info while Kurt Angle .. the man in power, has to rely on him? Is Graves a super spy? Does he have his own cameras? It makes Angle look oblivious as GM. Graves should join the police force.)
.. of Big Cass lying down on the floor like he’d been attacked. Well duh .. Enzo, you literally just seen Cass lie down on the floor and you need further confirmation? Did the audience need Cass to say “hey yo .. guess what? I did it!” after seeing the footage? It killed the reveal. I will praise Cass though .. for doing everything he could with the promo.
You could tell he’s not used to insulting a guy he’s been up and down the road with for years, but he pulled through and made many good points. Enzo’s sad sell was alright, but I don’t think it needed to happen during the promo. If anything, Enzo should’ve been in a state of shock in that moment. You can’t cry immediately after finding out something so big .. human beings need time to process. The last thing we should’ve seen was Enzo trying to get himself off the mat with tears flowing down his face as Cass grinned from ear to ear.
What If .. ?
While I know the split had to happen eventually .. we could’ve got another few more months out of it. The mystery could have blown up to the point half the roster became suspects, with nothing pointing towards Cass. WWE could’ve put Cass in situations which made it more unlikely to be him. More explanation behind Corey Graves being able to get information Kurt Angle couldn’t, would have gone a long way too. How Graves wasn’t able to share the security footage before Angle went out to the ring at the end of Raw is a mystery in itself.
I’m a positive fan these days. I like to give angles a chance, and I rarely judge anything til I get a clear picture. I usually don’t list “what ifs”. I don’t like looking backwards, but on this occasion I feel the need to offer alternate scenarios which I believe could’ve improved the angle and made the result more memorable and heart wrenching. It feels like WWE punished Enzo and Angle in this storyline for no good reason. At the same time, Cass’ heel turn might not have been as effective .. but it’s too early to say. Either way .. here’s some “What If?” scenarios:
- What if there were more suspects? Gallows & Anderson? Cesaro & Sheamus? Mark Henry? Austin Aries? So many possibilities which could’ve made the mystery more like a game of Cluedo. Go one further and have a weapon left behind .. like a Bray Wyatt lantern. What if Corey Graves had something to do with it?
- What if The Revival started it? What if they attacked Enzo first, and Cass saw it as an opportunity to take his frustrations out on Enzo and use them to cover up his actions? That way The Revival would’ve been prime suspects with questionable alibis for at least one ambush. The Revival could have admitted to one of the ambushes .. but not the others.
- What if the revealing footage randomly appeared on the titantron instead of being announced? What if Cass attacked his partner the second the penny dropped for Enzo? What if (in the video) The Revival and/or Big Show teased attacking Cass before he laid himself down on the floor?
- What if it was Enzo behind the attacks? Not by himself, but by paying off The Revival or Big Show? What if he grew tired of Big Cass’ ego so he wanted to find a new tag team partner? Cass would’ve turned face, and everyone would’ve loved to see Cass get revenge on the little idiot after weeks (or months) of hiding behind hired goons.
- What if it was someone else entirely? Someone who was not a prime suspect? At least that way, the reveal would’ve been unexpected and the accusations directed at Cass would’ve helped in diverting attention. What if Corey Graves encouraged the person behind it? What if Cass turned on Enzo later after finding out it was his fault they were ambushed in the first place?
- What if this angle played out like it did .. except the reveal came at a PPV after SAWFT lost a title match once again? Similar to the DIY angle .. except Cass could’ve got on the mic and cut the same promo while pointing at the dead weight on the floor. What if Cass attacked him so viciously the locker room needed to come out to stop him?
Conclusion.
The end of Raw didn’t have the impact I expected. It felt rushed .. like WWE had further plans which were cut short. Maybe they really don’t like Enzo? The way it played out made him look dumb. Cass gave reasons which made sense .. til he explained why he kept teaming with Enzo after the ambushes. He wanted to know if Enzo could “see what’s going on”, like he cared enough to give his partner the chance to figure it out himself.
Cass was sick and tired of Enzo .. yet carried on like normal. It’s a bit of a stretch .. if you hate someone that much, and stand 7 foot tall, why attack ’em from behind and continue on like normal? Like he said .. Enzo wasn’t helping his career. Cass was doing all the heavy lifting, so why make it harder for yourself by attacking your partner? Why take yourself out of matches if Enzo’s going to find someone like Big Show as a replacement? If you cared that much about your career, why would you purposely take yourself out of matches you knew you could win?
His motives lacked logic .. but it’s always going to be difficult to explain why two guys who’ve been together for four years would suddenly not partner up anymore. It’s like trying to explain why Luigi would team with Bowser against his brother Mario. No matter how it’s done .. it’s always going to be a stretch of the imagination explaining his motivation. I like to think the Mario franchise would’ve done a way better job .. WWE rarely gets storytelling right. Expecting quality storytelling in WWE is like expecting politicians to tell the truth .. you would be foolish hoping for the best.
Apologies if this came across as unnecessarily nitpicky, I rarely make negative pieces these days. I’m not angry, or sad over this. Disappointment is what I feel, there was so much potential to make it one of the biggest moments of the year, but for whatever reason it ended with a whimper reminiscent of Enzo’s tear running down his cheek. I’m happy Cass is getting a new direction, but I also feel bad for all the young fans who looked up to SAWFT much like many older fans looked up to The Rockers, D-X, The Hart Foundation, The Steiners, and even The Road Warriors.
Was it worth splitting them up when they were selling so well? I can’t say for sure .. but my gut feeling tells me no. Soon, but not this soon. Please leave your thoughts in the comments section, and thank you for reading! Let’s see where the story goes from here.
