Big Cass Involved in Altercation With Joey Janela and Others at Indie Show

Big Cass was thrown out of an indie show last night after acting “aggressive and erratic,” looking for a fight with Joey Janela, and getting punched in the face by the promotion’s owner, according to a report by PWInsider.

Cass was booked as a surprise entrant in a battle royal at a WrestlePro show in Rahway, NJ at the Rahway Rec Center last night. Joey Janela was also booked at the show.

According to PWInsider’s report, Cass “confronted Joey Janela in a threatening manner, looking for a physical confrontation” in the locker room and according to one source, Cass slapped Janela, though that isn’t confirmed.

This was apparently related to the feud between Janela and Enzo Amore, where Janela and Enzo almost got into a fight at a Blink-182 concert in Jersey in July. Cass, Enzo Amore and Joey Janela were all at a Northeast Wrestling show together in Waterbury, CT on Friday night and there was no incident.

Kevin Matthews (KM in Impact), who books WrestlePro, diffused the situation briefly, but Cass then continued to be “loud and belligerent” to Janela. Dan Maff, who was booked to wrestle Janela at the show, then “warned WrestlePro that if Cass wasn’t calmed down, he was going to have to step in and handle the situation himself.” WrestlePro then moved him and Janela to a private room so they could call their match without distraction.

The night then got a lot worse for Cass.

According to the report, Cass then started accusing other wrestlers in the locker room of stealing his sweater and threatened that he was going to “take care” of them all.

He then went to another room backstage where WrestlePro owner and wrestler Pat Buck and AEW’s SoCal Uncensored were putting together their main event match for the night. The show was actually a farewell show for Buck, who has been hired by WWE as a producer/agent.

Cass started accusing everyone in the room of stealing his sweater and threatened to fight them too. At one point he then said to owner Pat Buck, “What are you gonna do, tough guy?” and spit in his face. Buck then reportedly punched Cass in the face and took him down with that one punch, then held him down until other wrestlers took Cass out of the room. PWInsider says, “the second Cass was down on the floor, his entire demeanor changed as he went from aggressive and threatening to questioning why he was hit and asking what was going on.”

Police were called and Cass was escorted out of the building and the show went on as planned, minus Cass. Outside the venue, Cass was seen sitting on the floor as cops apparently searched his car. Cass then “began loudly making remarks about himself to the point that concerned authorities called for an ambulance to take Cass to transport him to a local hospital.”

The consensus in the locker room was anti-Cass, feeling that he was being unprofessional and “disrespecting the locker room.” Conversely, the locker room was said to be very sympathetic to Pat Buck.

Cass has talked recently about struggling with depression and working to stop drinking alcohol. He’s been working indie shows and has talked often about hoping to redeem himself and get another chance in WWE eventually. Two weeks ago, after false rumors spread that WWE was bringing Cass and Enzo back to NXT, WWE immediately denied it, with Triple H saying, “Yeah, no. Zero interest.”

Update: Joey Janela commented on Twitter:

Not gonna elaborate at all on this whole deal besides that it was probably the bizzare situation I’ve ever seen let alone been a part of in a wrestling locker room in 15 years, everything was cordial and friendly Friday and I hope the dude gets back on the right track…

— Bad Boy Joey Janela (@JANELABABY) September 15, 2019