Mella is Money. Enzo And Cass Can’t Teach That.

April 2016 wasn’t that long ago, but so much has changed since that moment in time that it seems like a different era. Take a look at the headlines of today’s newspaper. Back in April 2016, you wouldn’t have believed that any of that stuff could be happening in June 2018. It’s only been twenty-six months, but it feels like a lifetime ago.

Consider what was going on at the time. Barack Obama was still President. The Chicago Cubs had yet to win a World Series. Kevin Durant was a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder. Enzo Amore & Big Cass had just been called up to WWE’s main roster after a successful run in NXT. They were very popular with those fans and were heading to a place that could have used viable tag teams. Their debut went over pretty well and they seemed on course for successful careers.

So what happened?

We all know what happened with Enzo Amore. It’s important to remember that at the time he came up to the main roster, he seemed like a sure bet to be around forever as at least a mid-card comedy act. For all the talk of him doing the same promo every week, people sang along with it. Fans got on board while he was in NXT, and the WWE Universe was doing the same thing weeks into his main roster run. Enzo didn’t have the size or the workrate, but very few in WWE could touch him on the microphone. He had a certain charisma that made fans cheer for him even though his character often came off like a douchebag & did some pretty morally questionable things, even by WWE babyface standards.

Big Cass seemed like a natural for WWE stardom. He was tall. Not seven feet tall, but close enough that they could say he was. He had a good physique & a nice head of hair. I remember a time where that meant you were destined for success, or at least destined for WWE to give you every possible opportunity to succeed. His ring work wasn’t the best ever, but it’s not like that’s the most important thing. He was ok on the microphone, not great, but that’s why Enzo was with him.

Most of us would have guessed that Big Cass would have been around for years & given every chance to succeed. He seemed on pace for just that when he split up with Enzo. He squashed his former tag team partner on multiple occasions & was established as the “Shawn Michaels” of the duo. After returning from injury, he was pushed right into a feud with Daniel Bryan. He was given a chance to prove himself. He didn’t take it.

Of course, now that he’s been canned (without even being wished the best in his future endeavors) we’re going to hear many of the reasons why. There was the incident where he took liberties on an extra after being specifically told not to by Vince McMahon & the producers. Now people are reporting on problems with alcohol. There was apparently an incident on an airplane where he broke the door off of the bathroom. And there’s the general “he was a pain in the ass” discussion that seems to happen with whoever’s out of favor.

It’s looking more and more like his entrance graphics were done like this on purpose.

Much like his departed tag team partner, Big Cass rubbed everybody the wrong way. The Realest Guys In The Room were a little too real for peoples’ liking. Those personalities you saw on television weren’t creations out of thin air. Jim Cornette always said that the best wrestling characters were simply the wrestlers’ real-life personalities turned up to 11. The problem comes when you can’t turn it down off-screen, and Enzo & Cass had problems doing that.

They might have been over with audiences, but not over enough to justify dealing with them. When you’re WWE, you can be choosy like that. Enzo & Cass’s merchandise sales didn’t make or break the company. Maybe they can get away with being “difficult to deal with” somewhere else, but not in WWE.

They may be gone, but they aren’t forgotten. There’s one important part of their act that’s still a key ingredient in WWE programming today. Something they only had in NXT but lost when they got to the main roster. We didn’t know it at the time, but she was the most important part.

Carmella had been part of the Enzo/Cass package for a good portion of their NXT run. She was left in NXT to further develop her in-ring game, which was fine, but we all wondered what her ceiling was without Enzo & Cass. She was way down the NXT women’s pecking order & wasn’t exactly considered a top prospect the way the Four Horsewomen were during their time there. Now, she did have a feud with Eva Marie & got to do some stuff with Bayley, but it’s safe to say that people weren’t expecting big things from her. Certainly not without Enzo & Cass by her side. If you asked NXT viewers at the time who out of the Enzo/Cass/Mella trio would have the most successful career in WWE, approximately 0% would have gone with Carmella.

This is becoming a bit of a trend. Wrestlers that receive a ton of hype in NXT come up to the main roster & struggle to live up to it. Even if they have a good amount of success, people will say they don’t live up to the NXT hype. Sasha Banks is a 4-time Raw Women’s Champion. But since she isn’t the dominant female on Monday nights & having classic matches every week, many consider her run disappointing. Paige ran into the same problem during her time on the main roster…sure, she won titles & was better than the people she was wrestling, but she wasn’t single-handedly revolutionizing the business like NXT fans thought she would.

Carmella didn’t have those expectations. She was allowed to start off small & get better. She got her feet wet in a feud with Nikki Bella. Whether people like Nikki or not, they tend to care about what she’s involved in, and Carmella got quite the rub from Nikki even if she ended up “losing” the feud. Somebody else Carmella got a rub from?

I probably should have included a Nikki Bella picture in this column instead of James Ellsworth, but what the hell. The Carmellsworth piece of business was tremendous. The sophisticated hot girl using & abusing the awkward acting & looking guy <strike>hits way too close to home for my liking</strike> is a classic bit of storytelling. Everybody bitched & moaned when Ellsworth helped Carmella win the first Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match…which was exactly the point of doing it that way. Had the fans not rebelled, WWE should have been worried.

Her work since then has been pitch-perfect for her character. Charlotte couldn’t get the title back. Asuka has been proven to be another one of those NXT busts. As much as we all love dominant champions that can never be beaten, I feel that these developments are for the best.

Carmella fills an important role in today’s women’s divisions. We need somebody that can be a chickenshit heel. I know Alexa Bliss is over on Raw, is also champion & is also evil. She’s more of the Triple H heel champion though. Alexa occasionally shows a little bit of fear, but when the lights are on bright & it’s on the line, she doesn’t need to rely on anybody else, or even cheat really. The Goddess stands up to bullies like Nia Jax & Ronda Rousey on a regular basis, so we can’t really count on her to be that true Southern-style heel that people like Larry Csonka & I grew up on. Carmella can fill that void, and she’s done it well. I have no problem with her beating Charlotte, or Asuka, or anybody else really. Good heels beat people that are much better than them.

I’ve seen some people lately disheartened because Nikki Cross didn’t get called up with the rest of SAnitY. They really shouldn’t be. Not that I’m saying that Eric Young is the next Enzo Amore, or that Killian Dain or Alexander Wolfe is Big Cass, but sometimes it works better when people get called up after their stablemates & can slide under the radar. Enzo & Cass had expectations. Carmella didn’t.

All I’m saying is that you can’t teach who WWE will keep around.