Big Cass

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.

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.