W Morrissey, formerly Big Cass, has opened up about the decision to change his name in IMPACT Wrestling – noting that it was only made the the day of his debut.
Speaking with Inside The Ropes‘ Lead Writer Gary Cassidy, the seven-foot-tall former WWE Superstar opened up about his transformation and why he changed his name.
“Because it’s a fresh start in a new company and, you know, this is day one of a new journey for me. It’s day one of me making it to the top of professional wrestling on my own with a healthy mindset, being sober and happy and healthy – and it was a brand new start.”
Morrissey revealed how he wanted to change everything and have a fresh start, claiming he took inspiration from Scott Hall and Kevin Nash for reverting to his real name – or a variation of it.
“I didn’t want anything associated with what I used to do or who I used to be getting in the way of this new journey, so anything that I used to do went out the window, including gear, the look, everything. I wanted a fresh start, and I thought coming back as a heel… When Scott Hall and Kevin Nash showed up at WCW, I thought that was really cool using their real names but, for a heel, just having me abbreviate my first name instead of saying it – I thought that that was pretty, pretty arrogant.
The former Big Cass added that his name change was only decided on the day of Rebellion.
“So the day of is when I decided, or we decided, that we were going to be W Morrissey instead.”
Meanwhile, Morrissey also opened up about how he signed with IMPACT.
“Yeah, I worked the Lariato show, where I came back, for Gallows, and then the next time I went to Lariato Pro, Scott D’Amore was doing a training session there and actually scouting talent earlier in the day. So he was hanging around the show and I got a chance to talk to him, and he saw that I was healthy and in a good place mentally, and obviously in really great shape and, you know, I had more of a professional mindset coming back to wrestling, just treating it like, ‘Let’s do good business, let’s make money together,’ and I guess after that conversation, we stayed in touch and that’s when we started talking about me actually coming here.”
You can read the entire interview here.
Thanks so much to W Morrissey for taking the time, and to IMPACT UK & Ireland for facilitating the interview. Fans in the UK & Ireland can catch IMPACT! every Wednesday on IMPACT Plus and on Facebook & YouTube, with the show repeated on 5Star on Friday evenings, and catch all IMPACT PPVs via IMPACT Plus and Fite TV worldwide.