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An incident with SmackDown Live women's champion Carmella may have led to Big Cass' departure from WWE.

WrestlingNews.co's Taylor Underwood reported on Friday that Big Cass "caused a scene" when speaking to Carmella, with whom he previously had a relationship. Carmella started walking away before Cass "grabbed her arm," which led fellow wrestlers to intervene.

WWE confirmed Cass' departure from the company Tuesday.

Given the sudden nature of Cass' official release, speculation ran rampant as to what led to WWE's decision.

The move came hours before Tuesday's edition of SmackDown Live and only days after Cass wrestled at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, where he lost to Daniel Bryan.

Pro Wrestling Sheet's Ryan Satin reported in May that WWE officials were upset with Cass for a segment on SmackDown Live in which he attacked a little person dressed as Bryan. According to Satin, Cass continued the attack for longer than had originally been in the script.

Satin followed up after Cass' release to report "a mix of multiple things" culminated in his exit. He broke the door off a bathroom on a tour bus being used by WWE, and Sports Illustrated's Justin Barrasso reported Cass "was drinking the majority of [WWE's] European tour and had attitude issues when drunk."



PWInsider.com's Mike Johnson reported on Thursday that Cass has a 90-day no-compete clause that went into effect immediately after his release, which will prevent him from immediately working with another wrestling company.