Big Cass made his return to a WWE ring after eight years away, but his first outing didn’t fully impress Dave Meltzer. Cass worked against Je’Von Evans on the August 24 edition of Monday Night RAW, which emanated from the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, Ontario.
Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Meltzer said he expected more from Cass and drew a comparison to his time as Big Bill in AEW. In Meltzer’s view, Cass looked noticeably better during his matches in Tony Khan’s promotion.
Cass picked up the win over Je’Von Evans with a Big Boot for the pin. The match clocked in at 8 minutes and 52 seconds and marked his first official WWE match since 2018.
Meltzer wasn’t alone in his assessment. Sports Illustrated noted that for anyone who wasn’t a fan of Big Cass during his first WWE run, not much appears to have changed. The outlet also pointed to a flat crowd response through much of the match.
Ironically, Meltzer had been quite positive about Cass’s development ahead of the return. In early July, he said the wrestler was “so much better than he was in his WWE days” following his years in AEW.
Big Cass returned to WWE on the August 3 RAW, attacking Je’Von Evans. Prior to that, he wrapped up his time in AEW, where he officially came off the roster on July 14.