The summer introduction of the Universal Championship following the 2016 Draft saw Monday Night Raw's best and biggest all eventually fall to maiden titleholder Finn Bálor and follow-up fatal four-way winner Kevin Owens, but Big Cass being one of the unexpected rank-and-files to make it out of the chasing pack alongside Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins et al was a stature-enhancing nod of approval from WWE management.
His efforts against the red brand's topline crew were more than passable - small doses of high impact action again favoured the seven-footer as they had in his lengthy tenure alongside Enzo Amore, and the added benefit of actually still being over helped exponentially in comparison to his woeful heel turn the following year.
The spell ultimately remained an outlier, but with Vince McMahon's unending propensity for pushing giants over and over again, it would be foolish to thing that - on this ocasion at least - 'released' even remotely means 'never coming back'. It's perhaps too why Big Cass can still keep his chin up, despite now needing to get his head back down.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett
