Enzo Amore Credits John Cena With Rescuing His NXT Career After Being Buried

Enzo Amore has opened up about a pivotal moment early in his WWE tenure, crediting John Cena with stepping in to save his NXT career after he found himself buried by the company.

Amore, who made his WWE debut in NXT back in 2012, was struggling to gain traction before things turned around for him. It wasn’t until 2013 that he was paired with Colin Cassady — better known as Big Cass — a partnership that would eventually carry both men to the main roster and make them one of the most beloved tag teams of that era. But before that pairing clicked into place, Amore was in a difficult spot, and by his own account, Cena played a direct role in pulling him out of it.

The specific details of how Cena intervened speak to the kind of behind-the-scenes influence a top-tier veteran can carry in WWE’s developmental system. Cena has a long-standing reputation for taking a genuine interest in younger talent, and Amore’s story adds another chapter to that legacy.

For Amore, the road through NXT was anything but smooth, making the eventual breakout with Cassady — and the crowd reactions that followed — all the more remarkable. The duo’s run connecting with live audiences became one of the genuine grassroots success stories of the mid-2010s WWE.

Amore has been candid in recent years about his career journey, both the highs and the lows, and this latest revelation sheds new light on just how close things came to going a very different direction.