Orange Cassidy looks back on the pain he felt coming out of his numerous AEW International Championship defenses.
Cassidy beat PAC to win the AEW All-Atlantic Championship on the October 12, 2022, episode of AEW Dynamite. He started defending it on a routine basis, proving himself as a fighting champion in the process. In July, Cassidy made history when he defended the title for the 27th consecutive time. In doing so, he set the AEW record for the most championship defenses in a single reign
In an interview with Denise Salcedo, Cassidy was asked to share his thoughts on his title reign. He made it clear that he's proud of the way he has defended the championship against competitors who aren't always in the spotlight.
“When I won the All-Atlantic Championship, it was called that before the International Championship, I really think the goal was just to beat PAC and take that title from him. It didn’t have an identity. It was a new championship, and I didn’t know what to do with it. So I just did what I thought I needed to do, and that was defend it as much as possible. There are championships in this company that are able to be defended against a certain group of people, like let’s call them the top five of the roster, those upper echelon people. The idea of having a championship that I could fight against the people that aren’t on television all the time, to not have a spotlight on them all the time, and that they are able to show what they can do. Because as we all know, AEW’s roster is very large, and there are tons of people that are just waiting for that opportunity to show what they can do because they’re all very talented. I was able to do that with this championship. I feel that this should be that. I think it should be something that we can show, ‘Hey, we all can do it.’ That’s what I’m most happy, that I was able to make this championship identify as," Cassidy said.
Cassidy was then asked to name some of his favorite matches of his reign. He stated that he doesn't like to get beat up, and rather than remembering the matches, he remembers the pain he experienced. Cassidy rhow he felt after facing Big Bill, Jake Hager, Daniel Garcia, and other stars.
"I never like getting beat up, so I know none of them are my favorite. But it is interesting that the championship was, it started on Rampage. I defended it a lot on Rampage against a lot of those guys that we were just taking about. Everyone gave me a tough time, and then it slowly crept its way onto Dynamite. Then I started wrestling the Big Bills and the Jake Hagers, and then I started getting in more pain. I don’t remember the matches. I remember the pain that I felt through each one. So my back hurt tremendously because of Jake Hager, Big Bill, Danny Garcia. My hand is still throbbing because of Buddy Matthews. Zack Sabre Jr., he messed it up. I wrestled against Katsuyori Shibata. That’s crazy, right? I shouldn’t be doing that. But I am," Cassidy said.
Cassidy previously reflected on his title reign. Click here to see what he had to say.
On the August 25 episode of AEW Rampage, Cassidy will defend the AEW International Championship against Aaron Solo. Fightful will have coverage of the show as it airs.
Cassidy will compete in the Stadium Stampede match at AEW All In. Check out the card here.
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