Orange Cassidy discusses his transformation in AEW following his first bout with Jon Moxley.
Orange Cassidy's gimmick is one of sloth style, something that has polarized many fans in the industry. This has translated into a significant time as AEW International Champion across two reigns, with Cassdy defending the championship against some of the top stars in AEW during that time.
Cassidy's style has long been called a psychological element to his in ring work, but as of late, Cassidy has had to shift to a more serious style as he has kept up an incredible pace of title defenses. While speaking to the Mark Hoke Show recently, Cassidy explained the transformation he has gone through.
"I did what I had to do to get the job done and when people start to understand your strategy or what you do in the ring, you have to change it up. I also think I've been challenged a lot. From Chris Jericho, Matt Hardy, Adam Cole, and then the International Championship run that I'm on now, that first match with Jon Moxley changed something within me. He brought it out of me. It's the things that I need to do to continue to be successful. I don't know if I were in another place or in another company that I would be able to go through that transformation. I think people have this idea about someone like me as a comedy wrestler that, and I hate the word comedy wrestler. But they say that and then that's the one note joke I do for however long I can do that one note until you get sick of me and I leave and I'm very grateful that I have a company like AEW and Tony Khan that saw that like no we can show a wide variety of who Orange Cassidy is and I feel it's important I treat professional wrestling very seriously and I consider it an art form. I do think that when you look at something or see something that's art, you should feel all emotions, you know, sadness, happiness. I try to do whatever I can to make those emotions come through and if AEW were to not exist, I don't think I'd be able to do that."
Cassidy is currently scheduled to defend his International Championship on tonight's edition of AEW Collision against Tomohiro Ishii.
Elsewhere in the same interview, Orange Cassidy discussed how people can relate to his character. You can read more here.
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