Orange Cassidy has gone from cult hero on the Independent scene to one of the top stars in AEW. All because he decided to try.
Speaking to ESPN in a rare out-of-character interview, Orange Cassidy discussed the early days of his wrestling career and how he developed one of the most beloved characters in wrestling.
"I guess it was like 2005 or 2006 when I really tried to start to wrestle, and it didn't matter, like, you know -- I was wrestling as another guy that sucked with long hair. It was one of those things where you like wrestling, so you build a ring in your backyard, and you start to wrestle, and then, you know, no one likes you because you're a skinny white kid who doesn't do anything great," he said.
When explaining the motivation of the character, Cassidy said, "If I have to wrestle, I'll wrestle. It's not my fault that I'm good at wrestling. It's like one of those things, you have a job, you're good at it, but you know, do you really wanna?"
Cassidy was looked at as an odd hiring by AEW as he didn't fit their "real sports" approach given his gimmick.
"The Young Bucks were the people that were like, 'We need to get Orange here.' Because my character is a giant middle finger to professional wrestling, so they were like, 'Of course, let's get him in.'"
Tony Khan and Jim Ross were two people that didn't understand the gimmick, but quickly grew to see the potential. In the article, Khan said that after Double or Nothing 2019 and hearing the reaction he got, he chatted with Orange and got to know the man behind the gimmick. After that, he developed more plans of Cassidy and knew he could pull the trigger on Orange "trying" at some point down the line.
Orange tried in his first big match against PAC at AEW Revolution, which was well received by the audience. He's currently trying in a feud against Chris Jericho.
Fightful will have live coverage of AEW Dynamite beginning at 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
