Orange Cassidy is one of AEW’s biggest stars. He has been a fixture of the company’s programming since its inception and has enjoyed consistent strong booking as well. But with success comes criticism and Cassidy has definitely gotten plenty since he began wrestling for AEW.
Cassidy is very popular with AEW’s homegrown audience but there are still many current and former fans that point to him as a reason why they dislike AEW and modern professional wrestling in general.
The Orange Cassidy character is basically a lazy guy that doesn’t care for the most part and conserves his energy. And yet, fans react to his low-energy kicks and lackadaisical attacks as if he was hitting full force.
For whatever reason, this maverick whom some claim spits in the face of the seriousness of professional wrestling still has plenty of dedicated supporters. But that’s not to say that he’s unaware of the criticisms leveled against him.
On an episode of Casual Conversations with The Wrestling Classic, Orange Cassidy explained his reasoning for not seeing himself as an “insult” to professional wrestling. in his mind, if he was such an insult, then why were other wrestlers wanting to work with him?
Orange Cassidy claims many wrestlers wanted to wrestle him specifically
Cassidy pointed out that NJPW legend Katsuyori Shibata went out of his way to pick Cassidy as his opponent.
“There are a lot of people that don’t care for me, that don’t care about what I’m doing. They don’t like what I’m doing, they don’t appreciate it. They think I’m insulting professional wrestling or whatever you want to call it.
Then there is a living legend and a phenomenal professional wrestling in Shibata. He said he wanted, on his return, because he actually almost died doing what he does in the ring, and when he came back and was able to wrestle, he mentioned two people.
One of them was Bryan Danielson, and the other one was me. I don’t think people understand that, but I never thought that a person of that stature would even consider me for something like that, and it was truly an honor. I barely beat him.
I mean, I was terrified because he is Shibata. But because of that, Shibata and I actually played roulette last night, so we’re friends.”
Orange Cassidy will have his hands full on Sunday at Double or Nothing when he defends his AEW International Championship in a 21-Man Battle Royale.
h/t Fightful for the transcription