As Orange Cassidy is set to face AEW champion Jon Moxley in New Jersey at Full Gear on Nov. 23, the coolest professional wrestler in the industry reflected on both the history and the future of the company.
With mere hours to go until Cassidy steps into the ring at the Prudential Center for what could be a career-defining moment against a man who has swiftly become one of the most brutal villains to lace up a pair of boots, Cassidy spoke with amNewYork Metro about the breakout success of AEW.
All Elite Wrestling is now five years old and when it first launched half a decade ago it set wrestling on its head. At the time many fans bemoaned WWE as stale and credited this newcomer for making wrestling cool again. Now out of its infancy, Cassidy admits the company is now in its teenage years where it is striving to find its identity.
“It’s tough for AEW because of how fast the company grew and for how successful it has been in just under, we’re talking five years. We’re growing and we’re changing, and we’re going through that weird middle school age of figuring out who you are and do you want your hair short or long. It’s important that AEW just takes the natural evolution, and we don’t try to force anything,” Cassidy told amNewYork Metro in a one-on-one interview. “Tony Kahn has an incredible eye for talent, and he’s an incredibly generous person that understands professional wrestling. And no matter what changes we go through; I feel very secure in the fact that I know that Tony Khan will make sure that the best are wrestling for AEW.”
Cassidy became famous for his cool demeanor and devil-may-care attitude, wearing black shades and a denim fit to the squared-circle and giving fans a lazy thumbs up, his character is one that would be at home in generations past. This is something that not only sets him aside from many of his contemporaries but also, according to fans, the reason why he has become so beloved.
“Everybody who watches professional wrestling and became fans of professional wrestling, they were at a certain generation — they were at a certain age. The age that I loved professional wrestling, it was about the character, it was who they were in the ring. That’s who I related to,” Cassidy said. “I think the most iconic professional wrestlers are the ones that you can dress up for at Halloween.”
Going from wrestling on the independent circuit at small shows to a near overnight sensation, Cassidy now travels the world, wrestling in countries like England and Australia where he has fans tell him that they dressed as him for Halloween — people from across the world he had never imagined striving to look just like him.
“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it, having somebody from all across the world be like, ’oh, I dressed up like you for Halloween, or I bought your T-shirt,” Cassidy said.
All that history and all that work has led Cassidy to Full Gear on Saturday night where, in the shadow of New York City and in the Garden State, he will have the chance to walk out as world champion. However, current champion Jon Moxley, a multi-time champion and bad boy of the company stands in his way. Still, Cassidy says he would not have it any other way.
“I am tied to Jon Moxley forever. He is the person that actually changes me. I am not the same wrestler after I get done going to war with him inside the professional wrestling ring. I’ve done the best I can these past couple months to kind of give myself the advantage, and for all those people that are watching throughout the weeks, I think you kind of understand where I was going and what I was doing,” Cassidy said. “If all goes to plan, I should be walking out with the AEW World Championship in my backpack.”
Despite Moxley’s mean streak and underhanded tactics, including brutalizing his opponents with weapons, Cassidy says that is not going to help him when the bell rings.
“He can do whatever he wants after the bell rings, before the bell rings, but in between those two bell rings, it’s a professional wrestling match you need to win by professionally wrestling,” Cassidy said.
Fans can purchase tickets for Full Gear 2024 inside at the Prudential Center on Nov. 23.
