All Elite Wrestling star Orange Cassidy gave a rare out-of-character interview with ESPN this week, in which he explained the origins and logic behind his unique “Freshly Squeezed” slacker persona. Cassidy has been in the business for 16 years, but it wasn’t until 2010 that he decided to try something completely different by putting the denim and shades on. He explained that prior to that fans wouldn’t give him the time of day, saying, “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.”
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He then explained why his persona looks so disinterested all the time, saying, “If I have to wrestle, I’ll wrestle. It’s not my fault that I’m good at wrestling,” Cassidy said, explaining his character’s motivations. “It’s like one of those things, you have a job, you’re good at it, but you know, do you really wanna?”
Cassidy arrived in AEW at last year’s All Out pay-per-view, but he didn’t start wrestling singles matches until his match with PAC at AEW Revolution. He recently made it to the main event of AEW Dynamite, putting on a valiant effort against Chris Jericho at Night Two of Fyter Fest.
“The Young Bucks were the people that were like, ‘We need to get Orange here,’” Cassidy said. “Because my character is a giant middle finger to professional wrestling, so they were like, ‘Of course, let’s get him in.’”
Prior to AEW, Cassidy had only worked in small promotions like GCW and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla.
“To see people care about what I’m doing is very surreal, because it’s like, it only worked in front of 50 people,” Cassidy said. “To hear giant crowds react to it, it’s like I can’t explain it.”
Last week’s Dynamite saw Jericho deny Cassidy the chance at a rematch, and Cassidy responded by dumping orange juice on the entire Inner Circle
Here’s what’s on the card for this week’s Dynamite:
- AEW TNT Championship: Cody Rhodes vs. TBA
- Falls Count Anywhere: The Young Bucks vs. The Butcher & The Blade
- Jurassic Express vs. Chris Jericho and Jake Hager
- Diamante vs. Ivelisse Velez
- Hangman Page vs. Five
- MJF vs. TBA
- A Promo From Taz and Brian Cage
