When Orange Cassidy made his way down to the ring at Forbidden Door, his presentation was… weirdly typical. That's right, despite taking part in an upper mid-card bout versus one of the best wrestlers in the world, on one of the biggest shows on the AEW and NJPW calendar no less, OC walked down to the ring with his usual sunglasses, denim jacket/jobbers, and general “meh” demeanor and turned in one of the best performances of his career – though, apparently not one worthy of 5-stars according to Dave Meltzer.
And then, less than one week later, everything changed.
Facing off against Ethan Page as one of the few “normal” matches on the Blood and Guts card, OC came down to the ring with a new song – “Jane” by Jefferson Starship, the song he used on the indies – a new, old Chuck Taylor replacing Rocky Romero as Trent Beretta's partner, and a tie-dye set of tracksuits for the Best Friends, and went on to put on a match that was far more akin to his typical fare at promotions like Beyond, GCW, and Evolve than in Tony Khan's promotion.
But why? Cassidy was one of the breakout stars of Forbidden Door and not only turned in a fantastic in-ring effort but was treated like one of the biggest stars around by the absolutely incredible pop he received from the fans in attendance.
Well, maybe it's because Orange Cassidy is already really good, has gotten himself over on his own within the confines of AEW, and has seemingly been afforded an opportunity to become an even more authentic version of his character.
Bringing back the old Orange Cassidy could propel him to new heights in AEW.
When the man now known as Orange Cassidy turned in his masked Fire Ant costume from Chikara for a Canadian Tuxedo and a pair of shades, the idea was simple; Cassidy had been wrestling for well over a decade and had become an incredible worker but his Chikara run was coming to an end: Why not embrace an apathetic style with an instantly recognizable look and wrestle quasi-comedy matches center around mind games and an effort-when necessary approach.
Seems crazy, right? Well, it worked: Orange Cassidy became far more popular than Fire Ant ever was and he rightfully embraced that character to maximize his booking opportunities as a result.
But why? What did Cassidy do differently than when he was in Chikara? Well, for one thing, he put his hands in his pockets, an aspect of his character that he brought alone to AEW right from the jump. He also picked up a bottle of orange juice, a sort of Popeye's Spinach-meets-Asuka's green mist, and began to use it as a sort of in-ring weapon the likes of which few other wrestlers tend to do. Cassidy then pretty much just started wrestling the exact same match from one promotion to another, with the biggest variable in his performance coming from how his opponent reacted to his approach. Some wrestlers, like Puf, embraced it and had a good old goofy time, while others, like Warhorse, played things a little more straight – as straight as a man wearing black facepaint who uses headbangs as a weapon can – but as a general rule, OC was either bullied or played along with by his foe before he slowly started to hit moves that would make the Colony from Chikara proud.
Once that got a tad overplayed, OC began to shake up his match work, appearing in tag team action alongside everyone from EFFY to Danhausen, valeting for the Best Friends, and even appearing in multi-man matches like this gem alongside the two previously mentioned performers plus Dan the Dad for good measure. He still used the pockets, the shades, and even the orange juice, much like Danhausen's jar of teeth, but OC found ways to reinvent his in-ring game to maximize his impact and become an even bigger draw than if he exclusively wrestled 30-minute matches at every spot.
Orange is a darn good showman and, at 38, has wrestled almost 800 matches up to this point; he's got the in-ring stuff down.
When AEW initially started, Tony Khan wasn't sure how to use Orange Cassidy. He didn't wrestle for quite some time during his initial run going to the ring with Best Friends, and when he did take to the ring for a match versus PAC, it was viewed as a major event worthy of a spot on a Pay-Per-View. Now that OC has gotten himself over in AEW and become one of the true, organic success stories of the promotion's first three years of operation, it's finally time to unleash the full product, even the juice, as Dan Lambert learned firsthand during his match versus Ethan Page. Fortunately, the “King of Sloth Style” is a master of restraint, so fans probably won't be seeing him whipping out his swamp monster costume anytime soon.
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