James Cipperly is an American Professional Wrestler and Trainer and is currently signed with AEW. He is popularly known under his ring name Orange Cassidy and is known for his slow movements and lackadaisical attacks. People also refer to him as “The King of Sloth Style” for his slow wrestling style. Orange Cassidy is the reigning AEW International Champion on his first reign and is the current longest reign of this title.
James Cipperly was born on May 4, 1984 at Stewartsville, Greenwich Township in Warren County, New Jersey, United States. He did his highschool in Phillipsburg High School and graduated in 2002. He then did a Bachelor of Science degree in Architecture in New Jersey Institute of Technology. After graduating from high school he found interest in professional wrestling and started his professional wrestling training in Pennsylvania.
Cipperly made his professional wrestling debut on March 13, 2004 in a Pennsylvania based wrestling promotion, Ground Breaking Wrestling (GBW) under the ring name JC Ryder. On his debut match he teamed up with Danny Rage as the New Jersey Independent All Stars. Ryder had primarily wrestled for GBW and appeared on other promotions like Easter Wrestling Alliance (EWA) in Maryland and Valley Wrestling Alliance in Wilkes-Barre. JC Ryder and Danny Rage evolved themselves in the tag team division to win the GBW Tag Team Championship twice.
In February 2005, Cipperly made his debut in the Pennsylvania based wrestling promotion Chikara under the name JC Ryder at Tag World Grand Prix with Danny Rage. They had a series of tag team matches and also participated in the Chikara Young Lions Cup but came up short.
In 2006, JC Ryder changed his name to Fire Ant and started wrestling with a mask, he eventually developed and led the stable The Colony. The stable gimmicks an ant colony and the members of the stable adopt the gimmicks of the ants including the Fire Ant, Green Ant, Silver Ant, Carpenter Ant, and Thief Ant. They further have soldier ants and second worker ants as part of the stable. The Colony had an initial feud against Gerard and STIGMA. Fire Ant and Soldier Ant represented The Colony and won the 2008 Tag World Grand Prix by defeating Martin Stone and Pac in the finals of the tournament. Fire Ant, Green Ant and Soldier Ant represented The Colony to win the King of Trios Tournament in 2011. Fire Ant, Green Ant II, and Thief Ant won the King of Trios in 2018. The Fire Ant gimmick of Cipperly was a huge success and it lasted for 13 years with multiple championships, feuds and storylines.
In 2012, Cipperly unmasked himself and fought under the ring name Orange Cassidy (his current gimmick). The same year Chuck Taylor formed a stable named The Gentlemen’s Club and Orange Cassidy joined the club with Taylor, Drew Gulak and the Swamp Monster. Cassidy represented The Gentlemen’s Club in tag team matches and in multi starred matches. Cassidy along with Gulak participated in the king of Trios tournament and got eliminated in the second round. On Judgement Day, Cassidy and the Swamp Monster wrestled in a tag team match with Team Sea Stars and got defeated, which marked the final match of Cassidy in Chikara.
Cipperly made his in-debut in the Casino Battle Royale at the inaugural event of Double or Nothing continuing his same name Orange Cassidy. Where he confronted Tommy Dreamer but got thrown out. In August 2019, AEW announced that Cassidy signed a contract with the company and returned to save Chuck Taylor and Trent from The Dark Order. He then aligned himself with Best Friends (Chuck Taylor and Trent). Cassidy then had a successful six man tag team match being a part of Best Friends. In February 2020, Cassidy interrupted Pac during an interview, which eventually developed a rivalry with Pac. They had a match at Revolution, where Cassidy was defeated by pack, but his performance became the talking point of the show.
He then had a feud with Chris Jericho and lost the first match at Fyter Fest. Cassidy then had a rematch at Dynamite and secured the win. Jericho was unhappy with his loss and challenged Cassidy for a Mimosa Mayhem Match at All Out. In which Cassidy won again to end the rivalry with jericho.
Cassidy had multiple pursuits for the AEW TNT Championship but was unsuccessful on his attempts. Cassidy and Best Friends had a short term feud with Kip Sabian and Miro to have a match at Revolution but got defeated. They challenged for a rematch in an Arcade Anarchy Match where they won to end the feud.
Cassidy then had an opportunity to face Kenny Omega and Pac at Double or Nothing for the AEW World Championship in a Triple Threat Match but failed, as Kenny Omega won to retain his title. The Best Friends had a friendly ally with the Jurassic Express and combinedly defeated the Hardy Family Office.
Cassidy and The Best Friends then started a feud against The Elite, featuring Cassidy and Adam Cole. They had a match at Dynamite where Cole won due to the interference of debutant Kyle O’Riely. Kyle O’Riely changed his name to ReDRagon and joined the feud, where Cassidy and Best Friends defeated Cole and ReDRagon the following week. Cassidy and Statlandler had a mixed tag team match with Cole and Baker which ended in a losing effort. Cole and Cassidy battled for months and had a Unsanctioned Lights Out match on January 26, 2022 where Cassidy defeated Adam Cole after multiple interference from Best Friends, The Young bucks, Bobby Fish and Danhausen (debut).
Cassidy was away from action for months due to a shoulder injury and made his return on June 15th episode of Dynamite. He interrupted while the United Empire were attacking FTR and Roppongi Vice and confronted the leader of the United Empire, Will Ospreay. This was booked as a match between the two at AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door with Ospreay’s IWGP United Heavyweight Championship in line. However, Ospreay won the match and continued his assault on Cassidy and Roppongi Vice, but was stopped by Katsuyori Shibata.
Cassidy then restarted his long term feud with Pac, who was the AEW All Atlantic Champion at the time. They had a match on the October 12 episode of Dynamite, where Cassidy pinned Pac to win the AEW All-Atlantic Championship for the first time, marking the first championship of Cassidy in AEW. The All-Atlantic Championship was then renamed into AEW International Championship and is the reigning champion of the company.
Orange Cassidy is one of the popular wrestlers in AEW and has won awards including
Most Popular Wrestler of the Year in 2020 by Pro Wrestling Illustrated.
Best Gimmick in 2020 by Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Ranked No.21 among the Top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI list in 2021.
A. James Cipperly is the real name of Orange Cassidy, he also used ring names such as JC Ryder and Fire Ant.
A. Orange Cassidy was born on May 4, 1984 and is currently 39 years old.
A. Orange Cassidy is not yet married and remains single. He keeps his personal life private and away from television.
A. Orange Cassidy stands at a height of 5 foot 10 inches tall. In centimeters, he measures 178 cm.
A. Orange Cassidy is a second generation superstar, his father is Leif Cassidy popularly known as AI Snow, who is a veteran wrestler and trainer.
