5 reasons why AEW's Orange Cassidy is awesome

During Saturday's pretty darn stellar AEW Revolution PPV, though many incredible matches were showcased, we were treated to one true diamond in the rough.

OK, first off, I have no idea what that expression is supposed to mean. Like, the rough on a golf course? Like, I get its overall meaning, clearly, but... what the hell, man? Anyway, not important. Moving on.

The penultimate match of the evening, preceding the fantastic Jon Moxley vs. Chris Jericho battle for the AEW World Championship, was "The Bastard" PAC (formerly Neville in WWE, in case you needed to be told) taking on quite possibly the most original character working in pro wrestling today, "Freshly Squeezed" Orange Cassidy.

First off, we need to make it perfectly clear that Orange Cassidy is in no way - that we're aware of - related to Sportskeeda Wrestling's own maestro of the interviewing arts Gary Cassidy. I know that probably wasn't a necessary distinction to make, but for the two of you wondering, no - not related.

Over the next five pages, I hope to not only inform you about this very talented performer, but more importantly, illustrate just how brilliant his character is.

So get your denim jacket and aviator sunglasses and let's get going.

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#5 Cassidy's persona began as extremely meta

Cassidy stands in the ring with Effy

Right, OK. So, what does that mean?

During Cassidy's days on the independent circuit, he did more than just play a "slacker" who wrestled even though he didn't really want to. He also messed with professional wrestling conventions.

Watch this match against Swoggle (another Bastard, ironically - sort of ironically if you base irony solely on the contents of this article) from early last year for Beyond Wrestling. See if you can get what I mean.

From blatantly - almost joyously - calling out spots, to Swoggle telling Cassidy he can't take a particular move because he's not tall enough, the two wrestlers are having a blast messing with normal wrestling tropes. You can find a ton of these types of matches free on YouTube (also, I encourage you to subscribe to Beyond Wrestling's YouTube page, as they have a ton of great free content, featuring wrestling for fans of all styles).

This wasn't all there was to Cassidy's burgeoning persona - and he's certainly toned it down since coming to AEW - but it still influences his character to this day.

#4 He's all in on his gimmick, even outside of the ring

Cassidy in a rare interview

Yeah, that AEW "All In" pun was completely unintentional.

With pro wrestling fans (hey, that's you!) more aware of how things happen behind the scenes than ever before - take, for example, the fantastic WWE Network documentary series "24" and "360" - many performers are more than willing to slip out of character when being interviewed outside of the ring. It's actually really refreshing to be able to get to know the person behind the character.

Orange Cassidy, on the other hand, won't do that. Think of it like Chris Jericho's heel run during his second stint in WWE in 2008. He would completely sink himself into his character while in public - refusing to give kids autographs, taunting fans, and even insulting Mickey Rourke before the WrestleMania XXV match that the star of The Wrestler was involved in. This actually caused Rourke to become legitimately upset and he nearly dropped out of his scheduled appearance.

Thankfully, Cassidy doesn't go that far, but he definitely maintains his slacker attitude outside of the ring - like in this interview with Chris Van Vliet (despite Van Vliet's employment with AEW, this interview was part of Starrcast III and not involved with the company):

It's that kind of dedication to a role that means that even if the character of Orange Cassidy doesn't take his job seriously, the man behind it does.

#3 He understands ring psychology better than you'd think

Orange Cassidy in his AEW debut

One of the neat things about the character of Orange Cassidy is that, behind that slacker attitude, there lies a really fantastic wrestler.

Chuck Taylor threw out a pretty funny line on the final episode of Dynamite before the Revolution pay-per-view when he warned Cassidy's opponent for the event, PAC, that for this match, "he's gonna try!" Taylor's tag team partner (and Best Friend) Trent Barretta made sure to interject and make sure that everybody knew that Cassidy didn't actually tell them that, and that Taylor doesn't speak for the Freshly Squeezed one, saying "he may try, he may not."

The match with PAC was Cassidy's first singles contest in AEW, but it's not as if the fans hadn't seen him in action before - and I'm not just talking the weak-sauce kicks he first displayed during his surprise appearance at the Buy-In battle royale at Double Or Nothing. He's taken to the air plenty of times - hands still in pockets, of course - to take out members of the Dark Order, just to name one example.

During last night's match, however, when PAC started laying the punishment on thick, the wrestler in Cassidy came plowing through. Jump ahead to the 5:00 mark in this video (or just watch the whole thing, I don't care) and you'll see what we mean.

Fans get so used to the slacker, laid back, simply lethargic Cassidy (who they love, in part, because the character is so hilarious) that they lose their minds when he actually starts to... well, for lack of a better word... try. That, my friends, is great ring psychology - playing with the crowd's expectations and telling an amazing story in the ring.

What originally came across as an indie-level comedy act has turned into a full-fledged character that has the potential to be one of the faces of the entire company.

#2 The story behind the character is really fascinating

Do YOU have a documentary made about you?

The man behind Orange Cassidy is James Cipperly. Debuting in 2004, Cipperly started out as your typical indie wrestler - with all the moonsaults and tope suicidas that come along with it. As talented as he was - he was trained in what has now become known as the CHIKARA Wrestle Factory, back when Chris Hero (NXT UK's Kassius Ohno) and owner Mike Quackenbush were in charge of molding young wrestlers - he was having a hard time standing out from the rest of the pack.

So, he decided to try something different. In fact, you can hear it all in his own words in this short documentary by acclaimed wrestling documentarian Kenny Johnson:

There are plenty of wrestlers trying to make it on the indie scene that are extremely talented and athletic but forget about the "entertainment" in "sports entertainment" (some of you may hate that phrase, but at the end of the day, professional wrestling is in business to entertain, after all). Cassidy clearly has the "sports" part down pat - just watch his match from Saturday - but he's been honing the "entertainment" part for a long while now, evolving his character as he goes.

#1 He's just damn cool

Cooler than the other side of the pillow

Take a look at the crowd at any All Elite Wrestling show and you'll see more than a handful of Orange Cassidy cosplayers. It's not just because it's a pretty easy costume to put together - denim jacket, aviator sunglasses, and whatever kind of pants those are. Of course, a white t-shirt is important - either a plain white tee or an official Orange Cassidy shirt. Even his shirt, which features a photo of him wearing the very same shirt.

The simple fact is that "Freshly Squeezed" Orange Cassidy is just a fun character. We've all had jobs where we simply just didn't want to be there - jobs that we just did the bare minimum necessary to avoid getting fired. As Tony Schiavone said during Cassidy's match with PAC, "I can relate to Orange Cassidy. He acts like he doesn't give a rat's ass and, a lot of times, I don't either." Now, professional wrestling is kind of a weird job to have that mentality for, but that's kind of part of the joke.

All in all, Cassidy has taken a character that could have been a one note joke and turned it into something fascinating. That, to me, is awesome.

What do you think of Orange Cassidy? Share your thoughts - whether you agree with me or with fun-haters like Jim Cornette - in the comments below.