Orange Cassidy Weighs In On His Character’s Evolution, Being Called a Comedy Wrestler

Orange Cassidy is not a fan of the phrase “comedy wrestler,” as he noted in an interview while talking his character’s changes as of late. The AEW International Champion spoke on the Mark Hoke Show about his on-screen persona and how he’s changed things up recently to show a more serious side. You can check out some highlights below, per Fightful:

On his change to a more serious persona: “I did what I had to do to get the job done and when people start to understand your strategy or what you do in the ring, you have to change it up. I also think I’ve been challenged a lot. From Chris Jericho, Matt Hardy, Adam Cole, and then the International Championship run that I’m on now, that first match with Jon Moxley changed something within me. He brought it out of me. It’s the things that I need to do to continue to be successful. I don’t know if I were in another place or in another company that I would be able to go through that transformation.”

On the perception around him as a “comedy wrestler”: “I think people have this idea about someone like me as a comedy wrestler that, and I hate the word comedy wrestler. But they say that and then that’s the one note joke I do for however long I can do that one note until you get sick of me and I leave and I’m very grateful that I have a company like AEW and Tony Khan that saw that like no we can show a wide variety of who Orange Cassidy is and I feel it’s important I treat professional wrestling very seriously and I consider it an art form. I do think that when you look at something or see something that’s art, you should feel all emotions, you know, sadness, happiness. I try to do whatever I can to make those emotions come through and if AEW were to not exist, I don’t think I’d be able to do that.”