Orange Cassidy Explains His Motivation To Be Lazy, Tony Khan Says Cassidy Is A Favorite of TNT

In an interview with ESPN, Orange Cassidy spoke about the motivation of his lazy character and how he eventually decided not to try. Unlike other in-character interviews we’ve covered, Cassidy actually speaks more than a couple of words at a time. Here are highlights:

On the start of his career: “I guess it was like 2005 or 2006 when I really tried to start to wrestle, and it didn’t matter, like, you know — I was wrestling as another guy that sucked with long hair. 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.”

On the motivation of his character: “If I have to wrestle, I’ll wrestle. It’s not my fault that I’m good at wrestling. It’s like one of those things, you have a job, you’re good at it, but you know, do you really wanna?”

On getting signed to AEW: “The Young Bucks were the people that were like, ‘We need to get Orange here’. Because my character is a giant middle finger to professional wrestling, so they were like, ‘Of course, let’s get him in.'”

Tony Khan on the popularity of Cassidy: “He clearly had a following, but he wasn’t somebody, when we started, that I was really particularly aware of or had real big plans for. [After Double or Nothing,] I spent a lot of time with Orange Cassidy and got to know him a lot better, and also talked to him about ideas, and that opened a lot of doors for both of us. … I had no idea what an intelligent person Orange Cassidy is, and he is very, very smart. And really, I had no idea how well-thought-out this all was. He’s multitalented, he’s a team player, he’s tried to make other people look good as much as possible, and the most important thing above all else is his work is phenomenal. He’s a great wrestler. He’s become, organically, a big merchandise mover, and he’s been in some very high-rated television segments. It’s not inaccurate at all to say that TNT loves him.”