wrestling / Columns

Britt Baker on How Her Injury Helped Her Career and Orange Cassidy Addresses Wheeler Yuta ‘Using’ The Best Friends

August 3, 2022 | Posted by Jeffrey Harris
SDCC - AEW Roundtables, Britt Baker, Orange Cassidy, Darby Allin, Chris Jericho, CM Punk, and Jade Cargill Image Credit: Jeffrey Harris/411mania

Author’s Note: The following Britt Baker and Orange Cassidy interview clips were taken from a roundtable interview session with other reporters. This transcript has been edited for clarity and to include only 411’s questions and answers.

During the 2022 San Diego Comic-Con, 411mania was on hand for a series of roundtable interviews with the AEW stars in attendance for last Saturday’s AEW: Heroes & Villains panel during Comic-Con International. During the roundtables, we were able to talk with former AEW Women’s World Champion and Owen Hart Foundation Women’s Tournament winner Dr. Britt Baker and AEW star Orange Cassidy.

Dr. Baker is not only a role model, she is the first woman to sign with All Elite Wrestling. She’s also one of the first women to compete in a main event in AEW as well against Thunder Rosa. In May 2021, she captured AEW Women’s World Championship and held that title until March of this year, losing to Thunder Rosa. She rebounded quickly after that loss, winning the inaugural 2022 Owen Hart Foundtaion Tournament.

Orange Cassidy is undoubtedly an AEW original. He’s been with the company since it began. He’s also one of the most popular stars in the company. His resume includes two victories over former AEW World Champion Chris Jericho. Here’s what Orange Cassidy and Britt Baker had to say when we sat down with them for a roundtable chat:

Jeffrey Harris: Orange Cassidy, does being this amazing just come effortlessly to you? Were you born this amazing, or do you have to try?

Orange Cassidy: Yeah. I mean I try when I feel like I have to, but most of the time, I don’t, so I won’t. Yeah, that’s it.

Jeffrey Harris: For Britt, you and Tony Schiavone have an amazing friendship. When did you realize that you and Tony have great chemistry together and you guys just play off each other well?

Britt Baker: It was literally early on when I had to do the the first promos with him, and it’s it was kind he was like my security blanket in a sense because I’d never done a live promo, I’m like, “Oh, well i’m next to Tony Schiavone, so if anything goes off the rails, he’ll reel it back in,” but then, like just being backstage and getting ready to film promos and segments, we just really started hanging out and texting and calling and then now we’re like besties. We Facetime every other day, but it’s just fun. It’s just good fun, and when you have an organic relationship friendship with somebody, you see that on camera, always.”

Jeffrey Harris: How did you both feel about getting your first action figures? And Britt, I know you were bugging Jazwares’ Jeremy Padawer about that for quite a while. It took a while.

Britt Baker: Because i saw 13 Cody [Rhodes] figures and not one D.M.D.

Jeffrey Harris: He doesn’t even work for the company anymore!

Britt Baker: I tried to warn them. I Said you’re printing all these figures, and you need a D.M.D. figure. But no, it’s that’s something that I’ll never get used to. It’s so surreal to see like an action figure of your, face your gear, everything, like your characteristics. Like mine comes with the finger point, and that’s so surreal to me.

Orange Cassidy: Yeah, Jazwares, all those guys, they’re still mad at me because they had to figure out a way to put the action figure’s hands in the pockets, and apparently, it was something that they’ve never done before. And so they had to make this new thing that they put a patent on, and it was very stressful and a lot of work. Exactly the opposite of what I am, so they will still tell me to this day, yesterday they told me, it was like, “Oh, I’ll never forget all those long nights trying to figure out how to make your hands go in your pockets,” so I’m trying to think about it.

Jeffrey Harris: Orange, do you think Wheeler Yuta was a bad friend to The Best Friends?

Orange Cassidy: I mean, obviously, it’s still a sore subject. I don’t like to talk about it, but that young man made his decision and we’re doing the best we can to respect it. He was not a bad friend. He just made a decision. That’s his decision.

Jeffrey Harris: I think he used you guys.

Orange Cassidy: Uh, you said. I did not say that, and I’m just going to leave it at that.

Jeffrey Harris: When does it sink in the fact that you were the first person to win the women’s Owen Hart Foundation tournament? That’s always going to be in the history books and the record books forever. How does that make you feel that you’re the first winner, like Bret Hart is the first King of the Ring winner?

Britt Baker: It’s funny because i’ve been in a lot of the history books for AEW; the first this, first that, first woman’s main event, first female signing, but then this one is just had so much more attached to it. You know, just the name Owen Hart, the legacy, the family. There was so much pressure. That was a very stressful page in the history books to be a part of, but it’s it’s just surreal and it’s very humbling too that I got to be a part of that. And it’s like you said, it’s there forever.

Jeffrey Harris: If the right opportunity or opponent came along, would either of you want to compete in ROH for a Ring of Honor title?

Orange Cassidy: I mean I’ll go wherever I need to go, and I’ll do whatever i have to do.

Britt Baker: I just said this over there, I absolutely would. I would love to pick my opponent, and Iwish it would be Deonna Purrazzo, who was the former Ring of Honor Women’s Champion because I think she’s fantastic. She’s fabulous. I mean, she really encompasses the Ring of Honor style of wrestling as well, so I think that would be a really fun match.

Jeffrey Harris: Dr. Baker, I think the key to disrupting ThunderStorm is that Thunder Rosa has what Toni Storm wants. They’re rivals.

Britt Baker: It’s stupid.

Jeffrey Harris: There are no friends there unlike what you have with Reba and Jamie [Hayter]. You’re true friends.

Britt Baker: We’re true friends.

Jeffrey Harris: And you will never betray each other.

Britt Baker: No.

Jeffrey Harris: But there’s no true friends — it’s not a real friendship with Toni Storm and Thunder Rosa.

Britt Baker: I question Toni Storm’s sanity, and I respect her as a wrestler. Thunder no, I don’t respect her at all, but she challenged for the championship, lost, and then tags [with Thunder Rosa]. Like why aren’t you getting right back in line to to win that title? Like, is she okay? Is Toni Storm okay? I should check in on her, as a role model, because it’s confusing to me. But I’m not worried about that tag match whatsoever because right now, nobody can can beat me and Jamie Hayter. Nobody.

Jeffrey Harris: Is it difficult being as graceful and just amazing as you are that you didn’t even try to get a rematch against Thunder Rosa for the title? You were the champion for a long time.

Britt Baker: I still have not had my rematch.

Jeffrey Harris: You gave her a rematch and you beat her beforehand. What’s up with that?

Britt Baker: Listen, don’t get me started. This will all come to light someday when I decide that it should. Don’t worry, we’ll revisit this, okay.

Jeffrey Harris: This is favoritism by Tony Khan. Lawsuit!

Britt Baker: It is. It is because I beat her at the pay-per-view, and then she had a number one contender’s match the next week and then got to wrestle me again. Obviously, I can only fight off the goons for so long.

Jeffrey Harris: And then you won a tournament with the best women in the business. What is going on here?

Britt Baker: I am a victim of conspiracy. I’ve been telling everyone this for years. Nobody believes me, but I —

Jeffrey Harris: I believe you.

Britt Baker: Okay, thank you.

Jeffrey Harris: Even though it’s called Comic-Con, it’s really about a celebration of fandom. Do either of you have like a really specific or unique thing that you would say you’re like giddy or you have a huge fandom for?

Britt Baker: I am obsessed with Stranger Things, like over the moon obsessed. I hope we see Eddie Munson in season five, if either of you haven’t watched it, but I think the show is absolutely fantastic. It’s so something I wouldn’t watch. I’m not into sci-fi, I’m not horror, I’m not into any of that, and this show has like captivated me so much. I love the kids. It’s cool that we’ve got to see them grow up, but as far as movies, I’m a big Pirates of the Caribbean fan. Massive Captain Jack Sparrow fan. I’ve taken little bits of him, and put them in my promos too, which you know you have to be really be paying attention, but those are my two. *To Orange* Who are yours?

Orange Cassidy: You know, I mean, it’s no secret. Fast and Furious for sure.

Jeffrey Harris: Greatest movies of all time, right?

Orange Cassidy: I mean, absolutely.

Britt Baker: I’ll tell you one of the things I stole from from johnny depp. So anytime someone would address him and call him, Jack, he says, “Captain! Jack Sparrow,” so when I do backstage promos and they say, “Britt,” I say, “It’s Doctor Britt Baker.” It’s a complete ripoff from Johnny Depp.

Jeffrey Harris: When you got injured and they had you doing those vignettes, how helpful were those for you because I think those really built you up as a character even though you were hurt and not wrestling?

Britt Baker: I say all the time, getting hurt the best thing that happened to me because it really made me stop the physical side of wrestling and just really get like focused on who is Doctor Britt Baker going to be? The heel work, the promo work, and that was some of the best, the most fun I had with these vignettes. And it was really good for my morale too because I thought that this is it, I’m injured, I’m off TV. They’re gonna forget about me, and that’s really when I started getting my stride going. So I keep telling Tony Khan we need to bring some of those back, but it’s really hard now to get you know a four or four -minute vignette on the on the show right now because we have so many talented wrestlers, but that was one some of my favorite times in my whole career so far was being injured. Isn’t that crazy? That’s so ironic, but…

Jeffrey Harris: Orange, do you think you could actually wrestle while you were sleeping?

Orange Casidy: I have. I mean I actually have. It’s on YouTube.

Orange Cassidy AEW

Image Credit: AEW

Thank you to Dr. Britt Baker and Orange Cassidy for taking the time to speak with us. You can also check out our SDCC roundtable interview with AEW star and former World Champion Chris Jericho RIGHT HERE. You can also check out the full roundtable and interview transcript with AEW World Champion CM Punk and TBS Champion Jade Cargill HERE, and the one with Darby Allin HERE.

If you want to check out more of our exclusive interview videos and content, you can subscribe to the 411 Wrestling & Entertainment YouTube Channel via the above player. You can also check out more of our exclusive interviews on the 411 Wrestling Interviews Podcast, which is available on the following platforms:
* Apple Podcasts
* Spotify
* Stitcher
* Google Play