Wrestling / Orange Cassidy

Seen here at his most enthusiastic.

"…"

Hailing from... wherever and weighing... whatever, this is "Freshly Squeezed" Orange Cassidy. Describe him here.

Or don't.

Whatever.

Orange Cassidy (real name James Cipperly, born in May 4, 1984) is an American professional wrestler currently working for All Elite Wrestling after a very long career in the indies, particularly with the now-defunct CHIKARA promotion as part of the ever-popular ant-masked stable The Colony as Fire Ant. However, he only really made it big as an indie sensation under the name of Orange Cassidy for his truly unique style of wrestling: Sloth Style.

The general concept of Orange Cassidy (and his Sloth Style) is very simply that he is an almost supernaturally detached, lethargic slacker (both physically and in personality) living in the incredibly intense and athletic world of Professional Wrestling, and is almost fervently dedicated to his detached laziness outside of the ring as well as inside it (such as executing maneuvers with his hands inside his pockets, which is actually a lot more difficult than just doing them normally). However, much like a sloth's slowness hides its razor-sharp claws and fast swimming speed, Cassidy's incredibly slow and telegraphed lazy moves hide an incredibly athletic edge that he shows just when his foe (and the crowd) least expects it. You never quite know what to expect when you're watching (and wrestling) "Freshly Squeezed" Orange Cassidy, the King of Sloth Style.

Orange Cassidy made his way to a then-nascent AEW in 2019, becoming one of the promotion's breakout stars for his truly one-of-a-kind style and character, and having a particularly strong fanbase with the younger crowd. In October 2022, he won his first championship in the promotion, the International Championship^note Formerly the All-Atlantic Championship. He held the title at a whopping 31 successful defenses, dropped it to Jon Moxley at AEW All Out 2023, regained the title against Rey Fenix in October 2023, and retained it against Moxley's attempt to reclaim it at Full Gear that November. He would then lose the title to Roderick Strong at AEW Revolution 2024. Cassidy is the first two-time AEW International Champion.

Without a doubt one of the most passionate, energetic, and enthusiastic professional wrestlers going in the modern era, Cassidy is a chilled-out fellow who just so happens to be one of the best wrestlers on planet Earth... when he cares to be.

Has absolutely nothing to do with a different orange Cassidy... though perhaps this crossover◊ was inevitable.

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"Freshly Squeezed Tropes":

• Alternate Company Equivalent: His gimmick has some striking parallels with that of New Japan Pro-Wrestling's Tetsuya Naito, who's similarly well-known for his in-ring persona as a lazy and apathetic slacker (although Cassidy is a face, while Naito is a heel). This made it feel all the more fitting when he joined the Best Friends, who likewise have many similarities with Naito's group Los Ingobernables de Japon.
• Always Someone Better: His career in AEW reached new heights in late 2022 when he dethroned PAC to become AEW's second International Champion, winning his very first championship title in the company. He would go on to set a new record by holding the belt for nearly a year, defending it more than 30 times—but his reign would ultimately come crashing down when he faced former World Champion Jon Moxley, who beat him to take the title. Cass may by a highly respected wrestler and a major fan-favorite, but he's no Jon Moxley... until he beat Moxley at 2023's Full Gear, defending his title and averting this trope.
• Artifact Name:
  • Ever wonder why one of Orange Cassidy's finishing moves is called the Beach Break? Well, it goes back to the man who innovated the move, Genki Horiguchi, who had a surfer gimmick when he began using it in 1999. When Cassidy, working as Fire Ant in CHIKARA in 2005, adopted the move, he kept the Beach Break name since "back to belly piledriver" sounds clunky and Beach Break is a rather snappy memorable name even if it doesn't fit any given gimmick. Incidentally, Horiguchi had dropped the surfer gimmick by the time Fire Ant began using the Beach Break, but likewise he never bothered to name it either.
  • The "Orange" part of his name stems from his time in the indies, when he was frequently seen drinking orange juice, which is a classic hangover cure—because his gimmick was originally that he was a drunk, and was always hungover (hence his slow movement and generally unenthused demeanor). By the time he signed with AEW, however, he'd mainly transitioned to just being a lazy slacker.
• Animal Motifs: Often compared to a sloth.
• Arch-Enemy:
  • PAC is probably Cassidy's nemesis in AEW. The serious, short-tempered, vindictive Bastard appears to take umbridge with Cassidy's slacker antics, treating Cassidy's mere existence in AEW as a personal affront, and the two have clashed several times, with Cassidy eventually being the one to defeat PAC for the International Championship.
  • While normally easygoing, Orange has nothing but contempt for the Blackpool Combat Club. In addition to one of their members, Wheeler Yuta, abandoning The Best Friends to join them, the BCC brutalized Orange's friends, Chuck Taylor and Trent Berretta, as well as terrorized Trent's mom, Sue. Orange holds a grudge against Jon Moxley most of all due to him ending Orange's first reign as AEW International Champion.
• Badass Teacher: He was a trainer at the famous Wrestle Factory during his days at CHIKARA, and eventually took up-and-coming wrestler Wheeler Yuta under his wing as a protégé after he moved to All Elite Wrestling, with the two of them wrestling together several times as a Student–Master Team. Subverted, however, when Wheeler ended up leaving Cassidy and the Best Friends to join the Blackpool Combat Club because they were able to teach him to be much more badass.
• Bowdlerize: Originally, the reason for Orange Cassidy's sloth-like mannerisms was that he was always hungover.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Cassidy is a fantastic wrestler, able to be both technical and high-flying ^note And by that we mean he'll climb to the top turnbuckle and lazily fall on you at the same time... when he's motivated. The problem is that he's so laid back he barely puts any effort into what he does, largely just using it to get out of rest holds or tests of strength so he can get back to lounging, until someone snaps him out of it. Which is usually a bad idea.
  • How lazy is he? His signature gesture is a halfhearted thumbs up. He lost a ladder match he had a decent chance of winning because he couldn't be bothered to unfold the ladder. It was too much work.
  • His brilliance doesn't just extend to his wrestling ability either. On the August 5th, 2020 episode of Dynamite, Chris Jericho invited him to a public debate between them (chaired by Eric Bischoff), in between questions about their wrestling characters and abilities, a totally random question came up about rising sea levels as a result of global warming. After a flabbergasted Jericho asked what the hell that had to do with anything and told Bischoff to move on to the next question, Cassidy (who up to this point hadn't said a single word) delivered a short, calm and very erudite speech about the threat rising sea levels will pose to coastal cities in particular if carbon emissions aren't curbed, leaving Jericho with his mouth hanging open.
    • And when you were thinking that might just have been a one-off for a laugh, at the final question ("Why does this rematch mean so much to both of you?"), Jericho starts to run Cassidy down again, only for Cassidy to suddenly cut him off with "Heeeeey Chris, shut up!" and then rip into him with a savage promo tearing a strip off Jericho about how he's not bothered by Jericho's attempts to embarrass him, but Jericho will be HUMILIATED when he loses to Cassidy. Not only can the lazy guy wrestle, the quiet guy can talk when he actually wants to!
• Beware the Silly Ones: Cassidy's shtick is pretty funny, but when he actually is snapped out of his stupor, it usually ends poorly for whoever he's facing.
  • As Adam Cole found out in their Lights Out match, pissing off Orange Cassidy guarantees him going all out from the start and mad. The results weren't pretty for Cole.
• Character Catchphrase: In response to Jon Moxley's comment about how wrestlers these days have a catchphrase or a gimmick, OC started using "I am 'Freshly Squeezed' Orange Cassidy, and I do not...have a catchphrase" in his promos.
• Cerebus Syndrome: A very minor example by most standards, but his character in AEW is a fair bit more grounded than his work in the indies, where Orange Cassidy could do some truly wacky stuff even beyond what he's already known for in the wrestling mainstream. Word of God is that Tony Khan was initially skeptical of the gimmick, and upon being won over came to an agreement with the wrestler that some things just would not work on national TV.
• Comical Overreacting: Not so much him as everyone else. The crowd sells his little mini shin taps like he's delivering Sweet Chin Music, and reacts to him putting his hands in his pockets as if Hulk Hogan was pumping his pythons. Of course, the secret to Cassidy's gimmick is that (with the exception of Jungle Boy at Double or Nothing) his opponents don't actually sell his "devastating offense", and usually just stare at him in bewilderment or amusement as he casually taps their ankles, which is what makes it all the more effectively shocking when he actually starts to try.
• Cool Shades: Is often seen sporting a pair. It's more likely that they will fall off during a match than he will take them off; if they do, someone else will place them back on his head for him, or he'll pluck a new pair from his pocket. It helps him maintain his cool-as-a-cucumber countenance. Of course, if he takes them off himself, then he has more in his bag of tricks than taps on the leg or dropkicks while keeping his hands in his pockets.
• Covered in Gunge: Did this to Chris Jericho on an episode of Dynamite shortly after losing to him at Fyter Fest 2020. After listening to Jericho diss him from backstage, and coming into the arena to listen to some more from him, he had Jericho and the Inner Circle drenched in orange juice dropped from the rafters. To add further humiliation, the towel that Jericho received from ringside to wipe himself off was an Orange Cassidy towel.
• Crazy-Prepared: After weeks of Adam Cole low-blowing him, Orange Cassidy finally came prepared in their match at Beach Break 2022. This time, when Cole his him in the family jewels again, it was Cole who cried in agony while holding his arm in pain. Turns out Cassidy is wearing a cup laced with thumbtacks.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: This is Cassidy's whole gig where he tricks his opponent into thinking that he can't do much when he's actually got a lot of tricks to pull from his sleeve. Having his opponents underestimate him is his ace in the hole.
• Dented Iron: The latter half of his International title reign had him be completely beat up and exhausted by his constant defenses. Before his match against Jon Moxley (where he would lose the title), he admitted to backstage interviewer Renee Paquette (Mox's real-life wife) that he was exhausted.
• Expy:
  • His blonde, slicked combover look and aloof attitude are often compared to that of Ryan Gosling's character from Drive.
  • His overall not-caring character, using "Jane" as his theme music and aviator sunglasses and denim look is taken from Paul Rudd's character Andy from Wet Hot American Summer.
• Finishing Move: Beach Break (Belly-to-Back Piledriver), Mousetrap pin, Orange Punch (superman punch).
• Garbage Wrestler: Obviously Orange Cassidy is not, but would you believe that for the first 3 years of his career, he was a Sabu-inspired hardcore/high flyer combination wrestler? He went by JC Ryder back then.
• Genre Savvy: To show that Cassidy isn't as dumb as what he is perceived to be, Cassidy refuses to sign a contract that allows him to challenge Kenny Omega for the AEW World Championship at any point provided that he pull out from their Triple Threat match with PAC at Double or Nothing 2021. Knowing Don Callis wrote the contract and he is as slippery as an eel and such situation isn't uncommon in the past, Cassidy doesn't have to read the contract to know its full of crap.
• Got Me Doing It: Has a tendency to inspire this in opponents and allies alike. While some copy his hands-in-pockets shtick to mock him, you have allies Shibata copying the half-thumbs up (complete with borrowed sunglasses), and even traded lazy kicks with Sting of all people (who even gave a very lazy chest beat on top of it all!).
• Graceful Loser: Even when losing matches, Cassidy isn't too concerned about that. What's important for him is to bring entertainment to the fans and they love him.
• Hidden Depths: Cassidy had a lot to say about global warming, and very quickly, which shocked Jericho since he didn't bother to answer questions during The Debate about wrestling.
• I Shall Taunt You: It's clear that the lazy act is partly because he really couldn't give a rat's ass, and partly to piss his opponents off, because if he wants to hurt you, he'll drop the lazy act and just hit you.
• Irony:
  • Despite his character and gimmick of someone who puts in minimal effort, he is (as of September 9/11/2023) the wrestler with the most matches for AEW to date, ahead of even known workhorses such as Jon Moxley
  • His reign as the All-Atlantic/International Champion was a fighting one, dropping challenges more frequently than most others before him. Not bad for a perpetual slacker.
• Laborious Laziness: His Sloth Style is based on laziness and seemingly low-effort moves, but some of it actually requires more work (most notably, wrestling with your hands inside your pockets requires a immense deal of effort to execute acrobatic moves properly).
  • A notable example of this is during his ladder match at Revolution 2022. With a clear shot to the gold ring, Cassidy tries to climb up a ladder with his hands in his pockets, which takes him so much effort that he'd have been better off climbing it like a normal human.
• Lethal Joke Character: Constantly mocked by heels as being utterly useless, but pushed top stars like Chris Jericho, PAC, and Jon Moxley to their absolute limits. Despite a relatively slim frame and keeping a lot of his moveset tucked away for a motivational day, Cassidy uses his incredible agility to reverse out of any move and turn it into a counter-attack to even the odds against arguably superior foes.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: Or as the saying goes, "He's gonna try" Orange Cassidy is usually a comedic, lazy, lethargic wrestler who barely puts in any effort...but it's only a matter of time before he flips a switch to incredible athleticism if he's pressured enough.
• Mundane Made Awesome: He gets the crowd (and fellow wrestlers — ask Jungle Boy) cheering or reacting with fake horror by Cherry Tapping opponents with gentle kicks to the shin, since the spectators play the act up as truly devastating or potentially career-ending. The crowd also get raucous when he lifts his hands in the air to simply place them in his pockets.
• Not So Stoic:
  • He laughed at PAC's expense during their match because he kept rolling out of the ring to avoid a top-of-the-turnbuckle move. Since then he has been known to break into smiles when trolling his opponents, such as repeatedly putting his hands in his pockets while Peter Avalon tried to keep him in various holds.
  • When he is involved in a non-scripted segment on Being the Elite, it is pretty common to see him Corpsing.
  • He's actually become visibly concerned when Kris Statlander got in serious trouble, something not even the Best Friends rate.
• Odd Friendship: Would you believe that the man is friends and allies with stoic badass Katsuyori Shibata? He's even lent Shibata his sunglasses...to which Shiabata gave an iconic thumbs up.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When feuding with someone he has personal issues with such as with Chris Jericho in August, 2020, Cassidy will ditch his usual laziness and go all out against his opponent.
  • Lampshaded on episode 103 of AEW Dark (August 17, 2021). After Matt Hardy (accompanied by Private Party) defeated Wheeler Yuta (accompanied by Chuck Taylor), Hardy's stablemates laid a beatdown on Yuta and Taylor. Cue Cassidy walking to the ring at what would be a normal pace for anyone else; announcer Excalibur said "And I'm serious—a spring in his step", and Taz followed, "I've never seen the man walk that fast ever!" Followed shortly thereafter by Cassidy laying Hardy out with an Orange Punch. Video here (the crowd pops for Cassidy's entrance at 26:09).
  • Likewise, when fellow Best Friend stablemate Kris Statlander found herself stunned on the outside risking countout, Cassidy SCREAMED at her to get up and back in the ring... which worked!
  • His feud with Adam Cole in AEW. To show how seriously OC takes their match at Beach Break 2022 seriously, he breaks his sunglasses at the beginning of the match. Said match also has OC not pulling his punches at all, from attempting to use an Orange Punch clad in steel chain, using Cole's own Panama Sunrise against him and finishing the match by hugging Cole and throwing both of them from the top of the entrance stage.
  • Late into his match against Jon Moxley at All Out 2023, OC does his usual schtick of slowly putting his hands in his pockets, and giving slow, lazy kicks to his opponent. Except the kicks stop being lazy, and eventually he starts viciously stomping at Moxley's chest, pulling his hands out in the process. He's done similar before, but usually as a fake out to lure the opponent in. This was one of the rare times he just breaks of his own accord.
• Paper Destruction of Anger: On the May 19, 2021 episode of Dynamite, Cassidy is approached by Don Callis and Kenny Omega who offer him a contract that allows him to challenge Omega for the AEW World Championship at any point, provided that Cassidy backs out from their Triple Threat match with PAC at Double or Nothing. Without even reading the contract, Cassidy slowly, slowly, sloooooooooowly rips the paper in half. The next week, he returned a copy of the contract to Omega, now in shreds. Given how long the first rip took to complete, it must have taken him hours.
• Parts Unknown: Billed from "...wherever", and weighing "...whatever".
• Playing Possum: His laziness is partially explained away as a mind game to lure his opponents into a false sense of security, particularly in AEW (whereas, on the indies, it was mostly because he was hungover).
• Power Stable: As Orange Cassidy, he was part of the Gentleman's Club, and is now part of Best Friends and Chaos. As Fire Ant, he was part of the Colony.
• The Quiet One: Almost never vocalizes.
• Red Baron: 'The King of Sloth Style'. Also a Shout-Out to Shinsuke Nakamura.
• Signature Move: Orange Punch, Mouse Trap (A modified La Magistral cradle)
• Ship Tease: With Kris Statlander of all people on Being the Elite.
• The Slacker: His entire character is defined by his lethargic nature.
• Smarter Than You Look: Just because Cassidy is a slacker, that doesn't make him stupid. He is, for example, very well educated on issues of global warming and rising sea levels. In real life, he has a bachelor's degree in architecture.
• The Stoic: He has one facial expression, and it's a mixture of boredom and disdain for everyone except The Best Friends. It was finally subverted in his 2020 Revolution match against Pac when he burst out in laughter at the latter's frustration before unleashing a flurry of offensive maneuvers unlike anything he'd performed in AEW before.
• Stylistic Suck: His titantron is just his name written in black sharpie on a piece of white paper. His merch is an uncropped photo of himself on an otherwise plain white t-shirt. Even his pyro is just a couple of half-hearted spurts of sparks and smoke.
  • When Jon Moxley complained about wrestlers all having a gimmick and a catchphrase in advance of an International Title match against either OC or Penta El Zero Miedo, OC would respond later in a promo, finishing with "I am 'Freshly Squeezed' Orange Cassidy, and I do not...have a catchphrase."
• Weak, but Skilled: While certainly stronger than the average person, compared to most of the people he goes up against, he lacks their raw power and toughness, which often results in him getting tired in matches quickly. However, with his maneuverability and the tactical mind games he plays on his opponents, he's often more than capable of pulling off a come from behind win, no matter how dire the situation seems for him.
• We Used to Be Friends: Used to be good friends with his former mentee and fellow Best Friends member, Wheeler Yuta. However, due to feeling disrespected and underappreciated, Yuta left the faction and joined the Blackpool Combat Club, making it clear that he was cutting off ties with the Best Friends. During their match in February 2023, Orange tries to reconcile the friendship both during and after the match, only for Yuta to refuse both times.

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