Orange Cassidy

Orange Cassidy: 2022 Biography, Net Worth, Family, Income

James Cipperly, better known as Orange Cassidy or Fire Ant, is a professional wrestler currently signed to All Elite Wrestling. Born in Stewartsville, New Jersey, on May 4th, 1984, he made his wrestling debut in 2004 at the age of 20.

At “GBW Saturday Night Xtreme,” he debuted under the moniker JC Ryder, teaming with Danny Rage in a losing effort to The Hardcore Mafia. GBW remained his sole promotion until he was brought on board by Chikara in February 2005. For his first year in Chikara, he performed under JC Ryder, but when the 2006 Tag World Grand Prix rolled around, he changed his character completely.

At the event, he rebranded himself as “Fire Ant” in a tag team alongside “Soldier Ant.” Together, their ant colony-inspired team was known as simply “Team Colony.” They lost in the first round of the Tag World Grand Prix. Still, despite this bad start, they continued as a team, eventually upgrading their tag team to a stable when they recruited a third member known as “Worker Ant.” The faction was renamed “The Colony” after this addition.

They feuded with many teams in Chikara, most notably BLKOUT, with whom they had a very heated rivalry. In 2008, Fire Ant branched out to singles competition. He captured the Young Lions Cup, a trophy specifically for competitors under 25 years old. Unfortunately, Fire Ant lost the cup one month later, officially recognising his run as the shortest title reign in Chikara history.

This loss sent Fire Ant back to tag team competition, where he saw much more success. At the 2008 Tag World Grand Prix, The Colony defeated the teams of The Osirian Portal and Martin Stone & Pac in the finals to win the tournament.

When Worker Ant was forced to retire after suffering severe cranial injuries (in storyline), The Colony replaced him with the debuting Green Ant. Soon, The Colony grew to four members when Carpenter Ant appeared to save his new teammates from the dastardly tactics of Gran Akuma, who tried to interfere in a match at the expense of The Colony.

Fire Ant finally captured the Campeonatos de Parejas (Chikara’s tag team championships) with Soldier Ant by defeating the Osirian Portal in September 2009. Later that year, Carpenter Ant turned heel on The Colony, joining rival faction Bruderschaft des Kreuzes (BDK). After much interference, The Colony lost the Campeonatos de Parejas to BDK members Ares and Claudio Castagnoli in March 2010.

At the 2010 King of Trios tournament, The Colony reached the finals but would again be stopped by BDK, this time due to referee Derek Sabato turning heel and aligning himself with the heel faction. The Colony, at last, got their win back from BDK at the 2011 King of Trios tournament, defeating them in the Semi-Finals.

In 2012, a villainous group called “The Swarm” appeared in Chikara. Their group consisted of assailAnt, deviAnt and combatAnt. The Colony and The Swarm were forced by Chikara’s Director of Fun (Wink Vavasseur) to integrate with one another for the 2012 King of Trios. This forced alliance continued after the tournament, meaning that The Colony now consisted of Fire Ant, Green Ant and assailAnt. Soldier Ant was left behind by his old group, now wholly alone due to The Swarm’s dissolution.

Around this time, James Cipperly (Fire Ant) started working on Chikara shows sans mask. His unmasked character was dubbed Orange Cassidy and was portrayed as entirely separate from the Fire Ant character. Orange Cassidy would be involved in different storylines around Chikara, never once getting involved with The Colony, opting instead to join Chuck Taylor’s faction “The Gentlemen’s Club.” He competed as the Orange Cassidy character within Chikara until 2016 while simultaneously focusing on his Fire Ant character.

Wink Vavasseur revealed a new team of ants in 2013 known as “The Colony: Xtreme Force.” The group consisted of Arctic Rescue Ant, Missile Assault Ant and Orbit Adventure Ant, led by Soldier Ant. The Colony immediately entered a feud with the new anti-heroes, suffering defeat in a match at The Shoulder of Pallas event in April. Solider Ant ended his partnership with Xtreme Force and retired following this result.

For the rest of 2013 and early 2014, The Colony joined forces with several of Chikara’s favourites to battle the evil heels from the promotion’s past, who were trying to kill Chikara. They eventually succeeded in their defence of Chikara at National Pro Wrestling Day 2, allowing the promotion to continue. After a breakdown of trust between Green Ant and assailAnt due to the latter’s past association with evil factions, assailAnt earned the confidence of The Colony. This led Green Ant to gift the moniker of “Worker Ant” to assailAnt, with assailAnt evolving into the second-ever Worker Ant.

At 2014’s You Only Live Twice, The Colony lost to The Colony: Xtreme Force. Post-match brought the return of Soldier Ant, who joined forces with another rival faction known as The Flood. The Flood became a thorn in the side of The Colony, with members Eddie Kingston, Jimmy Jacobs and Volgar defeating the group at the 2014 King of Trios.

There was a lengthy feud between The Colony and The Flood, which concluded in December 2015 at Top Banana. The show featured Fire Ant taking on his former tag partner, Soldier Ant, in a match which ended as a no-contest. BDK stable member Jakob Hammermeier interfered during the match, accidentally punching Solider Ant, which “reset” Soldier Ant and caused him to remember his true self. Soldier Ant then saluted each member of The Colony, rejoining his friends in his return to the faction.

Fire Ant’s stablemates exited Chikara in late 2016 and early 2017, leaving him as the sole remaining member of The Colony. In 2018, Fire Ant was joined by two new ants; Thief Ant and the second-ever Green Ant. Fire Ant was resistant towards these new ants, declaring that they were not “The Colony,” but changed his tune when the team won the 2018 King of Trios tournament.

In the summer of 2019, Fire Ant made his final appearance for Chikara alongside The Colony. They lost to The Crucible (Lance Steel, Ophidian & Princess KimberLee) in the King Of Trios 2019 Semi Final. This was the final appearance of Fire Ant due to the success of the Orange Cassidy character.

Orange Cassidy made his All Elite Wrestling debut in the Casino Battle Royale at Double or Nothing 2019. It was announced that he was signed in August of that year. He made his first appearance as a full-time member of the roster at All Out 2019, aligning himself with The Best Friends, an alliance he has kept to this day.

He entered a feud with Pac in 2020, in which his performances received critical acclaim. There was previously resistance in certain camps pertaining to his appearances in AEW. Most critics changed their tune after his match with Pac at Revolution 2020.

Cassidy began a feud with Chris Jericho later that year. They had three matches against one another, one of which was the first-ever Mimosa Mayhem match. Cassidy was victorious in two of their battles, with Jericho only getting one victory.

In March of 2021, Orange Cassidy was given new entrance music: “Where is My Mind” by The Pixies. Around this time, he and Chuck Taylor kickstarted a storyline with Kip Sabian and Miro, culminating in an Arcade Anarchy match on the March 31st edition of Dynamite. With everything going Orange Cassidy’s way, he received his first AEW World Championship shot at Double or Nothing 2021. Cassidy’s opportunity came in a triple-threat match with Kenny Omega and Pac, which was ultimately won by Omega.

Orange Cassidy and the Best Friends begin feuding with The Elite in November of 2021, with Cassidy’s focus specifically on Adam Cole. Cassidy and Cole faced off in a singles match on the December 22nd Dynamite, which Cole won. Adam Cole saw further victories over Orange Cassidy in six-man and tag team competitions in the coming weeks, with Cassidy eventually defeating Cole in an Unsanctioned Lights Out match.

A shoulder injury sustained during a ladder match at Revolution 2022 sidelined Orange Cassidy for a few months. He returned in June with new entrance music – “Jane” by Jefferson Starship – confronting the United Empire, who were attacking FTR and Roppongi Vice. Cassidy went on to face the United Empire’s leader Will Ospreay at Forbidden Door 2022 in a losing effort.

October 2022 saw Orange Cassidy capture his first championship in AEW when he defeated old rival Pac for the AEW All-Atlantic Championship. He has since defended this championship successfully against names such as Katsuyori Shibata, Trent Seven and Jake Hager.

Net Worth

No data is currently available for Orange Cassidy’s net worth.

Family

Orange Cassidy has kept his personal life private, so not much is known about his family, relationships etc.

Income

No data for Orange Cassidy’s income from All Elite Wrestling is currently available.

Record

According to Cagematch.net, throughout his 18-year career so far, Orange Cassidy has competed in 828 matches. He has won 402, lost 410 and drawn 16, putting his winning percentage at 48.6%.

Figures are correct as of December 14th 2022.

AEW Career

• AEW All-Atlantic Champion – 1 time

Chikara Career

• Campeonatos de Parejas – 1 time
• Young Lions Cup VI – 1 time
• King of Trios Winner – 2011, 2018
• Tag World Grand Prix Winner – 2008

Charity

In September 2021, Orange Cassidy participated in a charity softball game organised by AEW. He played the role of “third base coach” in an event which raised more than $13,000 for PAWS Chicago.