Orange Cassidy did not expect to have as many title matches as he did during his first reign as AEW International Champion.
Cassidy defended the title a record 31 times before finally dropping the title to Jon Moxley at All Out 2023. With many fans sceptical about AEW adding another championship at Forbidden Door 2022, many have credited Cassidy with bringing prestige to the title and having great matches each week. However, Cassidy never intended for this to be the case.
Speaking with Cheesesteaks and Controllers, the International Champion admitted that he was not a fan of having a lot of matches but did have a lot of respect for one of his challengers:
“It is bizarre that I have had so many matches because I don’t like to wrestle. Having all these matches, I don’t like any of them, but it was an honor to be in the ring with Katsuyori Shibata. I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that he wrestled me and is wrestling now. The Wheeler Yuta matches had a place that were a little more personal. I’ve had some time to think back, and people asked me this question while it was going on, and right when it ended, and I didn’t have time to reflect.
Continuing to evaluate his many challengers, Cassidy revealed that he wants nothing to do with Swerve Strickland following the recent actions of the former Tag Team Champion:
Obviously, the Jon Moxley match is still in my brain, but there is another person…the match that I had with Swerve Strickland, that one, I’m still surprised I got out of it with the championship. Swerve is…I’m very scared of who he targets next. Here’s hoping he goes after the World Title and not me,”
Orange Cassidy Becomes Two-Time Champion
Cassidy would reclaim the title just over one month later on the October 10th episode of Dynamite. It was later reported that Orange Cassidy was never originally slated to win the championship for a second time, with the real reason necessitating another title change.
H/t to Fightful.