Orange Cassidy Reveals How Tony Khan Helped Make Him A Star In AEW (Exclusive)

"Early, early days, right, I think I popped up, I started doing my thing. I was like one of those background characters that wasn't really going to affect anything. But the crowd started to resonate with it, and they were like, 'well, this is interesting. Let's give him a little more TV. We'll do some more,'" Cassidy said."

"And then Tony Khan really put a lot of faith in me in those early days and was like, 'hey, let's try this. Let's make something new and different, whatever.' And he let me basically, like, I work still to this day, very closely with him about what the right, what we think the right decisions are."

Cassidy said there has been a lot of discussions with Khan about trying to figure out what works for an AEW TV audience as far as his character is concerned.

"It is new. it is different. And you got to be very cognizant of something that's so different, so drastically different will be unappealing for someone who is more traditionalist," the former International Champion said. "So, you know, it's a very fine line. It's also I'm not going to it's not going to be correct every time. It's just not, but then you have the faith to say to Tony to be like, 'hey, okay, different next time,' and not just be like, 'okay, you're gone.'"

"A lot of faith to, like, trial and error. That's the thing. Allowing me to fail, but then know that I'm going to become, that I will make it better. That's a tough thing when you've got to run a weekly television show. So I'm very, very grateful for that."

Cassidy's Road Back To AEW

Cassidy wrestled more matches than any other AEW performer last year, establishing himself as one of the company's true workhorses. However, his run would come to a sudden halt earlier in 2025.

The 41-year-old was forced to miss AEW All In: Texas and the entire summer in general after suffering a torn pectoral muscled in the spring. He would spend several months rehabbing, ultimately returning on AEW Dynamite last week in a winning effort against the Don Callis Family alongside Mark Briscoe and Hologram.

Earlier this week, The Takedown on SI noted that Cassidy had high praise for his former Best Friends stablemate Kris Statlander, the new AEW Women's World Champion.