{"id":106443,"date":"2020-10-15T15:28:41","date_gmt":"2020-10-15T20:28:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=106443"},"modified":"2020-10-15T15:28:41","modified_gmt":"2020-10-15T20:28:41","slug":"heydorns-take-orange-cassidy-is-aews-most-successful-first-year-achievement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2020\/10\/15\/heydorns-take-orange-cassidy-is-aews-most-successful-first-year-achievement\/","title":{"rendered":"HEYDORN&#8217;S TAKE: Orange Cassidy is AEW\u2019s most successful first-year achievement"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-3495384975\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p>Ok, let me make sure I get this right. I\u2019m writing \u2026 or maybe I\u2019m not. Don\u2019t care. The sunglasses are on \u2026 I\u2019m leaning back in the chair \u2026 barely touching the keyboard as I gently and lazily type these sentences. Yeah \u2026 this is sooooooo cool.<\/p>\n<p>Did I get it? Hell yeah I did! That\u2019s how Orange Cassidy would write, correct? Nailed it! Look, he certainly wouldn\u2019t have celebrated like that but hey, it\u2019s 2020 and it\u2019s the little things, right?<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2020\/07\/HeadshotHeydorn2020_180.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-102397 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2020\/07\/HeadshotHeydorn2020_180.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"180\" height=\"210\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Orange Cassidy is a unique entity in the 2020 landscape of wrestling. He\u2019s a fine wine that needs time to breathe in order to be fully appreciated. He\u2019s also potently charismatic and attention grabbing. Most of all? He\u2019s AEW\u2019s most successful first-year achievement.<\/p>\n<p>Orange Cassidy cut his teeth and developed his current gimmick on wrestling\u2019s independent circuit. The diehards enjoyed his act for the novelty it brought to one-off wrestling shows, but questions surrounded that gimmick and its ceiling on a weekly television show.<\/p>\n<p>With slight alterations, Cassidy developed the act to fit its new environment. He\u2019s still a fine wine. The more you watch him, the more you understand the act &#8212; what he\u2019s going for, the engagement he creates, and entertainment he provides. The potent charisma? That\u2019s an entirely different story.<\/p>\n<p>The root of the Cassidy act is just that \u2013 charisma. It takes confidence, commitment to the character, and also an innate personality trait that attracts attention. That trait gives the gimmick a chance. To the casual wrestling fans that I regularly subject to monthly PPV watches and countless minutes of wrestling discussion, Cassidy stands out. They ask questions about him and then engage. Instantly.<\/p>\n<p>This is why AEW has something. A new act that appeals to both the diehard fans and new ones simultaneously? It\u2019s the magic formula and one that wrestling companies constantly chase like a mirage in a desert. You\u2019ve reached the blurry fountain, AEW, now drink.<\/p>\n<p>Orange Cassidy isn\u2019t your traditional wrestling star. He\u2019s not 6\u20196\u201d and isn\u2019t a goliath of a human being from a muscle perspective either. Cassidy certainly isn\u2019t a guy that you\u2019d look at as he walked through the airport and say, \u201cI wonder who he is?\u201d Quite the opposite, actually, as he looks like a guy that probably handed you your coffee at Starbucks.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-2099631561\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>Cassidy is different, which is why he\u2019s appealing. Wrestling fans want new. They want good, but they also want to watch a product that looks as if it has evolved into to modern times. Since John Cena left, the WWE has attempted to put guys like The Fiend, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns on the marquee as key top stars, but neither has moved the needle for the company in the traditional way of adding eyeballs. The Fiend, Rollins, and Reigns are incredibly strong acts, but it just might be that they didn\u2019t click like their predecessors because they were too much like them.<\/p>\n<p>Enter Cassidy. Fans respond to him, he drives numbers, and also is marketable for TNT and AEW outside the wrestling bubble, as we\u2019ve already seen in various commercial roles. Orange Cassidy is different, but maybe that\u2019s what wrestling\u2019s next big star needs to be.<\/p>\n<p>Throughout AEW\u2019s inaugural year of Dynamite, Cassidy has shown significant range with his in-ring ability. At the start he was a one-note, comedic, sideshow figure that played second fiddle to the Best Friends. He\u2019d hit his goof spots but stay there for the entirety of the match. Now, he has depth. Cassidy has shown skill in firing up as a babyface for offense, while also selling in an effective sympathetic way that puts heat on the heels. Because of that he\u2019s able to tell stories successfully that the audience can invest in and get behind.<\/p>\n<p>So, you did it AEW. It\u2019s been quite the year even if you take out the COVID-19 era, but Orange Cassidy stands tall as the most important asset you created. Now you need to feed him. To stand atop the company, Cassidy needs a long story arc that takes him from where he is today to the top of the company with the championship belt around his waist. The audience is waiting for the ride, and now is the time to take them on it.<\/p>\n<p>The bottom line is, Orange Cassidy is a star. You run with stars \u2013 or in the case of Cassidy, you slothfully walk with stars. Either way, AEW, get moving.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>NOW CHECK OUT HEYDORN&#8217;S PREVIOUS TAKE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2020\/10\/07\/heydorns-take-rohs-pure-championship-tournament-not-just-a-palette-cleanser\/\">ROH\u2019s Pure Championship tournament not just a palette cleanser<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-2745472836\"><div id=\"pwtor-2670054101\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Ok, let me make sure I get this right. I\u2019m writing \u2026 or maybe I\u2019m not. Don\u2019t care. The sunglasses are on \u2026 I\u2019m leaning back in the chair \u2026 barely touching the keyboard as <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2020\/10\/15\/heydorns-take-orange-cassidy-is-aews-most-successful-first-year-achievement\/\" title=\"HEYDORN&#8217;S TAKE: Orange Cassidy is AEW\u2019s most successful first-year achievement\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":101437,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,6454,53],"tags":[6121,6120,6461,6224],"class_list":["post-106443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opnionandanalysis","category-heydorns-take","category-opinion_stafftakes","tag-aew","tag-all-elite-wrestling","tag-dynamite","tag-orange-cassidy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2020\/07\/CassidyOrange_AEW_3x2_600.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106443"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":106444,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106443\/revisions\/106444"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}