Orange Cassidy has wrestled in more matches than anyone else in AEW history. The current AEW International Champion has stepped between the ropes for action nearly 150 times in his All Elite career and has delivered some of the best bouts in the company’s history. Cassidy and Will Ospreay tore the house down at the initial Forbidden Door event last year, and most recently, he successfully retained his gold against Lance Archer at Battle of The Belts VII.
Fightful reports that Cassidy’s in-ring prowess is now being used beyond the squared circle’s confines as he has begun producing other AEW matches backstage. As an agent, or producer, the titles seem interchangeable; Cassidy sits on a headset in the back, helps to make sure the match is on-time, and sends directions to the ringside area. He is also working with the talent beforehand to determine how the action will play out and then relay whatever big spots may be planned to the television production team.
A few matches in recent memory that Cassidy has agented include Infantry vs. The Kingdom, an ROH bout, and Big Bill and Brian Cage vs. Matt Sydal and Trent on AEW Rampage. The pairing of Big Bill and Cage, in particular, garnered a lot of positive feedback from fans and helped elevate the duo ahead of their AEW Blind Eliminator semifinal match against MJF and Adam Cole, the eventual tournament winners.
Interestingly, author Brian R. Solomon, who has penned a handful of pro wrestling nonfiction books, caught wind of the news and decided to share some unique insight from a conversation he had with WWE Hall of Famer Bret “Hitman” Hart.
“When I recently interviewed Bret Hart for my book, he told me that he offered to agent for them, but they only wanted to bring him in as a manager like Tully, Arn, Jake, etc,” he revealed. “Imagine having the ability to have Bret Hart coach your talent and saying, no just be a TV character.”
Hart’s only appearance for AEW came at Double or Nothing 2019, the promotion’s first PPV, when he revealed the AEW World Championship to fans ahead of the main event between Chris Jericho and Kenny Omega.