Will Ospreay Praises Orange Cassidy Over 'Fragile' Million Dollar AEW Stars
Will Ospreay recently took on Orange Cassidy at AEW X NJPW Forbidden Door, defending the United States Championship against Cassidy in a match many considered the match of the night. Ospreay defeated Cassidy after about sixteen minutes in a match that had the crowd hyped from beginning to end when Ospreay nailed Cassidy with a Stormbreaker for the win.
While on Wrestle Inn, the former IWGP World Heavyweight Champion and current IWGP United States Champion praised Cassidy and their match at Forbidden Door.
"Orange Cassidy had done like, a hell of a job I think everyone can agree with me on that," Ospreay said. "I can kind of say, hand on heart, like, I stole the show. I completely stole it ... I know that was great. I know how good it was down to Orange, the referee, the camera crew, and everything. The crowd was amazing, I loved performing in Chicago."
"On AEW's side of theming it was built around your Bryan Danielsons, your CM Punk, and your Kennys, and, obviously, on our side of things, it was kind of built around [Kazuchika] Okada, Jay [White], and myself and just like, we delivered on our side of things ... AEW sunk millions on those guys, they're too fragile to show up."
Omega, Danielson, and Punk are all injured at the moment along with a very long list of AEW talent who are dealing with injuries as well. Omega has been out of action much longer than Punk or Danielson, as his most recent match came at Full Gear 2021 when he lost the AEW World Championship to "Hangman" Adam Page. Punk and Danielson both began dealing with injuries at around the same time. Danielson is believed to have suffered a concussion at Double or Nothing 2022 and Punk, who had just won the AEW World Title at Double or Nothing, announced five days after his title win that he needed to take time off as well.
Danielson was originally scheduled to face Zack Sabre Jr. of NJPW at Forbidden Door, however, this would not happen. Claudio Castagnoli, formerly known as Cesaro in WWE, replaced Danielson and defeated Sabre Jr. in just over 18 minutes. Punk was originally scheduled to defend the AEW World Championship against Hiroshi Tanahashi at Forbidden Door, however, due to injury, AEW decided to crown an Interim AEW World Champion, with Jon Moxley defeating Tanahashi in the main event of Forbidden Door for the title.
During the conversation with Wrestle Inn, Ospreay also described what it is about Cassidy that he does and does not like.
"He's everything I can't stand like he's lethargic, he's lazy, and I'm so extra, I mean, look at the jacket I wear," Ospreay said. "Orange is phenomenal. He understands everything about himself and he knows how to play mind games in his matches. It's just if you're not giving him the credit where credit is due, I don't think you understand what wrestling is anymore."
Following their match, Ospreay's faction, the United Empire, began beating up Cassidy until Katsuyori Shibata made his way down the ramp to save the AEW star.
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Wrestle Inn with a h/t to Wrestling Inc for the transcription.