Orange Cassidy wants to feel complete again.
This Saturday, Orange Cassidy will defend the AEW International Championship against Jon Moxley. The two men previously squared off at AEW All Out, where Moxley dethroned Cassidy to win the title. And while Cassidy has since regained the championship, he is still eager to redeem himself against the man who ended his first reign.
Speaking with Under The Ring, Cassidy revealed his mindset heading into his International Championship match against Moxley at Full Gear.
“It’s not fun to wrestle Jon Moxley. When you look at that giant monster, it hurts every single time, so I’m not really looking forward to it — the feeling I’m going to have after the match. But I have a lot to prove to myself in this match because the first time that Jon Moxley and I wrestled, he did beat me. It didn’t sit right with me for a very, very long time so now I have the opportunity to [rectify that]. I don’t know, there’s like a missing feeling I have holding the championship [now]. I don’t think I’m going to be able to feel complete until I beat Jon Moxley.”
Reflecting On His First Reign
Looking back on his lengthy first title reign, Orange Cassidy takes great pride in knowing he was able to push the championship forward while also showcasing the diverse range of talent in AEW.
“It’s very difficult, especially within AEW, that we have a lot of championships and a lot of and a lot of very talented wrestlers that are on our roster. When I received the International Championship, at that time it was called the All-Atlantic Championship, I really wanted to show everybody what AEW is capable of, the different type of matches we could do, the different type of styles we could do,” Cassidy said. “It’s just funny that I that me, Orange Cassidy, had to be the person that did that. I felt very privileged and grateful that I was able to get that opportunity to have as many matches as I did have.”
In further analyzing his reign, Cassidy recalled some of the specific challengers that stood out to him.
“Obviously, Wheeler Yuta sticks out to me a lot as somebody that I really wanted to punch in the face. There were so many [title defenses], sometimes I forget a lot of them,” Cassidy admitted. “When you have so many, it just kind of clumps together, but early in that reign, I had Jake Hager and Big Bill, Lance Archer, those big monsters. Then I had the flyers, I had Dralistico. Now that I’ve removed myself from it for a while, and I’ve been able to think about this, and I get this question a lot, I still can’t believe I got away from Swerve Strickland because that was probably one of the hardest ones I’ve ever had that people kind of don’t think about. Really, I still don’t know how I got away from that match with the championship.”
RELATED: Orange Cassidy Felt Like He Didn’t Have A Purpose After AEW International Title Loss
