AEW Founder Didn’t Want to Sign Orange Cassidy, Executive Says

Orange Cassidy is one of All Elite Wrestling’s biggest (and most unique) stars, but it seems that company founder Tony Khan wasn’t interested in signing him and had to be sold on the idea.

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AEW EVPs Matthew and Nicholas Jackson (also known as the Young Bucks) recently spoke to the “Tunnel Talk Pod” about the promotion and dropped the amusing anecdote that Khan wasn’t interested in signing Cassidy when the duo were bringing a number of CHIKARA veterans to the table.

“A lot of those guys, we specifically hired because of our CHIKARA days with them,” Nicholas Jackson revealed. “I remember that Tony [Khan] wasn’t very high on Orange Cassidy at first so we had to kind of sell him on him for a little bit. And I remember Tony saying, ‘You guys were right.'”

Since then, Khan has come around in a big way. In a 2020 interview with ESPN, the AEW boss admitted that Cassidy hadn’t been on his radar previous to being signed but that he was a huge merchandise mover and a favorite of TNT executives.

“He clearly had a following, but he wasn’t somebody, when we started, that I was really particularly aware of or had real big plans for…” Khan said. “He’s become, organically, a big merchandise mover, and he’s been in some very high-rated television segments. It’s not inaccurate at all to say that TNT loves him.”

Cassidy himself has credited the Young Bucks for bringing him to AEW, saying, “The Young Bucks were the people that were like, ‘We need to get Orange here’. Because my character is a giant middle finger to professional wrestling, so they were like, ‘Of course, let’s get him in.'”

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Cassidy debuted in the early 2010s on the indie circuit, gaining recognition in promotions like Chikara and Beyond Wrestling. His career reached new heights in AEW, where his blend of humor and athleticism captured fans’ attention.

He held the AEW All-Atlantic Championship and later became a two-time AEW International Champion. Cassidy also made history by winning the Casino Tag Team Royale in 2023 alongside Danhausen.

For his part, Cassidy seems to have nothing but good things to say about Khan.

“Tony Khan is incredible; his generosity, his openness to professional wrestling and different types of professional wrestling,” Cassidy told “Sportskeeda WrestleBinge.” “His ability to identify great professional wrestling and allowing those professional wrestlers to do what they do best. He’s extremely generous. Throughout the pandemic, he was a person that the whole company and their families relied on and he did not sway from holding us all up, so yeah, he’s the best.”

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