Orange Cassidy Just Wants to Be Different

With Orange Cassidy, funny does equal money
Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein

Kenny Johnson is at it again, this time starting a series of documentaries on comedy in wrestling, or at least that's the vibe I got from the installment highlighting Orange Cassidy as "part one." Indie wrestling's premiere documentarian sat down with Cassidy and Colt Cabana to talk about the difficulties and benefits of doing comedy on a show where too many people just want AGGRO-INTENSITY and people in kickpads doing a lot of kicks. It might be dramatic to say doing comedy is "brave," but it's definitely not something anyone just takes lightly because of how it's viewed.

Outside of his constant desire to be wetter than he already is and his recounting of the plot of the Fast and Furious film franchise, the thing that stands out the most is Cassidy saying that he just wants to be different, unique. The wrestling industry has a bad track record of attracting people who see an idea and want to ape it rather than come up with something on their own. The industry leader, WWE, is a walking, talking exercise in trying to relight the fire from the late '90s for fuck's sake. Meanwhile, the number of wrestlers who decide they want to be the guy who finally makes people forget about Low Ki or Amazing Red is staggering compared to the ones who want to be the first of their kind.

So Cassidy making that his thing, even at the detriment of bookings with random companies, feels refreshing. It helps that he owns his character and has come up with one that seemingly either hasn't been done or hasn't been done for a long enough time. I've seen him live enough times to look forward to him coming out of the curtain at whatever Chikara or other show he appears at. Of course, you don't have to take my word for it; watch the video and decide for yourself. Both he and Cabana drop some good insights about comedy.