AEW star Orange Cassidy recently opened up about the challenges of his long recovery from a torn pectoral muscle injury, which kept him out of action for over six months. Cassidy, who made his triumphant return to AEW television on the September 24 episode of Dynamite, discussed his experience with Jonathan Coachman on the “Off The Ropes” podcast. His comments provide a candid look into the physical and mental toll that a major injury can take on a professional wrestler, especially one who has been a consistent performer for over two decades. Despite the difficulty, Cassidy remains committed to his unique persona and his place in AEW.
Speaking on the podcast, “Freshly Squeezed” detailed the arduous recovery process and the frustrations he felt missing major company milestones.
“It didn’t feel great. This injury that I had, the torn pec, it was the longest I’d ever went in my 20-something-year wrestling career that was longer than three months of an injury so, it took me about six and a half months. So this is like the longest I’ve gone without stepping in the ring, and the first thing they do when I come back is, ‘Okay, do a little six-man with The Conglomeration.’ ‘Oh, that’s great. I’m having a good time.’ Then it’s, ‘Okay, Kyle Fletcher. Singles match, have a good time,’ and then it’s like, ‘Oh, you know that guy you wrestled all the time who’s your biggest rival? Yeah, yeah, go have a match with him too.’ ‘Okay, okay, great.’ You know what? I got those out of the way so, if I can handle those, who cares what’s next?”
He also discussed the pressure of returning to his role as a featured performer on AEW television.
“Yeah. I mean, always, especially, starting in the early days in AEW, no one had any expectations for me… It was just like, ‘Oh, he’s the funny guy. He puts his hands in his pockets and does some stuff,’ and then I started wrestling, and then I wrestled a little bit more, and then I become a champion for however long — many months — and then twice over, and now, I have the expectation of, hey, are you gonna do that again? And it’s like, I really wish people knew how little thought I have about what the future holds for me. I literally just show up and do what’s in front of me. I do feel the pressure though of being that television wrestler that I was before. But luckily, we have the amount of talent we have surrounding us and the amount of talent we get to wrestle against, it makes things a little easier.”
