What do the "Freshly Squeezed" one and "The Dead Man" have in common.
Allow Matt Hardy to explain!
The pro wrestling legend offered high praise for AEW International Champion Orange Cassidy during the latest installment of his podcast, "The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy," comparing the charismatic performer to The Undertaker.
Featured below are some of the highlights.
On Orange Cassidy being one of the best performers to succeed with a character that it is hard to do so with: "I think Orange Cassidy is tremendous. I think he’s at the top of that list when it comes to performers in AEW. He’s out there and he’s playing a character that is not easy to do, but he’s very committed to the bit, he’s committed to the gig. Once again, I can tell you how I respect someone who does that because I did that as ‘Broken’ Matt Hardy. But if he was just to go out and just be a normal, typical, regular wrestler, he’d be having amazing wrestling matches. He can go in there night in and night out and have this incredible wrestling match. But I feel like the thing that attracts him to so many fans is the persona, the whole Orange Cassidy shtick. So I greatly applaud him for doing that. I think he is one of the best wrestlers in AEW. I think he’s one of the best wrestlers in the industry right now. I think he has a really, really great confidence in knowing what he needs to do to make the character excel and continue to grow and connect with people."
On how Orange Cassidy reminds him of The Undertaker in that he is a reliable performer for Tony Khan and AEW: "On top of that, man, I’m going to make a very strange connection, but I do think there’s some truth to this. In some ways, right now, if you notice this, Orange Cassidy opens up Dynamite all the time. I feel like Orange Cassidy to Tony, at this stage, right now, where they’re currently at, these last few months, in some ways reminds me of the relationship between Vince McMahon and The Undertaker. He was his go-to guy, a guy that he knew could go out and get the job he wanted done, done. On top of that, those guys were both really good wrestlers, but they played these outlandish and outrageous over-the-top gimmicks. So there’s a crazy similarity there. Imagine that, hearing Orange Cassidy compared to The Undertaker. Just think about this. Tony put him in that battle royale where he was going to go in as the champion and retain the title. That speaks volumes right there. Then how many times on Dynamite do you see him kick off the show, to have a great match? That shows Tony has great faith in him. Not only does he enjoy and like him as a person, but he is a big fan of his wrestling style, and he also feels like he does numbers. He feels like he retains an audience. So he’s a young guy, it’s his first ever being a national, global star. Tony’s running with him, and I respect him for that."
Check out the complete interview at Spotify.com. H/T to Fightful.com for transcribing the above quotes.
