Orange Cassidy recently shared his thoughts on the oft-made comparison between AEW and ECW. Both companies are/were known for their hardcore fanbase, and Cassidy was asked about the similarities between the two in an interview with Bill Apter for Sportskeeda WrestleBinge.
“That’s interesting. I see that,” Cassidy said (per Fightful). “I think what ECW has better than anybody was a passionate fan base. I think they had a dedicated, passionate fan base. I think they love their professional wrestling, and I think they wanted to see great professional wrestling. They wanted all types of it. We talk about the hardcore stuff, but really, Dean Malenko and Eddie Guerrero, Rey Mysterio and Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho, all of these guys came through, some of the best wrestlers to ever do it. I used to love ECW opening up with a Triple Threat, it’d be like Super Crazy and Tajiri, they would do incredible things. Nowadays, everybody wrestles like RVD and Jerry Lynn.”
He continued, “I feel that there is an AEW fan is a true, passionate professional wrestling fan, and I love them for it, but I also want there to be room, I want them to make room for the person who just wants to pop in and have a good time. I think it’s important, especially me, I try as best as I can to get some people back into professional wrestling or into professional wrestling, those casual fans as we like to say. I really want AEW to be a place where if you want to analyze every little thing and get down to the details, you can. But I also want you to be like, ‘Oh, AEW’s in town, I just want to go to the show;’ to do that too and have a good time.”
Cassidy challenged Jon Moxley for the AEW World Championship at Full Gear, but was unable to claim the title.
