Does Orange Cassidy have a ceiling in AEW?

Orange Cassidy is a fan favorite but does he have a ceiling to how far up he can go?

AEW has spent the better part of two and a half years building a reputation as a professional wrestling promotion founded on a great in-ring product and fantastic storytelling.  It has been a place where character work was put on the back burner and an emphasis was put more on wrestlers being themselves and putting on a product that was more relatable to the audience.  But one character that has transcended this trend thus far in AEW has been Orange Cassidy.

Orange Cassidy has built himself into quite a polarizing character in AEW.  There are those that see his character as a slap in the face of pro wrestling and then there are those that think he is one of the best things going in wrestling today.

And your feeling on Orange Cassidy most likely ties in with what you are looking for when you tune into professional wrestling.  Those that enjoy humor and simply want to be entertained by what they are watching most likely are fans of Orange Cassidy.

Those that want their product to be something that represents realism and believability probably would rather that Orange Cassidy would just go away and never return.

And while the popularity of Orange Cassidy seems to suggest that he is here to stay, the question must be asked:

Does Orange Cassidy have a ceiling in AEW?

When looking at the way that Orange Cassidy has been booked thus far in his AEW career, the answer would seem to be no, he does not have a ceiling.

“The King of Sloth Style” has shared the ring with top stars such as Chris Jericho, MJF, Miro, Pac, Kenny Omega, and most recently Adam Cole.

He has challenged for the AEW World Title at Double or Nothing in 2021 and has challenged both Miro and the late, great Brodie Lee for the TNT Title as well.

This is not exactly a resume of someone that has a ceiling.

But a deeper look at the character will end up bringing us to a very different answer.

Orange Cassidy has a very limited ceiling in AEW.

While there is nothing about OC’s in-ring skills that would limit him in an AEW or TNT Title run, there is a major flaw with his character that is crucial to being able to reach his full potential: The man rarely speaks.

And while this is a perfect attribute to accentuate Orange Cassidy’s ambivalence of character, it does limit his ability to build up a feud.  Any program he has had in AEW thus far has consisted of getting jumped over and over until a blow-off match finally occurs.  And there is only so often that the same wrestler can play the sympathy card by being on the wrong end of continuous beatdowns before it starts to get repetitive.

And who wants to see a champion treated in that manner anyhow?

And once that repetition begins, the Orange Cassidy character, as it stands now, has no other way to build up a feud, and certainly not a feud over one of the two singles titles in AEW.

Because of this, Orange Cassidy’s ceiling should be firm at a possible tag team or trios (if it is established in the future) title run, where he is paired with someone who can produce buzz about a match via the promo.

A future run with someone like Danhausen is certainly an option.  Two wildly popular stars that really complement each other’s strengths and weaknesses would be a lot of fun and would possibly blow the roof off of an arena were they ever to capture tag team gold.

Orange Cassidy is great for what he is.  But with the talented additions to the AEW roster coupled with the self-induced limits of the Orange Cassidy character as it is now, there is a definite ceiling and one that should not be broken through unless the OC character evolves at some point in the future.