NJPW superstar and current IWGP United States champion Will Ospreay recently appeared on the Wrestle Inn program to discuss his victory at Forbidden Door, where the United Empire leader defeated Orange Cassidy in what many are calling the best bout of the entire show.
During his interview Ospreay throws strong praise towards Cassidy, and comments on the criticism that he and his character receive. Highlights from the interview can be found below.
Feels great about his match against Cassidy at Forbidden Door:
“I feel great. Orange Cassidy did a hell of a job. A lot of people, myself included, were expecting massive dream matches, but we all have to take a step back and realize that this is only the start of the relationship. It’s phase one of the Marvel Universe, it’s the Multiverse opening up so now we can get some dream matches going. I do feel we need to test the waters first and make sure it’s all good. I can completely say that I stole the show. I completely stole it. I prefer patting myself on the back rather than, ‘I could have done this better.’ We are always critical of ourselves, but I know that was great. I know how good it was, down to Orange, the referee, the camera crew, and everything. It was the perfect combination of everything. The crowd was amazing, I love performing in Chicago. That building was incredible, every seat was filled. For AEW’s side of things, it was built around your Bryan Danielsons, CM Punks, and Kenny (Omegas) and on our side of things it was built around (Kazuchika) Okada, Jay (White), and myself. We delivered on our side of things and you guys delivered with Moxley and stuff like that, but the way I look at it is, AEW spent millions on those guys and they are too fragile to show up. It’s a shame they couldn’t be there, nothing but respect, but you guys are being paid millions. I wish I had that type of money. My mom would never work in her life again. After that, I feel everyone is looking at me like, ‘He deserves that damn money.’ When it comes to contract renegotiations, I’m sitting fucking pretty.”
How interesting of a character Orange Cassidy is:
“He’s an interesting character, no doubt about it. For me, he’s everything that I can’t stand. He’s lethargic and lazy, and I’m so extra. Look at the jacket I wear, it’s a 10,000-pound jacket. His entire costume costs like $30. That angers me. It’s probably a deep-rooted thing where, maybe, you’re earning this ridiculous sum of money that deserves to go to somebody else that I admire and I respect, (they) deserve that money. You’re getting it with your hands in your pockets? That always annoyed me, but in terms of structure, it’s down to my character can be angry and pissed off at those points, but when he needs to turn up…we all need to take a step back. Orange Cassidy is phenomenal. He understands everything about himself and knows how to play the mind games when it comes to his matches if you’re not giving him the credit where it’s due, you don’t understand what wrestling is anymore. Obviously, you have your (Jim) Cornettes and those lads who take shots and shit on him, but wrestling is a weird thing where it’s so over, why extinguish that flame? I understand so many people put their dream matches together, but I couldn’t help but think that was a pleasant surprise when I found out that was happening. To me, that was a tick in my box. You can put me against the top guy, the bottom guy, the guy with his hands in his pockets, I still walk away with the match of the night.”
On the criticism that Cassidy gets:
“You can’t knock guys like that. They’re in AEW for a reason, I’m not an idiot. It is for elite wrestlers. The three that I mentioned before (Kenny Omega, CM Punk, Bryan Danielson) and being fragile, this is me firing shots and one of these days I’m probably going to battle those guys. Of course, I respect every single person there because you have to be somewhat good to be on this level. I’m not blind or delusional about all these things. I just know that I’m the shit and I’m going to talk my shit.”
(H/T and transcribed by Fightful)