Which AEW Star Does Tony Khan Call "Genius"?
Real recognise real.
Fans who caught the above image doing the rounds on social media last year already know that AEW President Tony Khan is a big fan of Orange Cassidy, but perhaps not to this extent.
A new interview with the New York Post highlights Khan's fondness for 'The King of Sloth Style.' In it, Khan stated that 'Freshly Squeezed' is one of the "top five people in the company" when it comes to "booking smarts and intelligence," adding that "his presentation is genius."
Khan added that he didn't know that the man behind the gimmick was so "intelligent, very knowledgeable, and very capable" until he got to know him.
As far as how AEW has maximised Orange's gimmick goes, Khan stated that they had purposefully tried to hide all the exciting things he can do between the ropes for as long as possible, busting them out for greater effect later on. "People don't realise he can do those things so the long-term idea was he would be like a manager, and when the time was right, we'd put him in a big program," he said. "He would have his first match as a singles star and that would be the beginning of the story and the breakout."
We have seen this very blueprint unfold on television over the past few months, first with the PAC feud, and now the Chris Jericho storyline. Fight for the Fallen saw the latter continue as Cassidy doused Jericho and the Inner Circle with orange juice.