8 Ups & 0 Downs From AEW Dynamite: Blood & Guts (29 Jun)

3. Ethan Page Gets Flustered... But Not THAT Way

Orange Cassidy's gameplan is to get inside his opponent's head, throw their own strategy off, get them flustered, then take advantage of their lapses and, usually, win. Behind the slacker aesthetic, Cassidy is calculating. It's why his gimmick complies with accepted professional wrestling psychology - and it helps that he keeps the act three-dimensional by continually finding new ways for it to work.

Ethan Page considered himself a step ahead of Cassidy by refusing to fall for his mindgames. The American Top Team man wasn't going to get wound up by Orange's slow kicks and pocket spots, demonstrating this by mocking his signature mannerisms.

This wasn't a problem for 'Freshly Squeezed.' Instead of throwing Page off his game with mockingly soft strikes, Orange got under his skin by being a world-class counter wrestler. Any advantages Page gained by rising above the taunts were negated by Orange's superior defensive work. This culminated in an Orange Punch and the bodyslam (in Detroit, no less!) Cassidy had been working towards the whole match, after Dan Lambert had had orange juice spat in his face.

Lambert was a great pest outside the ring while this very, very good television match was playing out. The Cornette Cultist will no doubt be raddish red at the "145lb down with his hands in pockets" winning with such a foundational wrestling move.