INSANE Orange Cassidy Match Booked For AEW Rampage
Nobody could've predicted Orange Cassidy's All-Atlantic Title opponent for AEW Rampage.
Katsuyori Shibata's third wrestling match since almost dying in the ring in 2017 will come against Orange Cassidy on this Friday's episode of AEW Rampage.
Yes, you are reading that correctly.
Cassidy defended his AEW All-Atlantic Championship against Luchasaurus and Rey Fenix on last night's Dynamite. Prior to this, he had put together an open contract to defend the strap on Rampage, with the question of his opponent's identity answered after he had pinned Fenix to retain.
PAC, the first All-Atlantic Champion, attacked Cassidy after the bell. This led to Shibata's music hitting and the legendary New Japan Pro-Wrestling headkicker hitting the ring, joining up with Best Friends, running PAC off, and scribbling his signature across the dotted line. The match is on.
Shibata and Cassidy have prior. 26 June's AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door show saw 'The Wrestler' save Orange from New Japan's United Empire stable, whom he battered. Afterwards, the famously stiff, stoic striker donned Cassidy's signature shades.
But nobody could have foreseen AEW booking Cassidy vs. Shibata on Rampage save for company founder and CEO Tony Khan. This will be only Shibata's third bout since April 2017, when he nearly died after wrestling Kazuchika Okada, suffering a subdural hematoma. Shibata has since found new purpose as the head of NJPW's LA Dojo, with his last match coming against his spiritual successor, Ren Narita, at Wrestle Kingdom 16 in January.