Missing AEW Fan Favourite FINALLY Cleared To Return (AEW News)

Bodyslam.net broke news that Orange Cassidy will return to AEW screens for the first time in 5 months imminently. Then, Fightful Select corroborated those reports by stating that the popular underdog babyface will soon launch his comeback following recovery from shoulder surgery that has kept him benched for much of 2025.

Orange suffered what was reported to be a torn labrum in March. That injury kept him on the shelf throughout spring and summer, which obviously wasn't ideal when he's such a key part of the mid-to-upper-card in AEW. Indeed, Cassidy has been a workhorse Tony Khan leans on for years now. Need a good match for Dynamite or Collision? Somebody call Cassidy.

Reportedly, Orange vanishing from AEW TV due to injury affected a few creative plans. It'd be interesting to find out exactly what they were, and what 'Freshly Squeezed' would've been doing on both major All Elite shows (as well as pay-per-views) had he been healthy and cleared to compete.

In their write up, Fightful also noted that Cassidy has been present behind the curtain at a lot of AEW events during his recovery process. He's always had a close working relationship with Khan, so it wouldn't be a surprise if he was helping out in some form or fashion - that wasn't included in Fightful's report, but it isn't hard to put two and two together there.

Cassidy's Return A Welcome Boost For AEW In Late-2025

There's no doubt that this will be viewed as a welcome boost to AEW's product during the final few months of the year. Forbidden Door is in the rearview mirror, and now full focus will go on building upcoming PPVs like All Out (20 September), WrestleDream (18 October), Full Gear (22 November) and Worlds End (27 December).

Orange Cassidy will presumably be able to make his pay-per-view comeback at All Out, but TK and his creative nucleus could hold off until a subsequent supershow just so the hardworking face has something meaningful to sink his teeth into. It's anyone's guess at this stage, clearly, but that'd make sense unless there's some quick turnaround on television that lines up something for 20 Sept.

AEW would need to move quickly on that.

Cassidy's last match fell on the 19 March episode of Dynamite. There, he worked alongside the likes of Ricochet, 'Speedball' Mike Bailey and Mark Davis. You'd need to go back a little further than that for Orange's last PPV bout - he was part of a 6-man tag during the 'Zero Hour' portion before Revolution 2025, but last wrestled on the main card at Worlds End 2024.

Orange was part of another Fatal-4-Way for the AEW World Title on that show. Jon Moxley retained by beating Hangman Page, Jay White and Cassidy in the main event.

All Elite fans will be thrilled to see him return soon.