Strong chats his opponent at Revolution.
Coming up on March 3rd, AEW will be presenting the fifth installment of their Revolution pay-per-view. One of the matches on the bill is Roderick Strong challenging Orange Cassidy for the International Championship.
Going into the bout, Strong is making the media rounds and he was interviewed by Phil Strum for the Under the Ring podcast. While speaking about Cassidy’s on-screen character, Strong feels he probably would’ve been ‘turned off’ by it if Cassidy was not the in-ring performer he is.
I knew of him (Orange Cassidy) prior to him being Orange Cassidy, right?… and then once he became Orange Cassidy… it was one of those, exactly that, like, if he couldn’t wrestle as well as he could and can, it probably would have turned me off. But, the fact that he is so skilled, it makes it very impressive. Just how creative he is with it and it just being so different makes it so enjoyable to watch.
Speaking about the upcoming bout, Strong said he honestly feels it is the most important match of his career to date.
Biggest match of my career (coming up at AEW Revolution). I do honestly (think that). It’s the most important one, I will tell you that. Like I said, he’s just set such a high standard and this is a real challenge in what I call the second phase of my career and coming back from everything and he’s just gonna be the right opponent and I just can’t wait to show the world what we can do.
For a portion of Strong’s AEW run, he sported a neck brace and was rolled around in a wheelchair by current ROH World Tag Team Champions Mike Bennett and Matt Taven.
Strong said that period of his run was the most fun he’s ever had in his career. He called it an awesome challenge, adding that his son has helped him loosen up. He no longer gets the feeling of embarrassment from stepping out of his comfort zone.
Honestly, it (wearing the neck brace) was probably the most fun I’ve had in my entire career just because it was so different and it was a challenge. But that’s some of the stuff that I really wanted to do when coming to AEW because there is freedom in that sense and the opportunity itself and it was like week-by-week adjustments. Like, stuff that I would feel or somebody else would feel and they’d suggest it and I was down for whatever. It didn’t matter to me and that’s one of the things, like I said, about being grateful and coming back and not being sure at first if I was gonna be able to continue to wrestle is being able to do more stuff like that and leave (a) lasting impression in that aspect of the sport as well in the entertainment part so, man, it was awesome. The amount of conversations we would have and just being able to dive into real-life things and try to recreate these feelings I had or situations that I had seen with people and how they are obsessive with somebody. I don’t know. It was an awesome challenge and it was one that I was up for and it’s funny, I think having a kid really helped me open that part of myself even more because listen, the amount of things that I’ve done that I would have felt so embarrassed about in public, now I do not care. As long as it makes him happy, I will do it.
After Dynamite airs on 2/28 from Huntsville, Alabama, the company is going to tape Saturday’s episode of Collision as Revolution is taking place Sunday.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit Under the Ring with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
