Orange Cassidy

James Cipperly (born May 4, 1984) better known by his ring name Orange Cassidy, is an American professional wrestler and wrestling trainer.

He is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is a two-time former AEW International Champion.

His first reign is the longest in the title's history.

Cassidy is also a member of the Best Friends stable.

Prior to signing with AEW, he had previously performed for the Chikara promotion as the luchador enmascarado (masked professional wrestler), Fire Ant.

Fire Ant was part of the Colony stable, which won the Campeonatos de Parejas once and Chikara's premier King of Trios tournament twice.

During his time in Chikara, he also appeared unmasked as a member of The Gentleman's Club faction, alongside Chuck Taylor and Drew Gulak, and was a trainer at the promotion's Wrestle Factory school.

James Cipperly was born on May 4, 1984, in the Stewartsville section of Greenwich Township, Warren County, New Jersey.

He graduated in 2002 from Phillipsburg High School.

Five years later, he graduated from the New Jersey Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Science in Architecture.

He also wrestled prominently on the independent circuit from 2004 to 2019.

Cipperly debuted on March 13, 2004, for the Hanover, Pennsylvania-based Ground Breaking Wrestling (GBW) promotion.

Wrestling as "JC Ryder", he teamed with Danny Rage as the New Jersey Independent All-Stars.

Throughout 2004, Ryder wrestled primarily for GBW; he also made appearances with the Eastern Wrestling Alliance in Baltimore, Maryland and with the Valley Wrestling Alliance in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

In January 2005, Ryder and Rage defeated Xtreme Pandemonium to win the GBW Tag Team Championship.

They held the titles until May 2005, when they lost to CORE and Ian Cross.

Cipperly (as JC Ryder) debuted in the Pennsylvania-based Chikara promotion in February 2005 at the Tag World Grand Prix.

In March and April 2005, he and Danny Rage (as the New Jersey Independent All-Stars) competed in a series of tag team matches.

In June 2005, he competed in a qualifying match for the Chikara Young Lions Cup, losing to Rorschach.

The following year, he began wrestling under a mask as Fire Ant, the leader of the Colony, a role he continued to portray for the next thirteen years.

They won the titles a second time in April 2006 by defeating the Untouchables, dropping them back to the Untouchables that December.

Despite having wrestled under the ring name since 2007, this version of the character was a precursor to his current look in All Elite Wrestling (AEW).

The same year, Chuck Taylor formed The Gentlemen's Club, which consisted of Taylor, Cassidy, Drew Gulak and the Swamp Monster.

Cassidy made his debut at Live At Road To Ruin Fest, where he was swiftly defeated by Grizzly Redwood.

He returned two years later at King of Trios, where the Gentleman's Club were defeated by the Submission Squad.

In 2012, Cipperly began working unmasked by using the Orange Cassidy ring name.

During 2015, the Gentlemen's Club were announced as being part of the Challenge of the Immortals tournament.

Cassidy was used in tag team and six-man matches, as the stable won six points, failing to advance to the finals.

In 2016, Taylor was involved in a storyline where he kept changing his ring name after matches, in what was part of a larger legal battle with the new owner of the "Chuck Taylor" name, Chuck Taylor™.

This culminated at Aniversario: The Lost World in Glasgow, where Taylor (as "Howie Dewitt") defeated Cassidy, who was seconded by Taylor™.

At King of Trios, Cassidy and Gulak participated in a tag team gauntlet match, eliminating The Closers and Team Sea Stars, before being eliminated by Cornelius Crummels and Sonny Defarge.

At Judgment Day, Team Sea Stars defeated Cassidy and the Swamp Monster, marking the final time that Cipperly would appear in the promotion as Orange Cassidy.

On May 25, 2019, Cassidy made his debut for All Elite Wrestling (AEW), during their inaugural event Double or Nothing, where he entered the Casino Battle Royale late and confronted Tommy Dreamer, before Dreamer threw him out.

On August 12, it was announced that Cassidy had signed a contract with AEW.

On August 31, at All Out, Cassidy returned and aligned himself with Best Friends (Chuck Taylor and Trent), after saving them from an attack by The Dark Order (Stu Grayson and Evil Uno).

Cassidy wrestled his debut match for AEW on the October 30 episode of Dynamite, teaming with Best Friends for a victory over Q. T. Marshall, Alex Reynolds and John Silver in a six-man tag team match.

Cassidy started his first rivalry in AEW with Pac in February 2020, after Cassidy interrupted Pac while he was being interviewed.

On February 29, at Revolution, Cassidy was defeated by Pac.

Cassidy's performance in the match was praised by critics.

On May 23, at Double or Nothing, Cassidy participated in the Casino Ladder Match, but the match was won by Brian Cage.