Orange Cassidy Retains His AEW International Championship Against 20 Opponents at AEW Double or Nothing

Orange Cassidy successfully retained his AEW International Championship in a 21-man Blackjack Battle Royal to open AEW’s Double or Nothing pay-per-view on Sunday. Cassidy made it all the way to the final two alongside Swerve Strickland, who kept using Prince Nana at ringside to help him gain the upper hand. But after countering Strickland’s Swerve Stomp while on the apron, Cassidy kicked Strickland’s arm while he dangled on the apron, causing him to crash to the floor. 

Cassidy’s win marks his 23 successful defense of the International title. He is just one match shy of tying Jade Cargill’s TBS Championship reign for most successful title defenses in company history, though she could extend her streak to 25 later tonight against Taya Valkyrie.

“When I beat Pac for it in October last year, it was called the All-Atlantic [Championship], and then we decided to level it up and make it the International Championship,” Cassidy told The Wrestling Classic earlier this week. “I didn’t really know what to do with it. I didn’t know what it was. My only goal was to beat Pac, and I did. When I beat him, I had this All-Atlantic Championship. So didn’t really have an identity to me, so I wanted to do with it what I do with everything. I just wanted to fight whoever, wherever, and whenever. I have been, and I hope it has that identity now, and I hope wrestling fans were able to see people that they usually wouldn’t see wrestle for a championship on AEW television.”