Apart from both competing in All Elite Wrestling, you’d think that’s where the similarities between Orange Cassidy and Hook end, But no. Both men have used the power of memes to forge themselves into stars, though in different ways.Whilst Cassidy has leaned into his status as a living meme, Hook unintentionally has found himself at the center of wrestling meme culture leading to his debut on the latest episode of Rampage being portrayed as momentous despite Hook’s lack of experience in the ring.
Orange Cassidy: Meme Machine
Despite doing the gimmick on the independents, it wasn’t until Cassidy found himself in AEW that his legend started to rise.
Even looking at his debut performance at the Casino Battle Royale at Double or Nothing 2019, Cassidy got into the ring after all the other competitors and started using his trademark offense of weak low kicks on Tommy Dreamer. The juxtaposition of a wrestling legend and a sloth created the perfect breeding ground for memes based on his non-cholent attitude to wrestling.
Hook and Cassidy’s rise into meme culture crosses over with the belief that less is more in wrestling. Cassidy does this with his move set, appearing slow at first, then bursts of athleticism.
Cassidy’s popularity has allowed him to feature in many main event programs. Chris Jericho had a series of matches with Orange Cassidy that revolved around Jericho’s $7,000 suit jacket being ruined due to an orange juice bath at the hands of Orange Cassidy.
The feud culminated with Cassidy beating Jericho in a Mimosa Mayhem match, but this wasn’t the last time Cassidy has featured in main events. Cassidy’s success with the crowd due to his expectation-defying style has allowed him to compete for the AEW title on PPV’s, for example, Double or Nothing 2021, or more recently wrestle for the number 1 contenders on the October 7th episode of Dynamite.
Where Cassidy’s wrestling style doesn’t mesh is in the minds of wrestling purists such as Jim Cornette. He describes Cassidy as a phony comedian due to his gimmick defying the idea that wrestling should be portrayed as an actual fight.
Send HOOK
Whilst Hook has been a background character for Team Taz, speaking little or not at all and not wrestling until his debut in December despite being a part of Team Taz since December 2020.
The dawn of the “Send Hook” meme began simply with CM Punk saying, “Send Hook" when feuding with Team Taz. AEW has fully leaned into the memes surrounding Hook as when Taz announced his son’s debut; he said he was “Sending Hook”.
Also, when Hook appeared in backstage segments, he was often seen eating a bag of chips, which is where the moniker “All that and a bag of chips” comes from.
Looking at Hook’s debut and the subsequent match with Bear Bronson, you can tell that AEW is trying to subvert the expectation of someone of his size, booking Hook as a technical phenom; it draws a direct comparison to his father, Taz.
Taz was perceived to be undersized, but through his intensity and presentation, he was able to become a main eventer for ECW. Hook weighs in at 201 pounds and against the much larger Bear Bronson, Hook was able to throw him around and no sell piledrivers.
Where Hook differs from Orange Cassidy is that the reaction to Hook from wrestling veterans such as Jim Cornette was very favorable. Cornette praised Hook, saying “He just carried himself really good, especially when he was getting really over and he knew he was doing really well, he got a little extra oomph.” Which when coming from the normally cynical Cornette, really showed just how well AEW has created the mystique of Hook.
Keep Your Veer To The Ground:
The new target for a meme-fueled ascent to popularity is Veer Mahaan, who has recently been featuring on vignettes on Raw for his return. “Veer Mahaan is coming” is the tagline for his videos.
Where the memes branch from is that the vignettes for Mahaan have been appearing on WWE television since October 2021, and we are still no closer to seeing the apparent “Lion of the red brand".
WWE’s official Twitter even got in on the memes, posting a tweet ingest of Hook by saying, “Send Veer.” This shows that even WWE is aware of the meme status of their new Indian Superstar.