Anthony Ogogo had the biggest match of his career at AEW Double or Nothing 2021 when he stepped into the ring with Cody Rhodes.
The lead up to the bout featured a weigh in and plenty of pomp and circumstance with Ogogo representing England and Cody flying the American flag. Ogogo was used sparing on television before the match as he was new talent in wrestling and hasn't been featured much since the match due to a visa issue and new talent coming in.
Speaking to Cultaholic, Ogogo reflected on the match with Cody.
"My favorite moment, retrospectively, was going to work every week and knowing what you’re doing, which doesn’t happen in wrestling. Everything is last minute [laughs]. When you’re working with an EVP, he had his stuff planned. He’s obviously the best wrestler I ever wrestled. He was the first person I ever locked up with. Working with him it was a bit unfair because he’s so good. No one is as good as him," said Ogogo, who went on to further praise Cody and QT Marshall, both of whom train him at the Nightmare Factory.
Discussing the match itself, Ogogo said changes had to be made due to another match running long.
"I don’t want to get into trouble, so I’m not going to talk too much. Sometimes silence speaks a thousand words. I asked for the anthem, they said no for certain things, certain reasons. I asked for people dressed up like beefeaters. I didn’t get it. I asked for a few things to really ramp up. We actually lost...the match was good, it could have been really good, we lost six minutes of our match because time constraints. I think there was a battle royale before that went heavy. We filmed a really cool Rocky montage, a five-minute cool Rocky montage. The promo packages before the match, think of Austin and the Rock, by the time the bell goes, you’re frothing at the mouth. We filmed something really cool for that, but we had to cut that because of time. We had to cut 40% of our match time, which was the moments. The moments between the moves. Our match could have been better had we didn’t have to cut our time because we had these special moments planned and they had to go. That was really frustrating. It was my first foray on the big stage. I didn’t get my bulldogs, I didn’t get my beefeaters. The match wasn’t quite what it could have been because of time constraints, which I understand. After that, we had a big meeting, ‘people have to stick to their times.’ It’s not fair people having their matches [cut] because other people's unprofessionalism. It was a great way to make my way. I had a lot of fun. I would have liked certain things to change, like certain outcomes be a little different. I believe I can be a player in pro wrestling moving forward. I feel I will be a big deal," he stated.
In January, Cody looked back on the program with Ogogo and admitted he had regrets about it. You can find his comments by clicking here.
Elsewhere during the interview, Ogogo discussed his current usage in AEW. You can find his full comments by clicking here.
Along with working AEW dates, Ogogo is active in PROGRESS Wrestling.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit the original source with a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.
