Anthony Ogogo has had plenty of time to reflect on his program with Cody Rhodes.
The former Olympian recently spoke with Fightful (full interview above) about a number of topics, including his introduction to the pro wrestling business. According to Ogogo, he's had to learn about the business side of things on a massive scale as he was never one to want to know what was happening behind the curtain.
"So my thought process, you’ve got to appreciate as well, I’ve been a fan my entire life. That’s why I picked up the nuances of wrestling, and there’s many nuances, so quickly. ‘Cause I’m an athlete, I wanted to get good, I wanted to get good quick and I got it. I got the craft. I never was that fan that used to peer behind the curtain ‘cause when I watched wrestling, I wanted to believe what I’m watching is real. So I didn’t want to know real names. I didn’t want to know what they had for breakfast. I didn’t want to follow them on Instagram. I just wanted to watch for a two hour period. I love James Bond. I don’t follow Daniel Craig on Instagram, ‘cause I want to believe, when I watch the telly, he’s James Bond. Same thing with wrestling. So I don’t really understand the business side of things. I just like performing. I’ve learned them. I’ve had to learn the business in AEW on a massive, world wide, global scale. I’ve been learning doing indie shows, your local wrestling club," he said.
In March 2021, Ogogo made his AEW Dynamite debut, starting a feud with Cody Rhodes. During the program, Ogogo would express everything he hated about the USA and explain why England is the superior country. The two would eventually square off at Double or Nothing 2021, with Rhodes scoring the victory.
According to Ogogo, as a newcomer to the business, he wasn't going to say no to any creative ideas, especially this early in his wrestling journey.
"Also, you’re getting to wrestle Cody Rhodes, who’s one of the biggest names in the company and this is what we’re doing. If Chris Jericho said to me, ‘Hey, we’re gonna work an angle. I’m gonna do this, you’re gonna do that.’ I’ll go, ‘Yes, brilliant. Thanks so much. I’ll work the angle, I’ll do what you said.’ I wouldn’t go, ‘Hey, Chris. Rather than that, let’s do this.’ Fucking hell, he’s Chris Jericho. He’s been doing it for almost as long as I’ve been alive. Same thing with Cody, it’s in his blood. Tony Khan, it’s his company. They say they’re doing this, I’m not gonna say, ‘Nah, let’s not do that, let’s do this instead.’ I wouldn’t even say it now, especially not with my first angle. I do what I have to do. They said, ‘Shit on America.’ Okay, so understand I’ve lived there for the last three years. I don’t particularly like it. There’s some parts I like, some parts I really don’t like. You live here now, you get it," he said.
That said, Ogogo does believe that they could have achieved the same results without involving their respecitve homelands.
"Ultimately, it’s like, ‘I’m gonna go out there and say all the things I don’t like about America. I’m just gonna say it. I’m gonna take all the things I quite like, I won’t say that. I’ll say shit things about it, and there’s plenty of shit things about it. So I was being very authentic to myself. Again, retrospect is an amazing thing, hindsight is an amazing thing. We could have done the same thing and left the countries aside. Also it was America’s Memorial Day. It was on that weekend. Cody was doing the American whatever. It made sense to do it. We could have done the same thing without the countries involved, in my opinion. But I guess Tony decided to do it with the countries. So ultimately it was what it was," he said.
With the program going in the direction it did, Ogogo also believes they could have gone bigger. He says that he would have liked to have seen them incorporate the nation anthems into the pre-match presentation.
"I would have liked to have went bigger. I would have liked to have done the national anthems. I would have liked to have done stuff with like maybe they sing the national anthem and—if you’re gonna do it, do it big—I would have went to the nth degree to get some real heat. Again, in hindsight, I got to work Cody. I got to work with one of the best wrestlers in the world, the first real wrestling match I had in a big storyline on the TV. I’d had less than 50 matches. No person on the planet’s gonna say no to that, you know?," Ogogo said.
Since the match, however, Ogogo has not been seen much. He just recently reappeared on television at All In. With only one major story under his belt, Ogogo hopes that in two years time he can talk about feuds he had with numerous other top stars within the company.
"He was cool. I enjoyed it. I had fun. I want more of it. That’s all I’ve done so far. People talk to me two years on, I wish we could be talking about ten storylines by now. Hasn’t happened because of stuff. But hopefully in two years time we’ll talk again, or before that because you’re a nice man, but hopefully we’ll talk before that. We’ll talk about this one, ‘What about you and Miro? You and Malakai Black, you and MJF,’ and hopefully we’ll have way more things to talk about. You can learn, you can grow, you can adapt and that’s what I’ve done. From that experience, I’m way more equipped to go into the next All In, whoever that may be against, whenever that might be," he said.
Fightful Select recently provided an update on Anthony Ogogo's contract status with AEW. Click here to learn more.
Speaking on his My World podcast, Jeff Jarrett had high praise for Ogogo. Click here to read more.
