Exclusive: AEW's Anthony Ogogo says "I should have won Cody Rhodes feud"
Anthony Ogogo made his return to AEW on the Zero Hour pre-show for All In at Wembley Stadium, appearing with Paul Wight and Two Doors Down star Grado to take out Jeff Jarrett.
The Olympic boxer-turned-wrestler got off to a hot start in AEW back in 2021 getting involved in a feud with Cody Rhodes which culminated in a match at that year's Double or Nothing event.
Speaking to Digital Spy ahead of All In, Ogogo reflected on the feud with Rhodes who ended up leaving the company months later in February 2022.
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"I was brand new to wrestling," Ogogo said. "I'd had less than 50 training sessions. So I went from taking my first bump on day one to having a match with Cody Rhodes on a pay-per-view in front of thousands of people after less than 50 sessions which is unbelievable and ridiculous.
"It was my third match in my life but really my first one as I'd had a 20-second squash match and a two-minute squash on Dynamite and then I had a match with Cody Rhodes at a pay-per-view, so for my first real match I think it was a great platform and I did my job."
The feud saw Ogogo take on the role of an anti-American heel up against Rhodes, who was playing the American patriot. While it's a trope that has been done many times in wrestling, many fans found it outdated for 2021.
"When I was told they were going to do the America versus UK thing I thought: 'Cool, sweet, you want me to be the bad guy, I'll go and be the bad guy,'" Ogogo explained.
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"So I did my job but I don't think the fans were into the whole America versus UK thing in this day and age but that's the great thing about wrestling, you can do what you think is gonna work but why it's such an amazing art form is the real-life... we have no idea how the fans are gonna read it."
Ogogo would end up losing the match to Rhodes and is yet to be seen on AEW TV in another high-profile programme. For him, a win against Rhodes would have set him off on the right path with the AEW fanbase.
Ogogo explained: "I think I should have won that feud, I think I should have won that match. I think there's some things in wrestling that have to happen and, this is my opinion, you've always got to win your first feud because you're letting the audience know they've got to care about this guy, this guy is gonna be somebody.
"I think I had this big introduction and then the rug was kind of taken from under me. I think other stuff was going on in the background and that's why Cody went on to win the match. Malakai Black came in the month after and beat Cody in under five minutes and I was like: 'I wish they had of done that with me', knocked him out with a right hand, early doors.
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"I've got a team, I've got QT Marshall and Aaron Solo behind me," he continued. "We can cheat, I can knock him out and now I'm the biggest bad guy in the company. But we went a different route and now I'm still playing kind of catch-up from that."
But despite having different ideas on how the Rhodes feud should have panned out, Ogogo is full of praise for AEW boss Tony Khan and is looking forward to returning to TV.
"Tony Khan, he's got a great creative mind," Ogogo said. "I think we've had the best product since AEW became a thing. You can't knock his decision-making and his vision.
"I've just got to be patient and then when the time comes, do my job to the best of my ability. I've always done my job, I've done exactly what was asked of me and I'm just waiting on the chance to go again."
Catch AEW Dynamite live every Thursday at 1am in the UK and Rampage every Saturday at 3am on FITE with an AEW Plus subscription. US customers can also watch Dynamite on TBS and Rampage on TNT, and in the UK, Dynamite repeats air on ITV4.
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