Anthony Ogogo Explains His AEW Debut Angle and How He Wants More Storylines

In a recent Fightful interview, Anthony Ogogo shared some details about his beginnings with AEW and how the angle for his debut came about. Ogogo also shared his thoughts on learning the logistic and business side of wrestling and the impact of working opposite a name like Cody Rhodes. You can find a few highlights and watch the complete interview below.

On coming to comprehend the business side of professional wrestling: “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.”

On debuting opposite Cody Rhodes and the developing angle for the event: “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.”

On the scope and scale of the angle: “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. … 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?”

On his hopes for the future with AEW: “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.”