“F*cking Dogsh*t” – Anthony Ogogo On Infamous Segment
Anthony Ogogo has described a segment he was involved in as disastrous, and explains how he feels it should have been done differently.
As a member of The Factory, Anthony Ogogo’s main high-profile match to this point in AEW came when he took on Cody Rhodes at Double Or Nothing 2021. The storyline was not very well received, as it was taken by many as a very USA vs. UK angle, and also included a promo where ‘The American Nightmare’ seemingly made references to racism.
As part of the storyline, the pair were involved in a weigh-in on AEW Dynamite which certainly didn’t go as well as hoped.
In a discussion with Chris Van Vliet on his Insight podcast, Anthony Ogogo admitted himself that the whole segment left a lot to be desired.
F*cking dogsh*t mate, f*cking dogsh*t! So Cody said to me that we were going to do a weigh-in. I’m like ‘Cool, so what’s going to happen?’ And Cody is brilliant, he is brilliant at what he does and he has got a great mind for it, he is a really good coach, great promo coach. QT [Marshall] is a great wrestling coach, any move he can teach you how to do it, how to get out of it, the reversals. QT is the f*cking man.
However, [Cody] was like ‘We are going to do a weigh-in.’ I’m like ‘Cool, who is getting knocked out? What are we going to do.’ [Cody responds] ‘It’s a weigh-in, we are not going to touch.’ I’m like ‘oh.’ I have watched enough wrestling to know that that’s a bit drab, a bit of sh*t. [Cody says] ‘Nah it’s gonna be cool.’ It’s my third week on TV, I am going to turn up, work hard and do what I am told. Mate, I am in it and I am thinking this is crap.
Continuing on, Anthony Ogogo explained how part of the segment seemingly offended Paul Wight.
You got Big Show there sweating his tits off and getting really hot. So I said to him [Big Show], I’m just being a heel and I thought that he hated me for ages. I said to him ‘Can’t you count you dumb yank?’ And then after the segment has happened, no one was happy. I was just doing my job, there was nothing that I could do. I get my phone and my friend texted me, he said ‘I can’t believe you called Big Show a c*nt.’
I went [makes confused face] did I? When I go out there and the red light goes on I am in the zone and what I do is real. That is my favorite word and I say it all the time, but even I wouldn’t have said that. I do get lost in the moment because it becomes real to me. If I have a problem with someone, I will call them every name under the sun before knocking them out, so like possibly I did.
So I watched it back and I said ‘You can’t count’ and when I said count it looks like I said [c*nt], but I didn’t. So I’m like agh, I saw him next week but he didn’t speak to me, he was busy not because of that.
Anthony Ogogo went on to explain how he feels him hitting a knockout punch as part of the segment would have made a big difference.
Mate the whole thing was disastrous, but I feel like I’m the victim. It was my first kind of entry, and I am in this really weird segment that wasn’t my idea. I would have rather knocked out Goldust, knocked out Dustin. We get out the ring, we bicker, maybe Aaron Solo gets beaten up and me and QT get away scot-free. At least then something happens.
But I have this weird thing where I am wearing Union Jack pants, I get up on the turnbuckle and get a yay/boo thing, which is so childish. I like the Bryan Danielson and William Regals that are so in your face and smash, Jon Moxley [as well]. They get stuck in, that’s what I like about wrestling, I like blurring the lines between real and not real.
I don’t like standing in my pants going ‘Boo! Yay! Boo!’ So I was embarrassed. I had never stood on the turnbuckle before with no shoes on, and those metal struts are very hard. So my poor little feet are getting dug into by these metal struts. I wanted the ground to swallow me up, but you got to do your job.
With thanks to Inside The Ropes for the transcription.