The Questionable Future Of AEW’s Anthony Ogogo

England’s own Anthony Ogogo is set to face-off against Cody at AEW’s upcoming Double or Nothing pay-per-view. The build has somehow managed to be both baffling, yet the excitement is palpable -for the Brits at least.

So with a contentious feud, a conflict of character motivations, and an uncertain future for one of the participants, this may just be one of the oddest matches AEW has ever built towards. So let’s break it down, piece by piece, and try to figure out what’s going on.

The Feud: So Who’s The Good Guy?

Much like Bulldog versus Bret at SummerSlam ‘92 and Drew McIntyre’s Royal Rumble 2020 win, speaking from the perspective of a Brit, this is exciting. The thing is, it’s quite tricky to understand why. 

Cody is seemingly the patriotic babyface from the ‘Good Ol’ US of A’, and Ogogo the foreign-heel-menace trope in the build-up so far. Is that really the case though? Online sentiment for Cody has been mixed at the best of times and in this era of global volatility, Cody’s shtick feels quite unwarranted. He’s been bringing up topics like politics and race in an almost uncomfortably patriotic way. 

Anthony Ogogo on the other hand has, of course, been playing up the proud Brit in response. Though he’s mainly just been pointing out reasonable criticisms of Cody and the US. It may be because most of the world outside of The States isn’t partial to the same level of fervent patriotism for their own countries, so we don’t quite get Cody. It feels strange when the chap calling out flawed systems and insulting an almost arrogant and delusional Cody is seen as the bad guy. We just want Ogogo to absolutely batter him and will be devastated if it doesn’t happen.

How Could The Match Play Out

Ok, so nobody is expecting this to be an all-time classic. Ogogo is relatively new to pro-wrestling and has the unfortunate disadvantage of being mostly blind in one eye -an injury that will likely see his wrestling career be cut short. Cody, despite his flaws, is still a tremendous wrestler and in-ring storyteller. 

Out of all possible ways this match could go, surely the best way is for Ogogo to squash Cody in a way reminiscent of his defeat to the great Brodie Lee. Have a little back and forth to show what Ogogo can do, and maybe have Cody get the quick reprieve before Ogogo ends it with his one-shot punch finish. It puts Ogogo over as a dominant force and it’s not like Cody needs the win.

It could also be that Ogogo may go over in a long, played-out match. It’d be a questionable move, but AEW undoubtedly have the ability to pull off such a thing. It’d likely include multiple group run-ins because they do love them so. While it could work, chances are that proceedings could quickly turn into a chaotic mess.

Surely the worst way this can play out is with Cody getting the win. Nobody is wanting to see that. So let’s not even entertain that notion and swiftly move along. 

Where Can Anthony Ogogo Go From Here?

The problem is, Ogogo is greener than the lands he hails from. He only debuted in 2019 before being snatched up by AEW shortly after. While they could, of course, put on a great match at Double or Nothing given enough time and preparation -Bad Bunny was part of possibly Wrestlemania 37’s most entertaining matches after all-they likely can’t keep that going consistently.

If it is to be that Ogogo doesn’t have too long before he has to hang up his boots, AEW would be wise to push him up the card early. Not necessarily to the big belt, but a domineering heel run could be the perfect foil down the line for a valiant, babyface, titleholder -maybe Hangman Page, wink wink nudge nudge, AEW. Let the man get the dominant win over Cody and he’d be set for the foreseeable future. 

Then again, he can’t be seen as too dominant a force too early as it could be seen as unbelievable -garnering the wrong kind of heat. It’s why Ogogo has such a questionable future. It’s also why the upcoming match is such an odd one. We have a supposed babyface being thoroughly unlikeable and a supposed heel with a believable cause. A result going, either way, is going to be conflicting, as are the events that will inevitably follow. It’s almost a lose-lose situation. Still, there is one possible, wonderful outcome -for a while at least. If Ogogo drops Cody within the first minute, I know I’ll be running around my house like a kid at Christmas.