Why Anthony Ogogo Should’ve Gone Over Cody

I may very well be preaching to the choir, but the fact is this: Anthony Ogogo should’ve gone over Cody Rhodes at Double or Nothing 2021. His loss at DoN comes to the detriment of not only Ogogo, but to Cody himself.

Out of the show’s card, this match had the most controversy going into it, and the most controversy coming out. This had a lot to do with the feud suddenly turning into the US vs UK storyline a few weeks before the PPV.

Pushing politics to one side for the moment (though there’s plenty to say on that front), the decision to have Cody go over Ogogo this past Sunday feels quite short-sighted. Everyone would have benefitted if this result was reversed.

Obviously, Ogogo’s stock would’ve risen considerably had he won this past Sunday.  A few young AEW talents have benefitted from getting the rub from Cody, such as Darby Allin. Ogogo needed such a rub, as, to be frank, his series of squashes on Dynamite felt a little flat.

What Ogogo needed was a win in a competitive match to really put him on the map, to establish that he can best fighters more formidable than the likes of Austin Gunn. Then, and only then, could AEW cash in on that heat to give a face (or Cody, I guess) the win over Ogogo.

There likely isn’t a world where Ogogo would’ve won the overall feud against Cody, unfortunately. However, if that’s the direction AEW wanted to go in, they needed to give Ogogo more time to shine.

Without a trademark win, Ogogo’s push blatantly felt like the build-up for a temporary heel that Cody could conquer once crowds came back. Sure, that’s what it was, but the average viewer shouldn’t know that.

As for Cody… Well, the optics aren’t great, are they?

As mentioned earlier, Cody has actually had a fairly good track record of putting over up-and-coming stars. In fact, it was mainly this reputation that defended Cody from dreaded comparisons to Triple H’s “reign of terror” from the early-to-mid 2000’s.

But now? Cody’s just taken a young, hot prospect- an actual top-level boxer- and gave him a push that was transparently done to ultimately get Rhodes (and America, for some reason) over.

Is Cody burying talent at the level of Triple H in the 2000’s? No, that’s objectively not the case. But Cody has cast himself as a foil to Triple H, a boss who uplifts his talent rather than holding them down. It doesn’t help that Cody smashing a Triple H-esque throne was in the video package for this match.

It’s in moments like this that Cody’s potshots at Triple H and WWE will come back to bite him, because inviting those comparisons automatically holds him to a much higher standard. And frankly, butchering Ogogo’s character and promptly beating him doesn’t live up to that standard.

Also, don’t dress up as Homelander, a villainous character who represents the worst of the US. Just a tip.