Anthony Ogogo: I’m Having Fun With Wrestling, I’m Starting To Find My Feet Behind The Scenes

Anthony Ogogo is starting to hit his stride after somewhat struggling in the beginning of his venture into the wrestling world.

Anthony Ogogo is starting to hit his stride after somewhat struggling in the beginning of his venture into the wrestling world.

Ogogo used to be an Olympic boxer, but an eye injury forced him to retire. He previously detailed how much he struggled after this major career change. Several surgeries later, he is still fairly early in his journey as a wrestler, but he has been featured on AEW programing as a member of The Factory.

In an interview with Alistair McGeorge of Metro, Ogogo compared how he’s having fun in wrestling to the way boxing made him feel. 

“Wrestling doesn’t feel the same, but not necessarily in a bad way. In boxing, the buzz of the crowd every time I walked out to the ring, that is something I can’t articulate no matter how intelligent I think I am. But what I love about wrestling, it is fun. Professional boxing ain’t fun. It is great when you win but no boxer can honestly tell you it’s fun. I was never laughing at that 1000th sit up of the day. But now, when I’m walking down the ring and I see people snarling and getting angry at me, I’m laughing. Wrestling is very different but it’s very fun. I have more fun than I did as a boxer,” Ogogo said.

He continued by calling boxing a “cruel mistress” and noting that he has learned to look at the bright side of the situation.

“Boxing was a cruel mistress; it gave me everything I ever wanted and it ended so bitterly. But as I get older and wiser, I’m achieving other things in life that I can only achieve because it ended that way. And it helps me look back on it fondly,” he said.

As for some of the learning experiences he has dealt with, the AEW star stated that he has found out that you can’t “unapologetically be you”, as this behavior could rub some people the wrong way. He admitted that he had a hard time with being behind the curtain early on, but he’s starting to find his feet.

“You can’t just unapologetically be you. You might piss off the wrong person and they don’t want to work with you. If they don’t want to work with you, you never get opportunities. I was always a fan from the other side of the curtain. All of a sudden, I was thrust behind it and I didn’t always know what to do, I didn’t get it. I struggled quite a bit early on but I’m finding my feet. People like me now. I think,” Ogogo said.

The former boxer also described how everyone thinks they know what it’s like to be in the ring, but fans underestimate how physically punishing wrestling can be. However, he made it clear that he’s proud fo be living another childhood dream.

“Everyone is an expert too. People are like that in boxing and it’s even more the case in wrestling. Not many people know how hard it is when you hit that mat. No one knows when you bounce off the ropes, how much those cables dig into your ribs. Every time you hit the ropes, it is like a punch to the kidney. No one knows how high the top rope is. Yet every single motherf****r has got an opinion on what people should and shouldn’t do. It’s annoying. You have to contend with it. But I’m very proud to be living a second childhood dream,” he said.

Ogogo recently looked back on the memorable weigh-in segment he had with Cody Rhodes. You can check out his comments here.