At Southside Wrestling Entertainment‘s 9th Anniversary Show in England on Saturday night, All Elite Wrestling (AEW) Executive Vice President Cody Rhodes was on hand as part of AEW’s assistance after WWE withdrew several of its NXT UK talents from Southside’s final show (rumored to be because of their recent merger with NJPW ally, Revolution Pro). Aside from several AEW talents wrestling on Saturday night, like Shawn Spears and MJF, Cody Rhodes also announced that former UK Olympian Bronze Medalist boxer Anthony Ogogo had signed with AEW.
I’m thrilled about this signing. Anthony will be our first developmental project as a company. For those who followed his boxing career and saw his Olympic acumen, you’ll be happy to see he’s now applying that passion and work-ethic to pro-wrestling training. Welcome Anthony! https://t.co/QLARQOTbof
— Cody Rhodes (@CodyRhodes) October 26, 2019
Anthony Ogogo was in attendance on Saturday night as well, where he was confronted by Cody’s friend MJF. It ended with MJF staring at the lights.
Anthony Ogogo lays out MJF at SouthSide Wrestling
Says he’ll see him Wednesday at #AEW pic.twitter.com/4A9k29xBPK
— Show Stopping Wrestling (@ShowStopWrestle) October 26, 2019
A natural athlete, Ogogo was an avid footballer as a youngster, playing for Norwich City‘s youth squad before he changed gears to boxing at age 12. In 2004, he traveled to the US for the Junior Olympics, where he won Gold as a 16-year old. He won a Silver Medal in boxing at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in India and at the 2012 London Olympics, won the Bronze Medal on home soil.
Following the Olympics, he went professional, going 11-0 in the first 11 fights, from 2013 through 2016. In his final match, a loss to Craig Cunningham for the WBC International Middleweight Championship, he suffered a fractured eye socket. After multiple operations, he was declared legally blind and was unable to return to boxing. In March of 2019, he finally officially retired from professional boxing, at the young age of 30.
Shortly before his retirement was announced, he was already getting that itch for professional wrestling. He trained with the Knight Family in his hometown of Norwich, and in February made his debut with the Knight’s World Association of Wrestling (WAW).
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