AEW wrestler says he was slotted for two different top factions
Former Olympic and pro boxer, infrequent wrestler and current Shane Taylor Promotions member Anthony Ogogo says he was set to join Blackpool Combat Club and Inner Circle in AEW.
In an interview with ITR Wrestling, Ogogo revealed he was initially set to be a part of Chris Jericho’s Inner Circle — an idea greenlit by Tony Khan who wanted Jericho to mentor him. However, Jericho had other plans with Jake Hager eventually stepping up given their time together in WWE.
“With Jericho, I was supposed to be Jericho’s bodyguard, part of his Inner Circle group. That was supposed to be me. I think Tony Khan’s idea was for me to work with Jericho and learn from Jericho,” he said, also giving the inaugural AEW World Champion credit for being a real life “Learning Tree.”
“Especially in the early years, he was the learning tree and I would always ask questions and he’d teach me stuff. He’d always watch my matches and give me critique and say ‘Do this, don’t do that. He’s the man who knows how to get over so Jericho is someone I definitely learned a lot from,” Ogogo said.
Ogogo, a former Olympic medalist and boxer officially made his in-ring AEW debut in 2021. He was trained by Cody Rhodes, QT Marshall and Dustin Rhodes.
He then said at one point, he was working with both Bryan Danielson and William Regal who he said were training him to join the Blackpool Combat Club.
“At that point, I was being groomed to join the Blackpool Combat Club before it became the Blackpool Combat Club and it never really materialized. So, I trained all this time with Danielson and Regal and put in all those hard work in to learn,” he explained.
He then further elaborated on their guidance both with Danielson’s impact in wrestling and Regal teaching him old school British wrestling style.
“The whole thing about pro wrestling is you can be who you wanna be. Just because I wrestle like big and strong and do like power moves. Regal taught me this as well, Regal taught me this old school British wrestling big guy, tough styles. Just because you do the impact stuff doesn’t mean you can’t learn the intricate stuff. It just thus far hasn’t been called to use, doesn’t make sense for me to be using it.”
“He (Danielson) taught me so much, again, not just wrestling stuff, but how to get over. He got this thing [(he Yes chants) over. And when someone does a move, or a quote, and it transcends outside of wrestling, that guy knows what he’s talking about. Tremendous guy, wonderful man. Really really nice guy as well. Super nice guy.”
The 37-year-old last competed on this past weekend’s ROH TV tapings in Jacksonville, Florida — his first match since last November, also in ROH. That was his first action in a Khan-owned company since August 2024.
The Blackpool Combat Club was formed in 2022 with Jon Moxley, Wheeler Yuta, Danielson and Claudio Castagnoli with Regal as the group’s manager. By 2023, Regal departed AEW and returned to WWE in a backstage role.
Danielson’s dispute with Moxley after his betrayal at 2024’s All Out led to the pivot to the Death Riders.
Rosanne Raphael is a wrestling writer with over three and a half years of experience covering all things related to the industry. From a kindergarten teacher to PR Associate to turning her lifelong passion for the industry into a career, Rosanne is currently writing for F4W Online where she focuses on wrestling news, analysis, and storytelling.
Rosanne previously contributed to Sportskeeda as an Assistant Content Manager.
When not consumed by wrestling, Rosanne is a musician and an aspiring artist.