AEW Double or Nothing: Cody Rhodes Defeats Anthony Ogogo as The American Dream

Cody Rhodes managed to withstand a flurry of punches from Anthony Ogoog, but the former TNT Champion still managed to take down the former Olympic boxer at AEW’s Double or Nothing pay-per-view. Ogogo seemed to have the match won late with a crippling body shot and uppercut, but Rhodes was saved by having his arm under the bottom rope. Rhodes then nailed a Vertebreaker to score the pin and celebrated with the fans in the audience.

Rhodes, decked out in unique patriotic gear that led to comparisons of Homelander from The Boys, competed in the match for the first and only time as “The American Dream.” He spoke about the meaning behind that in an interview with ComicBook earlier this week.

“So as I was workshopping the promo, and the ultimate thing in wrestling is the finish, the finish, the finish, the finish, it was just something that came up, because the story of … I mean, Anthony is over here living the American dream, the story of the American dream and how it relates to wrestling, with so many great wrestlers coming from other countries, and making their home here, and having such huge success,” Rhodes explained. “And it just felt right, and I don’t like doing anything until it feels right. And if there was one night I could do it, this would be the night that it would make the most sense. It really is a story of two gentlemen living the American dream, both of us, my own and his own. And as I was workshopping it, I didn’t have a finish, and then I just came on that and I couldn’t go anywhere else. I worked with a few other things, but I couldn’t go anywhere else, and I’m looking forward to it.

“One thing, I think it might be kind of misleading,” he added. “I can’t assume that all wrestling fans know all the history of wrestling. Of course some fans started today. They saw Darby Allin and they want to watch. Whatever it may be. So a lot of people might have made the assumption. It was going to be Dusty Rhodes, polka dots, ‘Hard Times,’ Common Man Boogie, and it was more of a spiritual thing for me, and a coming of age, to do at one time. But it will look very differently than anything of that brief Dusty run by any means. But yeah, it does mean a lot. And again, it may not totally click with me how much it means until I hear it said.”