David Otunga on NEXUS, John Cena, Theme Song, Commentary, Vince McMahon, One More Match?

David Otunga (@DavidOtunga) is a professional wrestler best known for his time in WWE. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet at West Coast Creative Studio in Hollywood, CA to discuss his journey from NXT Season 1 to the main roster, the Nexus' shock debut on Raw, whether John Cena winning at SummerSlam buried the group, winning the Tag Titles with Cena, how the coffee cup became a part of his character, getting to wrestle Bret Hart, the transition to announcing, what he is doing now, and more!

On being in better shape than he was in WWE:

“I would say so. Well for me, because from a physique perspective, I’ve always weighed 235 since I was 22 years old, no matter what. But my body fat percentage is way down. The detail, the condition used to be all just about size and just getting big for me, and I did that, got really strong and all that. But then it’s like, all right, been there, done that. I want to refine. I want to look like a superhero. So it’s like, I want to maintain the size, but just lose fat and etch in the details. I love it.”

On sharing a moment with Arnold Schwarzenegger:

“That is one of the crowning achievements of my life. It’s one of the best moments. Because the reason I got into working out was looking at Arnold on the cover of Muscle and Fitness and just seeing his physique and saying, Man, I want to look like that. Then fast forward, I am at Gold’s working out. He comes up to me and wants to work in. But then he’s messing with me and he tells me how I’ve got the greatest physique, I’m better looking than him, bigger than him. He’s like, Get away from me. And then I was like, Wow, he really said that. Then it’s like man, I wish I had that on camera so that he let me record it. He did it again, which was the coolest thing, man. I mean, 10-year-old, going crazy right now, never imagined this.”

So what are you up to these days?

“Well, I’ve just started my YouTube channel, which I’m really passionate about, has been so much fun. I did a video covering the Raja Jackson incident, and covered it from a lawyer’s perspective and a wrestler’s perspective, because I’m probably the only person qualified to talk about this in that regard, because I understand the wrestling lingo, the definitions, all that, what was going on behind the scenes, the setup, and then talking about it from a legal perspective. Anyway, I did a complete breakdown on that, the video blew up, and I realized I really enjoyed this and was getting great feedback. So since then, I’ve started making more, and people have been asking me to cover different cases that were famous in wrestling that would apply to the legal standards, and just being able to break all of those down, which has been awesome.”

On how the coffee cup became a part of his WWE character:

“I’ll tell you. I had just started doing the lawyer character, and I was getting ready to go out for a promo. I think it might have been during People Power with big Johnny. I was getting ready to go out to do a live promo. I had my coffee with me in the back, as I always do, and I started to walk out through the curtain. Then I was like, wait a minute. I went back and I grabbed it. I was like, something tells me, just bring it, because I just wanted to be natural. It’d be as like I wanted it to be as obnoxious as I could. At first I would take really loud sips with it and stuff. But anyway, I went out with it, and then Vince loved it, and I came back in. And ever since then, it was part of my character, backstage shots, you name it.”

On whether he considers himself to be retired:

“No, I just consider myself as having not wrestled in a long time.”

On when he knew it was time to step away:

“It wasn’t necessarily my last match. That’s the thing, in my mind, I’ve never had my last match. It’s just where I was in the company and becoming an announcer and doing all that they didn’t really want me doing in ring stuff. You actually get a different contract where you are on an announcer’s contract instead of a talent one. So it just was they weren’t even thinking about me, booking me creatively, although I did pitch some ideas, and was gonna have my own stable. I wanted to, got a little bit of traction.” 

Who was gonna be in your stable? 

“Well, I don’t know. I pitched something, I don’t know if I called it The Firm or what it was, but it was kind of what The Hurt Syndicate ended up becoming. But it was before that, so it was three years before that. I don’t know when they came out. It might even been longer, because it was 2019, this is before COVID, at least. But anyway, I was going to be the leader of that as a heel lawyer. And, yeah, they liked it, but it obviously didn’t [happen], they liked me better as an announcer.” 

On transitioning to an announcer role:

“Okay, so it went like this. I’ve never even talked about this, but I stepped away from the ring in probably 2013 or so. My son’s mom was my fiancée at the time. She was going through some stuff, and they needed me at home. That’s what I’ll say about it. So it was a choice I made on behalf of my family, where I put my career aside for a while to be the man I needed to be in our relationship, for her, for my son, and it was what it was. So then Vince and I always had a great relationship, and they liked me enough as a talent. So it’s like I want you to see what you can do announcing. I always cut a good promo well, so they say. So anyway, I started doing the Raw pre-show every week, and I do it with Corey Graves, Scott Stanford, shout out to Scott, that’s my guy, Booker T, and we had so much fun doing this. We’re laughing all the time, like nobody even watches this, and then the office would tell us, ‘Yeah, but there’s one person who watches this every week. It’s Vince, and he loves it.’ So then I did that for maybe a year or two, and then I get a call one day like, ‘Hey, we want to try you out as an announcer on Raw.’ Whoa! I never considered that. I never saw myself as an announcer. That was never something I wanted to [do]. The whole time I was doing the pre-show, I was thinking, I’m doing this now, and because it allowed me to have more time at home, that was the thing, and how I was able to do that still, but eventually I’m going to get back in the ring. But then, when they gave me this option to be an announcer, they’re like, ‘We really want you to do this. Try it out.’ Alright, I’ll try it, and I did. Announcing is tough. It’s fun, but that’s a tough job. But anyway, they liked my work in that so much. That was it. It’s kind of like they tell you be careful, if they offer you a gimmick when you first start out, be careful how well you do with it. Because if you do really well with it, that’s going to be your gimmick, and they’re just going to go from there. So it’s one of those things where I gave it a shot. I did well enough, and then they just saw me as an announcer after that.”

How much was Vince in your ear as an announcer?

“Well, he’s always there. So, personally, he might give me something funny to say, to rip on Cole, or somebody, whoever was out there with me. He never yelled at me, but I heard him get a hold of some of the other guys, but he was right there the entire time.”

On his WWE exit:

“Until COVID. Ultimately, I was laid off with COVID, the grand layoffs in that. But before, so I called my last match on SmackDown, and then I was doing the pre-shows up until COVID.”

Do you want to go back? 

“I mean, if they called, yeah, absolutely. Like I said, it was so much fun, although, now I’m still doing announcing with 4th Rope, which has been awesome. And I’ll tell you what, it’s pretty cool, because of the training that I received at WWE, like, prepared me so much for doing that. But the difference is there. I really can say anything I want. I’m still pushing forward the stories, but there’s nobody in my ear. So really, hey, that’s kind of how I really feel this.”

On Dawson Alexander:

“So Dawson Alexander was my first ring name at FCW, because when you’re in FCW, whatever your ring name is down there isn’t necessarily going to be the same when you get up to the main roster. So I was a babyface for the first part of the run and but I chose Dawson Alexander because I wanted his initials to be DA, like a district attorney. He was all lawyer themed, yeah, but he was my very first character.”

On getting to use his real name in WWE:

“Well, I pushed for that too. That’s where being an actual lawyer comes in. Because, yeah, I knew what I was doing, and I wanted to own my own IP, although technically they own it in regards to wrestling. Which is fine. I have to get into that on a video on my channel.”

Isn’t that the same with John Cena?

“I remember this clause vividly is that they control your name and likeness in relation to professional wrestling. So let’s say John Cena wanted to go to AEW, he couldn’t just use the name John Cena, because WWE has the rights of that in wrestling.”

On knowing how big Nexus would be:

“No, not at all. None of us had any idea how big the Nexus was going to be. In fact, I think part of what made it work so well is it was so real because we were the guys who were on NXT the first season, which I don’t know if people remember, but it was a reality show.”

On the viral Nexus debut segment:

“I think part of it was too, because it wasn’t that well-staged. They just told us, ‘Go down there. Tear the place up. We’re gonna leave box cutters for you and different things, all right, tear up the ring. We have another one. I don’t care what you do to this one.’ It’s like, wow, this is the first time we got to expose what’s under a ring, and how it’s made, and it was something. I remember, for me, I was really green then, and at the time, I had to be the one to kick this off. I had to punch the referee when we first got in the ring. That’s a lot of pressure to put on me, because this is the first shot. This is gonna set the tone. If this does not look good, we’re done. We’re done. I was just learning how to throw good punches, so I was like, I’m just gonna have to haul off and hit Chad Patton. He might just have to eat one. Sorry, Chad, but it looked great, and luckily, that was probably the best punch I ever threw. He didn’t lose any teeth. And it looked awesome.”

And Justin Roberts got taken out

“And that was the first time that had really happened, and anything on that level. A story I heard that I think was so awesome is, while this is going down, you can hear somebody ringing the ring bell, that was a fan in the audience who really thought these guys went crazy. ‘Hey, get some people out here to help!’ They bought it that much.” 

On interacting with legends:

“Every week they would threaten us, ‘Hey, you gotta beat up Ricky Steamboat. If this doesn’t look good, you guys are fired.’ And the thing is, at that time, he was at FCW with us helping us train. This is one of our coaches, and he’s an older guy. I don’t want to hurt him. They’re like, ‘No, this has to look bad.’ So every week, it just ratcheted up, we became those guys, and then they wanted us to stay together, make this real, which I thought was awesome. They wanted us to maintain kayfabe outside of the ring. Wherever we were, we had to have our arm bands on, and so it was kind of like a fraternity, you didn’t want to be caught without your arm band on, because there could be repercussions. I didn’t want to take a photo with a fan and not have my arm band on. Then we weren’t even supposed to take photos with fans, we were serious heels. I remember one time I was with my nephew, and a little boy came up and wanted a picture, and I turned him away, and oh my gosh, I felt terrible. It’s like, no pictures. I ended up doing it anyway. I felt too bad. I just snarled at the picture something badly. I can’t do that. But it was so real. And you’re right. I mean, the push was amazing. It’s too bad that you know what ended up happening to it, but what could have been, never know.”

Do you think John Cena buried The Nexus?

“Oh yeah, that’s 100% accurate. I mean, that’s what happened, that is what happened.”

Is it because Cena wanted to go over in that match? 

“Yes. And I don’t know why he wanted to go over, but we knew all day we were supposed to go over, and then things started getting weird, and then they tell us, no, the finish changed, and it’s because John wanted to go over, and we weren’t happy about that. The other guys in the match weren’t happy about that. And if I’m being honest, I think John probably knows that wasn’t the right idea. I mean, maybe obviously, at the time, he thought that was the right call, but in retrospect, I don’t even think he would agree that that was the right thing to do.” 

So what was the finish supposed to be?

“I know we were supposed to go over. I don’t know how. I don’t know how many of us there were [supposed to be left in the match], but there were some shenanigans [planned] and ultimately, we went over.”

For those that don’t know, Cena takes a DDT on the concrete, it’s 2 on 1, and he still wins:

“But either way, you spend six months or however long it was building this faction, and we’re the strongest thing, we’re the hottest thing they have. Then now, why would you have us lose that? This is the main event. To really build these new stars, you want us to keep going. We could have rode this all the way to Mania, but then after that, we’ve now lost and that took us down a few pegs. After that, we never regained the steam. They ended up separating us. Even then they started to have a good storyline going where we were gonna oust Wade Barrett, and I was gonna take over. I remember, I kicked him out of the group. I think it was Raw, and then the next week, I was supposed to then become the leader. However, then it’s hey, surprise guys, we got a new leader for you, CM Punk. Wait, what? How does this fit in? And I guess he needed a faction. Straight Edge Society was done and he needed a new faction. So I don’t know why they decided just to give him Nexus. So then the storyline that we had going just stopped, and now we’re The New Nexus with CM Punk, which, eh. It never really took off, I think, because it was a disconnect for the fans too.”

On the rumour that Vince wanted SummerSlam to end on a happy note:

“I’ve heard that before too, because I know on house shows they would do that, have the babyface up at the end, but not necessarily on pay-per-views. Maybe that did come into play, and they thought about that, but that still wasn’t the right idea. That’s like, you know, winning the battle, but losing the war ultimately.”

On how much potential The Nexus had:

“I think we would have had a major run kind of like The Shield. Because if you ask me, I feel like The Shield was Nexus 2.0. What they did with The Shield, everything they did wrong in Nexus, they made sure they did it right with The Shield. That’s my opinion. So I assume we would have had a run kind of similar to that.”

On winning Tag Team Championships with John Cena:

“Well, that was part of the Nexus storyline when we’re gonna make John Cena join the Nexus. So we went over on Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre. The whole story of the match, it was pretty cool was that Cena was supposed to do all the work, but I took all the credit for it. So that’s what happens, and then we win. I think Cena gets a pinfall. Obviously, I run in, I get both belts. I’m going crazy, this is awesome. It was awesome too, it was really, really cool. Then I get down off the turnbuckle, and he AA’s me, completely ungrateful. And then, takes both titles and walks out. But the thing of it was, we were only supposed to have it for 24 hours. So for me personally, it was an awesome moment. But I never really felt like I earned the Tag Team Championship yet. My second win with McGillicutty was much more satisfying, because I felt like we’d earned it, like at that point, whereas this was just a cool story we’re doing for 24 hours. So I never really celebrated it like when you win a championship.”

But you still won the titles with John Cena:

“That’s the thing. It is Cena. Which was cool, but he tried to rib me over that. So he didn’t really let me enjoy it, to be honest. Because he tried to rib me by taking the titles, and then he told me, ‘Hey, make sure you grab the titles and take them to the next town.’ Because there’s the TV titles, and then there’s the live event ones. So the TV ones travel, he wanted me to get the live event ones, which I had to go get from Cody and Drew. I was like, okay, all right, I’ll do it. But then he got on his bus and took off, but I guess he had already taken the titles, but didn’t tell me what his plan was. He wanted me to go crazy backstage, searching for it, and freak out. So I went and asked Drew for the titles, and he’s like, ‘Oh, I already gave them to Cena.’ Okay, that was the end of that. So I got in my car, I think I was with Heath Slater or something. We drove to the next town. I get to the building the next day, ‘Oh, man, what did you do? Cena is pissed at you!’ What? ‘Yeah, he’s mad. He’s looking for you. You gotta apologize to John Cena.’ For what? ‘Well, apparently you didn’t get the titles last night.’ Yeah, I know, but he has them. They’re like, ‘No, he said you should have looked for him, and then you should have looked for him and been upset you couldn’t find them.’ What? So hold on a second. You’re telling me I need to go apologize to him and tell him I’m sorry that I wasn’t upset about not finding him and I didn’t look hard enough? I’m like, You do realize this sounds nuts. I can’t remember who’s telling me this. This must be an agent or somebody, because they actually give me advice, ‘You need to go talk to him.’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, I know, but just do it.’ So I literally went and apologized to John. ‘Hey, John, I’m sorry, I looked for the title. I didn’t understand. You know, I thought you had them.’ He was shoot mad at me though, [because his prank didn’t work out?] That’s the thing. That’s what I always said, which is always kind of funny to me. Hey, yeah, your joke didn’t work and you’re mad at me about it. But doesn’t that kind of fall on you playing your joke a little bit?”

On who could be John Cena’s final opponent:

“I could see Bron Breakker, I think that would be a great one. Really, just give him an amazing push, somebody like that. Dominik Mysterio would be a good one too, absolutely.”

On sharing the ring with Bret Hart:

“That was awesome. Just to share the ring with him, and getting to talk [to him]. Bret is one of my favorite people in WWE, period, in all of professional wrestling. So just getting to talk to him, getting to know him, that was awesome. He’s so humble and so knowledgeable, and then being able to share the ring with him, it was awesome, but it was nerve-wracking a little bit because we didn’t want to hurt him. We know that he’d had some injuries and some health problems before. So we were very, very careful with him. But it was awesome.”

On the possibility of a Nexus reunion:

“I mean, there is, somebody just has to call for it. We still have a group thread. We still talk. We have a Nexus group chat.” 

Who’s in it? 

“Everybody but Daniel Bryan. I mean, he turned on us at SummerSlam. Everybody else is in it. We’re all for one. You’re either Nexus or against us. But in all seriousness, we went through a lot together. We knew each other in FCW, became friends, and then started on the road together, went through NXT, we formed real friendships. Also, it was nerve-wracking and stressful, and we were rookies, we’re in a class together, we felt like we were being hazed and whatnot. But going through all that together, it makes you bond.”

What is David Otunga grateful for?

“My health, my son, and great memories.”

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