David Otunga would ‘absolutely’ be open to WWE return
If given the chance, David Otunga would “absolutely” like to return to WWE.
Otunga — best known for his time as a member of the Nexus — has reemerged recently with a YouTube channel where he covers pro wrestling from a legal perspective. He has not wrestled in more than a decade and was last with WWE as an announcer and pre-show panelist before departing the company in its pandemic layoffs of 2020.
While appearing on a new episode of Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Otunga was asked about his interest in a potential WWE return.
“Yeah. I mean If they called, yeah, absolutely,” he responded. “Like I said, it was so much fun. Although now I’m still doing announcing with 4th Rope, Westside Gunn and Smoke DZA’s [indie] promotion, 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.”
Otunga felt like, when he was with WWE, there was a disconnect between who he was as a wrestler and who he was as an announcer. He was a heel in the ring but then became a babyface commentator who had to push forward the story and root for wrestlers he previously had storyline issues with.
“The most difficult part is, you’re working. Like, we’re telling the story and we’re selling the storylines, but you’re not out there just saying whatever you want,” Otunga said. “You’re not just saying your real thoughts on the match, or whatever it is, but you have to push forward the story.
“So I was a babyface announcer, which was a disconnect, I think, for my fans, too, because I was always a heel. And, you know, John Cena was one of our biggest enemies. Now all of a sudden, on SmackDown, I’m putting over John Cena. He’s the greatest, he’s the greatest of all time. Meanwhile, as a character, we hate John Cena. We have huge heat with John Cena. So it was kind of inauthentic in that manner. I did my best with it, but I think that was the disconnect for fans.”
Van Vliet asked Otunga how often Vince McMahon was in his ear on commentary.
“Well, he’s always there,” Otunga said. “Me personally, he might give me something to say or something funny to say, to rip on [Michael] Cole, or somebody, whoever was out there with me. He never yelled at me, but I’d hear him get a hold of some of the other guys, but he was right there the entire time.”
The 45-year-old Otunga noted that he does not consider himself retired from the ring. He just sees himself as someone who hasn’t wrestled in a long time. Otunga thinks he’ll likely wrestle another match somewhere at some point.
Along with focusing on his YouTube channel, Otunga is continuing to pursue acting work and noted that he’s about to film a role in an independent movie.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.