David Otunga

Real name: David Daniel Otunga
Height: 6’0″
Weight: 240 lbs.
Date of birth: April 7, 1980
Hometown: Chicago, IL
Pro debut: March 20, 2009
Trained at: FCW
Finishing move: Thrust Spinebuster

Biography

– Otunga graduated with a degree in Psychology from the University of Illinois. He then graduated from Harvard Law School and passed the Illinois bar exam in 2006
– Otunga starred on the reality series ‘I Love New York 2’ in 2007
– In November 2008, Otunga signed a WWE development deal and was assigned to FCW
– Otunga worked his first match on March 20, 2009 as ‘Dawson Alexander’. He teamed with Barry Allen & Jon Cutler to defeat Abraham Saddam Washington, Derrick Bateman & Tonga
– In February 2010, Otunga was unveiled as a competitor on the first series of NXT
– On the March 30 NXT, Otunga won a Battle Royal, earning himself the right to serve as General Manager of the following episode of Raw
– Otunga would eventually place second in the competition, behind Wade Barrett
– On the June 7 Raw, the NXT rookies stormed the ringside area, attacking John Cena, CM Punk and the announce team before destroying the ringside equipment
– In the coming weeks, the group became known as ‘The Nexus’
– The Nexus lost much of their momentum following a loss to John Cena-led Team WWE at Summerslam 2010
– At Bragging Rights 2010, Otunga & Cena (having been forced to join The Nexus) defeated Cody Rhodes & Drew McIntyre to win the WWE Tag Team Titles. The group forced Otunga to lay down for Heath Slater & Justin Gabriel the next night on Raw
– In January 2011, Wade Barrett was exiled from The Nexus and CM Punk took over the group, dubbing it ‘The New Nexus’. Otunga remained with the group
– On the May 23 Raw, The New Nexus (Otunga & Michael McGillicutty) defeated The Big Show & Kane to win the WWE Tag Team Titles
– On the June 23 Superstars, The New Nexus defeated Santino Marella & Vladimir Kozlov to retain the WWE Tag Team Titles
– CM Punk left The New Nexus in July. Otunga & McGillicutty would continue to team under the Nexus name, despite them being the only remaining members of the group
– On the July 29 Smackdown, The New Nexus defeated The Usos (Jimmy & Jey) to retain the WWE Tag Team Titles
– On the August 1 Raw, Otunga & McGillicutty defeated Santino Marella & Zack Ryder in a non-title match. The pair wrestled this match without any Nexus branding, signalling the end of the group as an entity
– In late 2011, Otunga debuted a new character drawing on his legal background. He would serve as the ‘legal advisor’ for John Laurinaitis, then the Raw General Manager
– At WrestleMania XXVIII, Otunga captained Team Johnny (himself, Dolph Ziggler, Jack Swagger, Drew McIntyre, Mark Henry & The Miz) to victory against Team Teddy (Booker T, Kofi Kingston, Zack Ryder, R-Truth, Santino Marella & The Great Khali)
– At Survivor Series 2012, Team Ziggler (Otunga, Dolph Ziggler, Damien Sandow, Alberto Del Rio & Wade Barrett) defeated Team Foley (Randy Orton, Daniel Bryan, Kofi Kingston, The Miz & Kane)
– Following an appearance in the WrestleMania XXX Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal, Otunga largely retired from in-ring competition
– Otunga began hosting the Raw pre-show panel in February 2015
– In June 2016, Otunga transitioned into a colour commentator role on WWE Main Event
– Following the 2016 WWE Draft, Otunga joined the Smackdown announce team
– In April 2017, Otunga moved to Raw, with Byron Saxton moving the other way
– Otunga was removed from commentary following the August 20 episode of Smackdown, where he temporarily replaced Saxton