David Otunga On Heat With Kevin Owens, Michael Cole Introducing Him To WWE Commentary Role
As seen in the video above, WWE Superstar David Otunga recently spoke with entertainment reporter Chris Van Vliet, who sent us quotes from the interview.
Otunga's last WWE match came in July 2015, a live event loss to R-Truth. Otunga had already started doing RAW Pre-show work in February of that year. He would start doing more pre-show and commentary work in the summer of 2016. Otunga revealed that Michael Cole introduced him to the world of commentary.
"One day Michael Cole called me and asked me if I wanted to become a commentator. I was like, 'Wow, I've never thought about that but umm yeah, I'll give it a shot,'" Otunga revealed. "It's awesome although extremely challenging. Like you think you're just out there and saying whatever and having a great time with your buddies. No. You're actually telling the stories. So much goes into that. It makes me have so much respect for Michael Cole. If you actually understand what he's doing and how good he is in setting up his partners and the traffic and the advertisements and the commercials and everything that's going on and he has people in his ear. He's doing all of this at the same time, it's unbelievable."
Otunga, who went through a public split with Jennifer Hudson in late 2017, said he was not ready to make the transition from the ring to the announce table.
"Not necessarily," Otunga said when asked if he was ready to make the transition. "I had some things going on in life that I was kind of forced into making that decision. My love was in ring. But you know, I have other things that I'm interested in as well so there are some positives with it. It did allow me to focus on film and now I'm here starring in this film with Tyler Perry which is great. But also, being able to become a commentator that is a lot easier on my body and it has a lot more longevity."
Otunga also revealed how he picked up some heat from Kevin Owens. Otunga said that he cracked a joke on Owens during commentary and that made Owens "shoot mad" after he heard it.
"Kevin Owens got really mad at me one time," Otunga revealed. "I'm trying to remember the actual line but I was making some witty comment and I said something about the battle of the bulge and I was like, 'And we're not talking about Kevin Owen's stomach' or something like that, which I think is pretty tame. Owens was mad and coming at me on Twitter and stuff. The thing of it is Kevin Owens is actually one of my favorite characters like legit, because he's so different. I love the fact that he is who he is. He's different and yeah his stomach hangs over but I think that's awesome. So I was like, 'Hey man, we're on the same team. I don't know if you know that. Dude, you're a heel. This is what we do.' He was like shoot mad. Like he would see me backstage and he wouldn't even say anything or shake my hand or nothing. I think we're cool now. I hope."