David Daniel Otunga (born April 7, 1980) is an American actor and former professional wrestler and lawyer. He is best known for his tenure in WWE from 2009 to 2015.
Otunga was the runner-up on the first season of WWE NXT and later an original member of The Nexus and The New Nexus, being the only member present through the entire duration of the stable in every incarnation. He became a two-time WWE Tag Team Champion, having one reign each with fellow Nexus members John Cena and Curtis Axel.
Early life
David Daniel Otunga
was born in Elgin, Illinois on April 7, 1980, the son of teachers Billie and Moses Otunga.
His mother is American and his father is Kenyan.
He has two older siblings.
He graduated from Larkin High School
and later earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Illinois.
Following his graduation, he moved to New York City to become a laboratory manager in Columbia University's Cognitive Neuroscience Center.
Law career
Otunga graduated from Harvard Law School in 2006, passing Illinois'
Bar examination.
He worked at
Sidley Austin, one of America's largest law firms,
from May 2005 to October 2007.
Acting career
In 2007, after his niece submitted his audition tape, Otunga was chosen to be a contestant on
I Love New York 2 and given the nickname "Punk".
He became one of the final three contestants in the competition, before being eliminated on the series' penultimate episode. Otunga has since starred in the 2013 thriller film
The Call.
Otunga made a guest appearance as himself in the 13,110th episode (Season 52, Episode 84) of
General Hospital.
also played in an episode of criminal minds as a bouncer in episode 12 of the same season.
Professional wrestling career
World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE
FCW (2008–2010)
In November 2008, Otunga signed a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (
WWE) and was assigned to its development territory, Florida Championship Wrestling.
He made his debut on May 29, 2009,
under the
ring name Dawson Alexander, in a six-man tag team match. Otunga teamed with
Dakota Darsow and Jon Cutler to defeat Abraham Saddam Washington, Derrick Bateman and
Tanga Loa.
NXT (2010)
On February 16, 2010, after numerous dark matches on both
WWE Raw and
WWE SmackDown, it was announced that Otunga would wrestle on the first season of
WWE NXT under his real name, with
R-Truth as his
Kayfabe mentor.
He made his debut on the inaugural episode of
NXT on February 23, quickly defeating
Fred Rosser.
Young defeated Otunga in a rematch on the following week's broadcast, thanks to interference from Young's mentor,
CM Punk. After the match, R-Truth tried to offer his support, only to be shoved away by a frustrated Otunga, resulting in Otunga turning heel. R-Truth took exception, confronting and brawling with Otunga backstage.
On the March 30 episode of
NXT, Otunga won an 8-man over the top rope battle royal against the other NXT Rookies to earn the right to guest host
Raw the following week.
On the April 5 episode of
Raw, Otunga put himself in a tag team match with
John Cena for the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship against
ShoMiz (
Big Show and
The Miz). Later in the match, however, he refused to tag in and walked out, allowing ShoMiz to retain.
On May 11, in the second Pros Poll, he was moved to second place.
During the season finale on June 1, Otunga came in second place overall in the competition, losing out to
Wade Barrett.
The Nexus (2010–2011)
The following week on
Raw, Otunga and the other
NXT rookies from season one interfered in the main event match between
John Cena and CM Punk, attacking the competitors, the announce team, and
ring announcer Justin Roberts, before dismantling the ring area and surrounding equipment.
On the June 14 episode of
Raw, the rookies attacked General Manager
Bret Hart, when he refused to give them contracts.
The following week on
Raw,
Vince McMahon fired Hart and announced the hiring of a new general manager, who had signed all seven season one NXT rookies to contracts.
The following week, the group was named The Nexus.
On the July 12 episode of
Raw, The Nexus, excluding Daniel Bryan (who was fired by Vince McMahon after the Nexus' first night on Raw in part due to choking ring announcer Justin Roberts with his own tie), competed in their first match together, defeating John Cena in a six-on-one handicap match.
The Nexus continued to feud with Cena and the Raw roster, resulting in a seven-on-seven elimination tag team match at SummerSlam. Otunga was the fourth member of The Nexus eliminated, when he submitted to
Chris Jericho, and The Nexus went on to lose the match.
Cena was later forced to join The Nexus, as a result of losing to Barrett at Hell in a Cell.
In January 2011, Barrett was exiled from Nexus and CM Punk took over his spot as the leader of the group.
On the May 23 episode of Raw, Otunga teamed with fellow Nexus member Curtis Axel to win the WWE Tag Team Championship from Kane and The Big Show with the help interference from fellow New Nexus members Mason Ryan and Punk.
Legal advisor (2011–2015)
After a minor feud with
Jerry Lawler, Otunga and McGillicutty's team quietly disbanded. Otunga then started a new storyline, focusing on his law background, as
John Laurinaitis advised him to help disgruntled wrestlers plan a lawsuit against
Triple H, WWE's chief operating officer. He also started carrying a
Starbucks thermos. On the September 30 episode of
SmackDown, Otunga and Laurinaitis sat down with
Dolph Ziggler,
Jake Hager,
Cody Rhodes, Alberto Del Rio,
Christian Cage, and
Vickie Guerrero to discuss the matter. The following week on
Raw SuperShow, Otunga walked out on Triple H with other wrestlers,
WWE Diva, and referees after a "vote of no confidence" for Triple H as COO. He returned to in-ring action on the November 29
SmackDown Holiday Special where he was defeated by
Randy Orton in a Miracle on 34th Street Fight match. On the December 23 episode of
SmackDown he cancelled a #1 Contender's match between Big Show and
Mark Henry due to Henry's leg injury; he was knocked out by Big Show as a result. Otunga faced
Big Show on the December 26 episode of
Raw SuperShow and the December 30 episode of
SmackDown, but lost both matches.
He obtained his first win since returning to singles competition on the January 13, 2012, episode of
SmackDown, defeating
Santino Marella. He captured back-to-back wins against
Ezekiel Jackson on the February 20 episode of
Raw SuperShow and the February 21 episode of
Super SmackDown.
On the March 12 episode of
Raw SuperShow, it was announced that Otunga would be the captain of Laurinaitis' team for the battle for control 12-man Tag Team match at WrestleMania XXVIII. Team Johnny was victorious at WrestleMania. On the April 16 episode of
Raw SuperShow, Otunga unsuccessfully challenged Santino Marella for the United States Championship.
Otunga took leave from WWE television from April 23 to May 14 to be with his fiancé,
Jennifer Hudson, during the murder trial of William Balfour in Chicago.
At No Way Out, Otunga lost to Brodus Clay via count out. The next night on Raw SuperShow, Otunga teamed with Big Show and John Laurinaitis in a 3 on 1 handicap match. Before the match started, Big Show walked out on Otunga and Laurinaitis. Otunga walked out as well during the match, because Laurinaitis had refused to tag himself in, allowing John Cena to make Laurinaitis submit. The next week on SmackDown, Otunga delivered a low blow to Brodus Clay as Clay was fighting Big Show. He returned to Raw on August 20 to confront general manager AJ Lee. He was put into a match against Big Show, which he lost. On September 3, Otunga was seen with Alberto Del Rio, who told Matt Striker that his client (Del Rio) won't talk to him. On the September 7 episode of SmackDown, he represented Alberto Del Rio and Ricardo Rodriguez to win the case to ban Sheamus' finishing move, the Brogue Kick,
Otunga returned on April 6, 2014, in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania XXX and was eliminated by Big E. Otunga did not make any WWE appearances again until he returned to live events on January 9, 2015.
Non-wrestling roles (2015–2019)
Otunga returned to television on February 2, 2015, doing the
Raw Pre-Show. Following this, he offered his legal services to his former tag team partner Curtis Axel regarding his Royal Rumble 2015 controversy.
[ Tweet to Axel 8:44 PM - 2 Feb 2015: You have a legitimate case against @WWE @RealCurtisAxel. Give me a call. I'll give you the friends & family discount. #OtungaLaw] Now rarely an in-ring performer, Otunga replaced
Alex Riley as one of the hosts of the weekly
Raw pre-show on the
WWE Network.
In June 2016, Otunga left his position on the Raw pre-show panel, where he joined the commentary team alongside Tom Phillips for both WWE Superstars and Main Event. On the June 23 episode of SmackDown, Otunga temporarily replaced Jerry Lawler on the commentary team, after Lawler was suspended by WWE. Following the 2016 WWE draft, Otunga was announced to join the SmackDown commentary team on a full-time basis, alongside Mauro Ranallo and John Layfield, where he served as the babyface color commentator in contrast to JBL's heel color commentary.
On April 11, 2017, it was reported that Otunga was traded to the Raw brand for Byron Saxton as part of the 2017 WWE Superstar Shake-up. However, due to his acting career, he was replaced by Booker T on Raw for six weeks. Upon Otunga's return, Booker remained Raw color commentator while Otunga became a pre-show panelist. He last appeared on commentary on the August 20, 2019 episode of SmackDown.
Personal life
Otunga met singer and actress
Jennifer Hudson in 2007, and they dated for seven months before becoming engaged on her 27th birthday.
Their son, David Daniel Otunga Jr., was born on August 10, 2009.
They never married and separated in November 2017.
Credits
Film
Television
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|
| |
| |
| 2 episodes |
| Panelist |
| |
| |
| |
| Episode: "A Good Husband" |
| Episode: "Work, Wife, Unhappy Life" |
| 2 episodes |
| Episode: "Chicago Is Heating Up" |
Video games
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| 2010 | WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2011 | DLC |
| 2011 | WWE '12 | |
| 2012 | WWE '13 | |
| 2013 | WWE 2K14 | |
Championships and accomplishments
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Pro Wrestling Illustrated
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Feud of the Year (2010)
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Most Hated Wrestler of the Year (2010)
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Rookie of the Year (2010)
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Ranked No. 84 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2012
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WWE
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Wrestling Observer Newsletter
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Worst Television Announcer (2016)
External links
