David Otunga

At 44 years old, David Otunga has this physical status:

David Daniel Otunga Sr. (born April 7, 1980) is an American actor, advocate, and currently works with WWE as a color commentator.

On the first season of NXT, he was the runner-up.

He is also a founding member of The Nexus and The New Nexus, being the only one presenter of the stable in every iteration.

He became a two-time WWE Tag Team Champion, sharing one reign with fellow Nexus members John Cena and Michael McGillicutty as part of the group.

Early life

Otunga was born in Elgin, Illinois, to father Moses, a Kenyan, and Billie, a European American mother, both of whom are educators. He is the youngest of three children. Otunga graduated from Larkin High School and later obtained a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Illinois. Following his graduation, he moved to New York City and became a lab manager at Columbia University's Cognitive Neuroscience Center. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 2006 after passing the Illinois bar exam. Otunga joined Sidley Austin, one of America's largest law firms, after graduating from law school and passing his bar exam. [1] He worked with Sidley Austin from May 2005 to October 2007, according to Otunga's LinkedIn profile.

Personal life

Jennifer Hudson, a singer and actress, proposed marriage on Hudson's 27th birthday in 2008. Hudson gave birth to the couple's first child, David Daniel Otunga Jr., on August 10, 2009. Otunga and Hudson split in November 2017 after being in the process of divorce for many months.

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Acting career

After his niece's audition tape, Otunga was selected to be a contestant on I Love New York 2 in 2007 and given the name "Punk." He was one of the top three contestants in the contest before being disqualified on the series's penultimate episode. Otunga has since appeared in the 2013 thriller film The Call. In the 13,110th episode (Season 52, Episode 84) of General Hospital, Otunga appeared as himself.

Professional wrestling career

Otunga signed a professional deal with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in November 2008 and was assigned to its growth territory, Florida Championship Wrestling. In a six-man tag team match, Dawson Alexander made his debut on May 29, 2009. Abraham Saddam Washington, Derrick Bateman, and Camacho were all teamed with Barry Allen and Jon Cutler to defeat Abraham Saddam Washington, Derrick Bateman, and Camacho.

Following numerous tough matches on both Raw and SmackDown, it was announced on February 16, 2010, with R-Truth as his storyline mentor. On February 23, he made his NXT debut on the first episode of the franchise, defeating Darren Young. On the following week's broadcast, Young defeated Otunga in a rematch due to Young's mentor, CM Punk's interference. R-Truth attempted to help, but Otunga retaliated, with Otunga dragged away, resulting in Otunga's turning heel. R-truth: With Otunga backstage, confronting and brawling was the exception. Otunga was voted 8-man in the top rope brawl against the other NXT Rookies on March 30 for the right to host Raw the following week. On the 5th episode of Raw, Otunga brought himself and John Cena in a tag team match for the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship against ShoMiz (Big Show and The Miz). However, ShoMiz was able to stay later in the game after refusing to tag in and walked out, allowing ShoMiz to keep. He was voted second place in the second Pros Poll on May 11. During the season's finale on June 1, Otunga finished in second place overall, losing out to Wade Barrett.

The Raw, Otunga, and other NXT rookies from season one all interfered in the main event match between John Cena and CM Punk, including the announce team and ring announcer Justin Roberts, before dismantling the ring area and surrounding equipment. The rookies blasted General Manager Bret Hart, who refused to give them contracts on June 14 in Raw. Vince McMahon fired Hart and revealed the appointment of a new General Manager who had signed all seven seasons one NXT rookies to contracts. The Nexus firm was established in The United States earlier this week. Daniel Bryan (who was suspended by Vince McMahon after the Nexus' first night on Raw in part due to choking ring announcer Justin Roberts' own tie) defeated John Cena in a six-on-one handicap match on July 12th. The Nexus continued to feud with Cena and the Raw roster, resulting in a seven-on-seven elimination tag team match at SummerSlam. When Otunga submitted to Chris Jericho, the Nexus was the fourth member of the Nexus eliminated, and The Nexus went on to lose the match.

Because of losing to Barrett in a Cell, Cena was eventually forced to join The Nexus. Bragging Rights was presented to the following pay-per-view video on October 24, Otunga and Cena defeated Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre in the WWE Tag Team Championships. When Barrett ordered Otunga to allow Slater to pin him, the next night on Raw Otunga and Cena lost the Tag Team Championship to fellow Nexus members Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater. Nexus, sans Barrett and Cena, invaded SmackDown on November 5th by Otunga, who had been questioning Barrett's leadership for the past weeks. Barrett did not approve Otunga's appointment to lead The Nexus to SmackDown, and as a result, he was forced to defend his position a week later. After Kane interfered, Otunga defeated Edge in a lumberjack battle, Otunga took his place in Nexus on November 12 episode of SmackDown. Around a month later, Otunga began to protest against Barrett, with the majority of the Nexus behind him. Barrett was told by Otunga that if the company disobeyed direct orders and walked away from Barrett, it would be barred from Nexus.

Barrett was exiled from Nexus in January 2011, and CM Punk took over as the group's leader. Although Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater refused to follow Punk's instructions and left Nexus, Otunga decided to take his first step, a beating from the Big Show, and stay with the organization. Punk would face Randy Orton at WrestleMania XXVII in late February, with each member of The Nexus facing Orton to win the right to accompany Punk to the ring in the weeks leading up to WrestleMania. On the episode of Raw on March 7, Otunga met Orton but lost. Orton punched him in the head during the match. Otunga was off television for more than a month, appearing on the other New Nexus members' episode on April 11 and preventing Orton from receiving a WWE Championship match.

Otunga and fellow Nexus member Michael McGillicutty won the WWE Tag Team Championship from Kane and The Big Show on May 23 with the help of fellow New Nexus members Mason Ryan and Punk. On the 29th episode of SmackDown, they made their first successful title defense against The Usos. After CM Punk's WWE contract came to an end on July 17, Otunga and McGillicutty played against Santino Marella and Zack Ryder on the August 1 episode of Raw without any Nexus gear or armbands, and all Nexus logos were removed from their TitanTron, effectively ending the New Nexus. On the August 22 episode of Raw, Otunga, and McGillicutty lost the Tag Team Championship to Air Boom (Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne).

The Otunga and McGillicutty crews disbanded quietly after a minor disagreement with Jerry Lawler. Otunga began a new storyline, focusing on his criminal background, after John Laurinaitis told him to assist disgruntled wrestlers in filing a lawsuit against Triple H, WWE's chief operating officer. He also started carrying a Starbucks thermos. Vickie Guerrero and Otunga and Laurinaitis talked with Dolph Ziggler, Jack Swagger, Cody Rhodes, Alberto Del Rio, Christian, and Vickie Guerrero on September 30 to discuss the issue. After a "vote of no confidence" for Triple H as the General Manager of Raw this week, Otunga walked out on Triple H with other wrestlers, Divas, and referees. On the November 29 SmackDown Holiday Special, where he was defeated by Randy Orton in a Miracle in 34th Street Fight match, he returned to in-ring action. He cancelled a top Contender's match between The Big Show and Mark Henry due to the latter's leg injury; as a result, he was forced to cancel by show. On the December 26 episode of Raw and the December 30 episode of SmackDown, Otunga appeared on The Big Show, but unfortunately lost both matches. On the January 13, 2012, episode of SmackDown, he won his first match since returning to singles action, defeating Santino Marella. On the February 20 episode of Raw and the February 21 episode of Super SmackDown, he scored back-to-back victories against Ezekiel Jackson. On the Wednesday episode of Raw, Otunga was revealed that he would be the captain of Laurinaitis' team in the fight for a control 12-man Tag Team match at WrestleMania. At WrestleMania XVIIII, Team Johnny was victorious. Otunga unsuccessfully challenged Santino Marella for the United States Championship on April 16 of Raw. During William Balfour's murder trial in Chicago, Otunga took leave from WWE television from April 23 to May 14 to be with his fiancé, Jennifer Hudson.

Otunga lost to Brodus Clay at No Way Out by counting out. In a 3 on 1 handicap match, Raw, Otunga and Big Show and John Laurinaitis teamed up on Thursday night. Big Show walked out on Otunga and Laurinaitis before the match began. Otunga walked out during the match because Laurinaitis had refused to tag himself in, allowing John Cena to force Laurinaitis to bow. Brodus Clay was knocked hard by Otunga on SmackDown this week as Clay was battling Big Show. On August 20, he returned to Raw to confront General Manager AJ Lee. He was put in a match against the Big Show, which he lost. Otunga was seen with Alberto Del Rio, who told Matt Striker that his client (Del Rio) will not talk to him on September 3. Alberto Del Rio and Ricardo Rodriguez were able to win the case against Sheamus' finishing move, the Brogue Kick, on the night's main event, although the Brogue Kick was later reinstated. Otunga was in charge of Alberto Del Rio during his World Heavyweight Championship match against Sheamus, which Del Rio lost. He was on Team Ziggler when Otunga was injured. Daniel Bryan killed him. Otunga was ranked 9th in the 2013 Royal Rumble match, but Sheamus disqualified him, and Sheamus was disqualified. He lost his last singles match to Ryback. Since being drafted, he has been doing promoting WWE backstage. After being sued by WWE and Triple H for defamation, discrimination, and improper termination of employment, Otunga conducted an interview for WWE.com on October 28.

Big E. Otunga did not appear in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania XXX on April 6, 2014, and he did not return to live action until November 9, 2015. He was last seen on a WWE Live SummerSlam Heatwave Tour on July 5, 2015, where he lost to R-Truth.

On February 2, 2015, Otunga appeared on television again, doing the Raw Pre-Show. Curtis Axel, his former tag team member, was contacted by him after the Royal Rumble 2015 controversy. Otunga was once only an in-ring performer, and Otunga took over Alex Riley as one of the hosts of the WWE's weekly Raw pre-show on the WWE Network.

Otunga resigned from his role on the Raw pre-show panel in June 2016, where he worked with Tom Phillips on the commentary team for both Superstars and Main Event. After Lawler was suspended by WWE, Otunga briefly replaced Jerry Lawler on the commentary team on June 23. Otunga was confirmed to join the SmackDown commentary team on a full time basis, alongside Mauro Ranallo and John "Bradshaw" Layfield, where he appeared as the babyface color commentator in contrast to JBL's heel color commentary.

Otunga was traded to the Raw brand for Byron Saxton as part of the 2017 WWE Superstar Shake-up, according to the website on April 11, 2017. However, he was recalled by Booker T on Raw for six weeks due to his acting work. Booker remained Raw color commentator upon Otunga's return, while Otunga became a pre-show panelist. Since being on commentary for the first time, he has appeared on a few occasions.

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