David Otunga was on Chris Van Vliet for a 30-minute interview and the lawyer, turned wrestler, turned commentator talks about the time he ticked off Kevin Owens while in the commentary booth, how he has so much respect for Michael Cole and also let’s folks know if he’s retired or not. Quotes are below and so is the entire interview.
David Otunga on who was responsible for his transition from wrestling to commentary:
Multiple. It was mine and then Michael Cole’s. So I transitioned from in-ring and then started picking up more films and whatnot and also raising my son and then I started doing stuff at the studio – the Network, and one day Michael Cole called me and asked me if I wanted to become a commentator. It was like, ‘Wow, I never thought about that. Alright, I’ll give it a shot.’ And it’s awesome although extremely challenging. Like you think you’re just out there just saying whatever and having a fun time with your buddies. No. You’re actually telling the stories like so much goes into that, it makes me have so much respect for Michael Cole. Like 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 this at the same time. It’s unbelievable.
On if he’s okay with having his last match be a house show bout with R-Truth:
Eh, I’m okay with it. I’m okay with it. You know, obviously if there was a cool storyline or cool opportunity or something, yeah definitely. But yeah, I’m cool with it though, too.
On Wikipedia calling him a “retired wrestler”:
Yeah, I mean, I don’t know. I would never say ‘retired.’ I never specifically retired I’m just doing other things, but I do a ton of things.
I don’t know who runs this Wikipedia, but I’ve never retired. They retired me now?
On who is speaking to him over the headset:
It could be a number of people. Sometimes Vince himself or whoever is producing the show, generally.
On if Vince is feeding him lines:
Sometimes. Yeah, sometimes. It’s pretty cool. Like, you know he’ll generally let you do your own thing, but sometimes he’ll give you an idea or say something he wants you to say specifically. It’s pretty cool.
On if he’s getting negative feedback on the headset while doing commentary:
I don’t know. I’ve been fortunate enough where I’ve never had anything like negative feedback like that so. I guess for maybe other people, but for me at least, no.
On that time he ticked off Kevin Owens:
I was making some witty comment, something about “The Battle Of The Bulge” and I was like “and we’re not talking about Kevin Owens stomach or something like that.”
Owens was mad and coming at me on Twitter and stuff. The thing of it is, is Kevin Owens is actually one of my favorite characters. Like legit because he’s so different and I love the fact that he is who is he is. He’s different. Yeah, his stomach hangs over, but I think that’s awesome. I was like, ‘hey man, we’re on the same team.’
No, he was like shoot mad. Like he’d see me backstage and wouldn’t say anything. Wouldn’t shake my hand or nothing. Then I realized, oh he’s shoot mad at me. I think we’re cool now, I hope.
On his thoughts on AEW:
I just want to say, I think Cody, that guy is fascinating to me. I think you have to respect him, and everything he’s done and he’s doing. He has a vision and he’s actually making this happen.
The full interview is below:
Chris Van Vliet sits down with David Otunga in New York City for his new movie TYLER PERRY’S A MADEA FAMILY FUNERAL. David talks about transitioning from WWE to movies, whether he wants one final match, who is in your ear during commentary, how his commentary pissed off a wrestler and much more!
