WWE: Otis on Goals for His WWE Career & WWE Didn’t Have Plan for Him as Mr. Money in the Bank, Lyra Valkyria on Her Time Back in NXT, Dave Bautista on His Early WWE Career

Otis Comments on His Goals for His WWE Career & WWE Didn’t Have Any Real Plan for Him as Mr. Money in the Bank

A recent episode of the Insight with Chris Van Vliet podcast featured Otis as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Otis’ thoughts about his current goals for his career in WWE.

“Definitely that singles match at WrestleMania. Everyone talks about the title. For me, it’s basically [to] probably have a big match with [Chad] Gable, hopefully would be cool, maybe someday, I don’t know. This is going back, but I always wanted to work with Windham. That’s going to be a fantasy of mine until we go to heaven, basically. I always knew me and him could tear the house down. Two big guys, our styles aren’t exactly similar, but he’s way more agile, and the guy was phenomenal. RIP, babe. That and working with certain guys, newer guys coming in, and then obviously having that big title win would be nice. But for me, doing what I love to do has basically been a blessing for me, and selfishly I’m doing it for myself because it’s that much of a love for me.”

Otis also gave his thoughts about his Men’s Money in the Bank Ladder match victory in 2020 and his belief that WWE never had any real plans for him as the Money in the Bank briefcase holder.

“I don’t think there was a plan (for me as Mr. Money in the Bank). No. It was kind of a shock because the whole day was like, we couldn’t get up on the roof for the longest time because of COVID stuff and it was like, just sitting, sitting, sitting. Do one thing and shoot it so you were basically just sitting there in your gear. They were kind of bullsh*tting with all the boys and kind of calling stuff, ‘We’ll give you more of a spectacular –’ like the plate or Baron (Corbin) using, ‘Oh, let’s throw the plate at the mirror.’ Get it approved. Gets it approved. So it’s just like a long day and then finally, Jamie’s like, ‘You thinking King Kong up in there?’ I go, ‘King Kong!?’ He goes, ‘Yeah! Come with me.’ Jamie Noble, one of the producers. Jamie’s all fired up. He walks up and he’s just climbing this ladder with his cowboy boots. I’m like, ‘Babe, I’m not going up there. I hate heights. That’s why I only go on the second rope.’ He’s like, ‘Get yo ass up here. Come on…’ and it was a long way down. I mean, it’s a headquarters, babe. So we got out there and he goes, ‘Alright, I’m gonna take a picture of you. Take your shirt off and roar.’ I go, ‘Okay.’ ‘Like King Kong, like really roar’ and I’m like, ‘Okay, we’re roaring.’ Sorry, I’ve been sitting for 14 hours. Then all of a sudden, I’m gonna win it. I’m like, ‘Oh, okay,’ and then, yeah, from there, but I think everything was always like, again, who’s healthy, who’s not so, that could have been a factor there with testing about COVID and all that so, it was a bunch of changes going on.

My brain doesn’t think that way (Otis responded when asked if he thought he would win the World Title). That’s a million-dollar question (how my brain operates). Basically, it’s like how can I make this bigger than what it can be? And it’s tough without the crowd too because again, you’re not getting that reaction live. You’re getting it online mostly or through the boss so it was kind of — it was just one of those things where, you know, we could do a few things but then it was kind of like, we did the Otis court case. What was that? The court case with Miz and that was a hilarious day by the way… Well, you got (John) Morrison and me in a room. You can’t have the two boys in a room there. Morrison gets excited and he gets me going and then, next thing you know, ‘Guys, we gotta get this done!’ ‘Okay.’ If Teddy Long gets hot, you know something’s wrong. Teddy goes, ‘Alright, boys. Shut the hell up.’ I’ve been known to be very quiet in the locker room, boys.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com, PostWrestling.com

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Lyra Valkyria Comments on Her Return to NXT

Instinct Culture held a recent interview with Lyra Valkyria. One of the topics discussed included Valkyria’s thoughts about her recent return to WWE’s NXT brand and NXT’s current talent crossover partnership with TNA Wrestling.

“What a time to be in NXT right now for everyone who’s still there. My girl Kelani is doing amazing with the introduction of the new title, I’m so happy to see that. I miss it, but I’m also very happy with everything I’m doing right now. The reaction when I did go back to save my friend [Tatum Paxley] was amazing. So I’m so happy to be getting to go down a little bit now again and work with her.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

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Dave Bautista Comments on John Laurinaitis Wanted To Fire Him During His Time In OVW

A recent episode of the Insight with Chris Van Vliet podcast featured Dave Bautista, also known as Batista in WWE, as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Bautista’s thoughts about the beginning of his career in WWE and how then WWE Head of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis wanted to fire him while he was in Ohio Valley Wrestling.

“It was a long, long road. A lot of people didn’t believe in me. Even when I was in developmental camp down in OVW, there were people with the WWE, John Laurinaitis, who wanted to fire me [laughs], but I just kept digging in and digging in and digging in until I finally got my real first opportunity with Evolution, and I had access to Triple H and Ric Flair, two of the greatest professional wrestlers ever, and I wasn’t gonna blow my shot. So I had blinders on. I put everything else on the back-burner and focused on my wrestling career.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com