Money In The Bank winner Otis was a recent guest on Lilian Garcia’s podcast Chasing Glory. During their conversation, Otis opened up about how he first became a pro wrestling fan, and why he felt he had to hide the fact he was.
Otis recalled discovering pro wrestling when he was around 4 years old. The first show he watched was apparently an episode of WCW Thunder. It was after this first experience that his mother would sign him up for amateur wrestling.
Despite training and competing in amateur wrestling, Otis admitted his love for pro wrestling “kept growing and growing and growing.” He shared how “there’s this unwritten rule of like ‘You can’t watch professional wrestling if you’re an amateur wrestler.’” Otis referred to that approach as a “weird toughness” where people would discourage each other from watching pro wrestling.
This forced Otis to enjoy pro wrestling in relative secrecy. He divulged how “I kinda had a secret with me until some of my buddies would watch it with me and all that, but for some reason, what made me happy was always wrestling.”
Having won the MITB briefcase, Otis now has the ability to cash it in for championship opportunity at any point over the next year. According to him, however, he’s not interested in waiting too long for his shot.
