WWE: How David Otunga Will Be Taken Seriously Now on RAW

During the first season of NXT, David Otunga's charisma stuck out. This was mostly because of the lack of charisma shown by the original rookies, but Otunga looked special nonetheless. He was young and needed some work, but there was certainly some potential there. It isn't often remembered, but Otunga was the runner-up that season to Wade Barrett. This meant a potential for Otunga to become something in WWE, especially when Nexus debuted and put the rest of WWE on notice.

This was WWE's chance to make Otunga a relevant name in an up-and-coming faction. Otunga was slated to be the number two guy and even showed signs of wanting to take Nexus away from Barrett entirely. Eventually, Otunga was exposed for exactly what WWE really thought of him. David Otunga was a joke.

Otunga was the only member of Nexus to stay on board from start to finish. Otunga is a former RAW guest host, was a tag team champion with John Cena, and was sent on Lopez Tonight to sing karaoke. Who would have thought that it would have taken him to dress in a bow-tie and act like a lawyer to actually get back onto TV regularly.

Otunga debuted his new look a few weeks ago, referencing his real-life law degree from Harvard Law School. He has now aligned himself with many of the disgruntled superstars who are fed up with the way that COO Triple H is running Monday Night RAW. Otunga suddenly has gone from a guy who is never seen on the show to a guy who is expected to pop up weekly. He went from a guy in the lower part of the card to a superstar hanging out with guys in the upper-mid card and rising into the main event picture. The longer David Otunga stays around him, the more often you will see him on pay-per-view and in big main event matches.

Otunga's in-ring ability has always been called into question since his debut and he has even been called "boring" by Jerry Lawler in a short-lived feud. I don't think Otunga is officially boring anymore. Last night, he was a part of a huge 12-man tag team match, teaming with the United States, Intercontinental and WWE Champions. Despite getting little time to actually wrestle on TV in the match, the large tag team match gave many people a feel of what is to come at Survivor Series.

Alongside Ziggler, Swagger, Rhodes and Christian, David Otunga can fill out a Survivor Series team consisting of people in the lawsuit he is developing against Triple H. With Nexus, he was one member of a group that destroyed things. In this lawyer gimmick, Otunga is the reason that this lawsuit storyline is even occurring.

Initially, he was just Jennifer Hudson's fiancé and a guy who was known as "Punk" on the VH1 reality show "I Love New York 2". I remember another reality TV guy who was thrown aside by many at first. He stuck it out, honed his craft, grew respect by his peers, and became WWE Champion. That man was The Miz and, with some time, it could also be where David Otunga's success can go. It's ridiculous to say that WWE Champion is his future, but Otunga could at least end up being a solid mid-card champion down the road.

Then again, his lawyer gimmick does remotely remind me of Matt Striker's teacher gimmick in the way that both carry themselves. I would be interested in Otunga managing in the way that many always wanted Striker to manage in. Striker only got the venue of Superstars to show those skills off once. However, Otunga has the stage of Monday Night RAW to develop his mic skills more and even work on his in-ring ability some more.

Many people were ready to give up on David Otunga a year ago. Nexus was headed nowhere and Otunga was no longer anything special. After staying in limbo and essentially treading water with his career, Otunga now has the gimmick that always fit him. He doesn't have the Nexus name anymore and doesn't wrestle with Michael McGillicutty either. It's just him, his coffee, his bow-tie, his Harvard law degree and his clients.