David Otunga David Daniel Otunga , Sr . ( April 7 , 1980 ) is an American professional wrestler and former reality television actor . He is signed to WWE , where he was one - half of the WWE Tag Team Champions alongside Michael McGillicutty . He was the legal advisior by John Laurinaitis to help out other wrestlers get rid of Triple H . He was the runner - up on the first season of " NXT " . He was also currently the color commentator for " SmackDown Live " . Reality television . After his niece sent in an audition tape of him , Otunga was chosen to be a contestant on " I Love New York 2 " and given the nickname " Punk " . Otunga made it to the final three in the competition before being eliminated on the penultimate episode of the series . World Wrestling Entertainment . In November 2008 , Otunga signed a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment and was assigned to its development territory , Florida Championship Wrestling . He made his debut on May 29 , 2009 , under the ring name , Dawson Alexander , in a six - man tag team match . Otunga teamed with Barry Allen and Jon Cutler to defeat Abraham Saddam Washington , Derrick Bateman , and Tonga . " NXT " and The Nexus ( 2010 – 2011 ) . On February 16 , 2010 , it was announced that Otunga would be wrestling on the first season of " WWE NXT " under his real name , with R - Truth as his storyline mentor . He made his debut on the inaugural episode of " NXT " on February 23 , quickly defeating Darren Young . Young defeated Otunga in a rematch on the following week ' s broadcast , thanks to interference from Young ' s mentor , CM Punk . After the match , R - Truth tried to offer his support , only to be shoved away by a frustrated Otunga . R - Truth took exception , confronting and brawling with Otunga backstage . On the March 30 episode of " NXT " , Otunga won an 8 - man over the top rope battle royal against the other NXT Rookies to earn the right to guest host " Raw " the following week . On the April 5 episode of " Raw " , Otunga put himself in a tag team match with John Cena for the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship against ShoMiz ( The Big Show and The Miz ) . Later in the match , however , he refused to tag in and walked out , allowing ShoMiz to retain . On May 11 , in the second Pros Poll , he was moved to second place . During the season finale on June 1 , Otunga came in second place overall in the competition , losing out to Wade Barrett . The following week on " Raw " , Otunga and the other " NXT " rookies from season one interfered in the main event match between John Cena and CM Punk , attacking the competitors , the announce team , and the ring announcer Justin Roberts , before dismantling the ring area and surrounding equipment . On the June 14 episode of " Raw " , the rookies attacked General Manager Bret Hart , when he refused to give them contracts . The following week on " Raw " , Vince McMahon fired Hart and announced the hiring of a new General Manager , who had signed all seven season one NXT rookies to contracts . The following week , the group was named The Nexus . On the July 12 edition of " Raw " , The Nexus , excluding Daniel Bryan ( who was fired by Vince McMahon after the Nexus ' first night on Raw in part due to choking ring announcer Justin Roberts with his own tie . ) , competed in their first match together , defeating John Cena in a six – on – one handicap match . The Nexus continued to feud with Cena and the Raw roster , resulting in a seven - on - seven elimination tag team match at SummerSlam . Otunga was the fourth member of The Nexus eliminated , when he submitted to Chris Jericho , and The Nexus went on to lose the match . Cena was later forced to join The Nexus , as a result of losing to Barrett at Hell in a Cell . At the following pay - per - view , Bragging Rights on October 24 , Otunga and Cena teamed together to win the WWE Tag Team Championship from Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre . The next night on " Raw " Otunga and Cena lost the Tag Team Championship to fellow Nexus members Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater when Barrett ordered Otunga to allow Slater to pin him . On November 5 Otunga , who had been questioning Barrett ' s leadership in the past weeks , led Nexus , minus Barrett and Cena , to an invasion of " SmackDown " . Barrett did not approve of Otunga ' s decision to lead The Nexus to " SmackDown " and as a result forced him to defend his spot in the group a week later . On the November 12 edition of " SmackDown " Otunga defeated Edge in a lumberjack match , after Kane interfered , to keep his spot in Nexus . About a month later , Otunga started to rebel against Barrett with the rest of Nexus behind him . After the group disobeyed direct orders and walked away from Barrett , Otunga told Barrett to rehire Cena the following week or be banished from Nexus . In January 2011 Barrett was exiled from Nexus and CM Punk took over his spot as the leader of the group . While Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater chose not to follow Punk ' s orders and left Nexus , Otunga agreed to take his initiation test , a beating from the Big Show , and remain with the group . In late February , it was announced that Punk would face Randy Orton at WrestleMania XXVII , 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 . Otunga faced Orton on the March 7 episode of " Raw " , but lost . Following the match , he was punted in the skull by Orton . Otunga was absent from television for over a month , returning on the April 11 episode of " Raw " with the other New Nexus members , and preventing Orton from earning a WWE Championship match . On the May 23 episode of " Raw " , Otunga teamed with fellow Nexus member Michael McGillicutty to win the WWE Tag Team Championship from Kane and The Big Show . Legal Advisor ( 2011 - 2012 ) . After feuding with Jerry Lawler for a short period of time , Otunga would start a new angle , where John Laurinaitis would have him help other disgruntled superstars get rid of Triple H , after his decisions and actions as COO . On the September 30 edition of WWE Friday Night SmackDown , he , along with Laurinaitis , would sit down with Dolph Ziggler , Jack Swagger , Cody Rhodes , Alberto Del Rio , Christian , and Vickie Guerrero to have a discussion about Triple H ' s control over RAW . On RAW the following week , he , along with other superstars , officials , divas , commentators , and other personnel , would walk out on Triple H , after a " vote of no confidence " after his role as COO . On November 7 edition of RAW , Otunga was jumped backstage by CM Punk , who was later saved by Del Rio , who afterwards , would put him through the table . Otunga would have his first Singles match since leaving the Nexus in a " Miracle on 34th street fight " against Randy Orton . On the December 23 episode of SmackDown he cancelled a # 1 Contender ' s match between The Big Show and Mark Henry due to the latter ' s leg injury ; he was knocked out by Show as a result . Otunga faced The Big Show on the December 26 episode of Raw and the December 30 episode of SmackDown , but lost both matches . He obtained his first win since returning to singles competition on the January 13 , 2012 , episode of SmackDown , defeating Santino Marella . He captured back - to - back wins against Ezekiel Jackson on the February 20 episode of Raw and the February 21 episode of Super SmackDown . On the March 12 episode of Raw , it was announced that Otunga would be the captain of Laurinaitis ' team for the battle for control 12 - man Tag Team match at WrestleMania . Team Johnny was victorious at WrestleMania XXVIII . On the April 16 edition of Raw SuperShow , Otunga unsuccessfully challenged Santino Marella for the United States Championship . Otunga took leave from WWE television from April 23 to May 14 to be with his fiance , Jennifer Hudson , during the murder trial of William Balfour in Chicago . At No Way Out , Otunga lost to Brodus Clay via count out . The next night on Raw , Otunga teamed with Big Show and John Laurinaitis in a 3 on 1 handicap match . Before the match started , Big Show walked out on Otunga and Laurinaitis . Otunga walked out as well during the match , because Laurinaitis had refused to tag himself in , allowing John Cena to make Laurinaitis submit . The next week on SmackDown , Otunga delivered a low blow to Brodus Clay as Clay was fighting The Big Show . He returned to Raw on August 20 to confront General Manager AJ Lee . He was put into a match against The Big Show , which he lost . On September 3 , Otunga was seen with Alberto Del Rio , who told Matt Striker that his client ( Del Rio ) won ' t talk to him . On the September 7 episode of SmackDown , he represented Alberto Del Rio and Ricardo Rodriguez to win the case to ban Sheamus ' finishing move , the Brogue Kick , just as Otunga was facing Sheamus at the night ' s main event , although the Brogue Kick was later reinstated . He managed Alberto Del Rio at Night of Champions in his match with Sheamus for the World Heavyweight Championship which Del Rio lost , At Survivor Series , Otunga was made a part of Team Ziggler , filling in for the injured Cody Rhodes . He was eliminated by Daniel Bryan . Otunga competed in the 2013 Royal Rumble match entering at # 9 but was eliminated by Sheamus . Since then , he has been doing promotional work for WWE backstage . Otunga returned on October 28 when he conducted an interview for WWE . com after Big Show sued WWE and Triple H for defamation , discrimination and wrongful termination of contract . After several more months absence on WWE TV , Otunga returned on April 6 , 2014 , were he competed in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania XXX , but failed to win as he was eliminated by Ezekiel Jackson . Otunga did not make any WWE appearances again until he returned to live events on January 9 , 2015 . Raw Pre - show host ( 2015 - 2016 ) . Otunga would make his return on television on February 2 , 2015 doing the Raw Pre - Show . Following this he offered his legal services to former New Nexus teammate Curtis Axel regarding his 2015 Royal Rumble controversy . Color commentator ( 2016 – present ) . Otunga would make his color commentary debut on June 14 , 2016 episode of WWE Main Event and the following Friday on WWE Superstars along with Tom Phillips . Otunga also replaced Jerry Lawler over the next two weeks on SmackDown until June 30 , 2016 . Otunga was released from Superstars commentary team following the 2016 WWE Draft Lottery after the broadcast on July 22 , 2016 and replaced by Corey Graves from Raw and NXT , and also from Main Event commentary team on November 22 , 2016 and replaced by Byron Saxton from Raw , and upgraded by Austin Aries on December 20 , 2016 . He also making his return on television after the 2016 WWE Draft doing the color commentary for " SmackDown Live " , with his latest partners , Mauro Ranallo and John " Bradshaw " Layfield next week from 2 days after Battleground . Personal life . Otunga is the son of a Kenyan father , Moses , and white American mother , Billie , both of whom were educators . He is the youngest of three children . Otunga graduated from Larkin High School in 1996 , with mostly A - grades . Otunga holds a bachelor ' s degree in psychology from the University of Illinois . Following his graduation , he moved to New York , where he worked at Columbia University as a lab manager in a cognitive neuroscience center . He later attended Harvard Law School , and passed the bar exam in Chicago . Following his graduation , he worked for the Sidley Austin LLP law firm . Seven months after meeting singer and actress Jennifer Hudson , he proposed marriage on Hudson ' s 27th birthday . On August 10 , 2009 , Hudson gave birth to her and Otunga ' s first child , a boy named David Daniel Otunga , Jr .