Otis On Being A ‘Briscoe Boy,’ His ‘Dozer’ Nickname & How He Became A Wrestling Fan
Photo Credit: Bill Pritchard
Your men’s Money In The Bank winner Otis happened to be the latest guest on Chasing Glory with Lilian Garcia and the one half of Heavy Machinery had some very inspiring matters to share about his background.
In the middle of the interview, Otis talked about how he got into WWE, stating that he received the blessing of his father despite his dad’s wishes for him to obtain a college degree.
“I talked to Gerald Briscoe who recruits in these amateur wrestling nationals and US opens in Vegas. I said to him and mom, ‘Sorry guys, this isn’t working out. It’s just not happening, the train is going forward, it’s stopped at the train stop and I gotta pursue this right now,’ and I think him seeing me get very highly excited, very like, passionate about it, he just kind of backed off and said, ‘Okay, do your thing, son.'”
Otis said he was first introduced to wrestling around the age of four when catching an episode of WCW Thunder. He remembers telling his dad that he should become a wrestler (with his dad stating “he’d kick all their asses”) After that, his mother signed him up for wrestling.
“I got into amateur wrestling because of pro wrestling but my love just kind of kept growing and growing and growing and at the time, there’s this unwritten rule of like ‘You can’t watch professional wrestling if you’re an amateur wrestler.’ Like there’s this weird toughness where there’s ‘Ahhh, you don’t want to watch that stuff,’ so 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.”
He adds a neat little tidbit as to how he acquired the nickname “Dozer” due to his particular amateur wrestling style.
“I got the nickname ‘Dozer’ because I kept going forward and headbutting people, try to attack you head on.”
Otis first met Gerald Briscoe at an amateur wrestling meet in 2013 a good three years before he stepped foot into the WWE Performance Center.
“The Division II Nationals were in Alabama and my coach bumped into him in the elevator. My coach is Louisiana, from New Orleans, always has tobacco in his mouth, he’s just like, ‘Yeah I saw that Gerald Briscoe, he had a WWE on his chest. I told him about ya, said you were a big fan.’ And then we were doing the National Anthem before the tournament starts, I just got a tap on the shoulder. He goes, ‘I wanna talk to you after this National Anthem, keep your hand on your chest, kid,'” he said. “Turned around and we had a conversation.”
“He recruited Tucky as well, I’m very proud to be a ‘Briscoe boy’ as he calls us. We continue to make him proud, but I mean, getting into wrestling, I couldn’t imagine life without wrestling.”
Otis talks about being in the middle of the pandemic and how much it’s affecting everybody’s daily lives. He loves the action of the squared circle, but one important aspect has been missing greatly.
“You just miss the crowd because we’re still doing what we do, we’re still getting in there and entertaining the fans through the TV through the screen but there’s nothing like a live crowd to get your juices going…”
(Transcription credit should go to @DominicDeAngelo of WrestleZone)
Lots more from this interview including Otis talking about not achieving his goal in getting to the Summer Olympics and also talks about his role in the WWE Netflix special, The Main Event. Full video below:
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