For many people like me, professional wrestling is more than just something they used to like when they were growing up. It is a lifetime commitment to the athletes, stories, and industry, both major and independent. WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) is the most notable company when it comes to it. Its relationship with how they represent the big and tall community is not exactly a pleasant one. Then, Nicola Bogojevic, aka Otis Dozovic, came along.
Otis is one of the most entertaining characters in the WWE. A fun-loving guy whose tagline is “steaks and weights” began his career in the performance center, with his tag partner, Tucker Knight. The duo quickly moved up to NXT and later to SmackDown.
Professional wrestling portrays heavier wrestlers in a disrespectful, comical, or intimidating way. Otis and his character changed that. He embraces his size by wearing wrestling trunks and a belly shirt and doing provocative dances that the audience loves.
Otis’ storyline began in late 2019 when fellow WWE wrestler Mandy Rose got him for a Secret Santa gift exchange. She gave him a ham and a kiss on the cheek in a move that surprised everyone.
The story leads up to a Valentine’s Day mix-up orchestrated by Dolph Ziggler and Sonya DeVille that results in Otis arriving late to a date with Mandy, only to find Ziggler sitting at the table with her. Mandy feels stood up by Otis, while he feels she’d rather be with Dolph.
WrestleMania is the Super Bowl of the WWE, so featuring Otis and Mandy’s plotline during the event was huge. Otis learned the truth about the failed Valentine’s Day date due to a “mysterious benefactor” sharing the truth via a hacked camera system. He would go on to win the match vs. Dolph, Mandy would beat Sonya, and they would celebrate together in the ring, continuing this still-ongoing storyline.
Seeing a positive representation of big men on television is rare. WWE did the right thing by making Otis a positive character with which people can identify. Hopefully, this is just the beginning of a trend.
