Otis WWE: 12 Interesting Career Facts, Personal Facts, FAQs, and More Details!

Otis WW

Born on December 21, 1991, Nikola “Niko” Bogojevic is a Serbian-American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE. Nikola “Niko” Bogojevic performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Otis, shortened from his previous ring name of Otis Dozovic. Prior to his professional wrestling career, Nikola “Niko” Bogojevic (or Otis WWE) was an amateur wrestler, winning the 2008 Greco-Roman junior Nationals in his weight class, the national title in the 2018 Junior Pan-American Games, and a bronze medal in Greco-Roman wrestling at the Pan-American Games, all as a young kid! He was also selected to be a prospect for the 2018 Olympic Games team, but was not chosen. In 2018, Otis was named the Rookie of the Year by Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI).

After entering the WWE in 2016, Otis was assigned to their developmental brand NXT, teaming with Tucker Knight as part of Heavy Machinery. The duo was promoted to WWE’s main roster in 2018. During his time on the main roster, Otis won the 2020 men’s Money in the Bank ladder match, but it seemed to be a hoax. We will explain this in the FAQ section. 

Otis made his video game debut as a playable character in WWE 2K19 and has since appeared in WWE 2K20, and WWE 2K Battlegrounds. Let’s take a look at some interesting facts about Otis from the WWE:  

12 Must-Read Facts About Otis WWE!

1. Otis WWE is not dating or married to Mandy Rose:

Mandy Rose and Otis have been put together on WWE TV in recent months and have been able to be part of quite a personal storyline. The fact that their chemistry on-screen is so strong could be why it has been such a success story, and the reason behind this is their friendship outside the ring.

In 2020, Mandy Rose had an interview with Sports Illustrated, where she lifted the lid on the relationship between the two stars off-screen by saying:

“Ever since we met in NXT, we’d always joke around together. He’d call me ‘Mandy Candy’ and cut different promos, and it was really cute. He’s just so charismatic, even when he’s not on camera. He makes us laugh the same amount when he’s off-camera. He’s funny and super sweet, and he’s so kind, which is one of the best qualities.”

2. He had a very promising collegiate wrestling run:

One of the biggest surprises to new fans of Otis is the realization of finding out he was a highly successful amateur wrestler in high school and college. Otis was impressive enough to get a college scholarship for his wrestling skills.

The Junior Pan-American Games saw a young Otis (then called Nikola “Niko” Bogojevic) winning the national title in Greco-Roman wrestling. Otis was considered for the top spot on the 2012 Summer Olympics American Greco-Roman wrestling team, but he just missed the cut.

3. Otis WWE suffers from dyslexia:

Otis has shared the personal story of realizing he had dyslexia at a young age and trying to move forward with the learning disorder. Dyslexia is common enough for parents to help their children through it. The journey wasn’t always easy for Otis, but he is proud to show that it doesn’t have to stop one from achieving one’s dream. 

Most WWE-inspired young fans who suffer from dyslexia will likely be inspired by Otis’s story. 

Although he suffered from this disease, he won the Money in the Bank ladder match and found the woman of his dreams (storyline or not)!. 

4. Tough to believe, Otis had to deal with bullying at a tender age:

The battle with dyslexia was tougher for Otis in his younger years due to the unfortunate element of childhood bullying. Otis had a learning disorder and look that made school tough, so it was inevitable that he would be bullied. Infact, he was bullied for a few years but later on, his path saw him eventually getting comfortable with himself and trusting his own instincts. 

So a young Nikola “Niko” Bogojevic overcame the tough moments to find himself. Part of the reason that he portrays a nice guy with such positive energy is because Nikola “Niko” Bogojevic knows how it feels to be treated poorly by others.

5. Girls wouldn’t dance with the big guy, so he learned some dance moves:

During his storyline with Mandy Rose in 2020, Otis was shown as a shy man with problems when he talks to women, which Bogojevic admits is based on his real life personality. So early on in his life, he learned some dance moves so that girls would dance with him! 

This wrestler’s dancing skills may be the most underrated part of his WWE character. It is hard to envision the almighty Otis getting over at the same level without his ability to get cheers for his entertaining dance moves. The story goes that Otis’ passion for dancing saw him studying how to dance on his own while attending school dances. His girl classmates used to turn him down to dance. But this positively led to Otis figuring out how to enjoy his time on the dance floor without a partner.

6. Matt Bloom has mentored Otis WWE:

Matt Bloom (Otis’s mentor) has received rave reviews for his role as the lead trainer at the Performance Center. 

The collection of experience working under various gimmicks in WWE and beyond made it a great transition to help others find their voice. Otis has listed Bloom as a guide, mentor and someone that helped him get to his current place as a star. Bloom saw the strengths of Otis as a wrestler and wanted him to figure out the best character to show on the main roster.

7. One of the more fascinating gigs Otis had was working as the doorman at a popular nightclub:

Otis had a couple of jobs prior to his famous start in WWE.  

Wrestling in front of millions wasn’t always the easiest job for Otis to make a living, so his job as a doorman helped him pay the bills for a while. 

As he began setting up plans to chase his dream, Otis’s positive energy and determination made it easier for him to make the most out of everyday jobs.

The strength of Otis likely helped others because some nightclub doormen and bouncers often find themselves in tough situations with people demanding to get in.

8. One person that inspired him: Scotty 2 Hotty 

Attitude Era fans most frequently gave Scotty one of the biggest pops of most shows for the fun of seeing Scotty doing the worm dance before hitting his move.

inspired by Scotty 2 Hotty’s worm, Otis revealed that he asked Scotty for his blessing before adapting the finishing move to the caterpillar with similar intent. And soon the  caterpillar became the most captivating move from Otis which added a lot to his character and played a role in getting over enough to have a relevant singles push.

9. Otis and Tucker are bffs:

The friendship between Otis and Tucker formed when they were placed together as a tag team. The duos run together as Heavy Machinery which once saw them finally start to study more about each other. 

Yes, at one point, Otis initially didn’t really know much about Tucker outside of being peers that both trained and attended classes at the Performance Center but these days, he has nothing but the ultimate praise for Tucker as a tag team partner, wrestler, and friend. The latter also seems happy for Otis’ success even though it puts his future in doubt.

10. Childhood and wrestling for Otis WWE:

Nikola Bogojevic was born on December 21, 1991, in Duluth, Minnesota, to parents of Serbian descent.

Otis graduated from Superior High School, where he was a successful amateur wrestler; he was the 2010 285lb undefeated WIAA State Champion. He was a champion at the 2009 Greco-Roman Junior Nationals.

As a young man, he placed third at the 2009 Junior Freestyle championships. Originally committed to the University of Wisconsin, he wrestled at the collegiate level for Augsburg College and Colorado State University-Pueblo. 

In his amateur career, Otis won the national title in Greco-Roman wrestling at the Junior Pan-American Games in 2011 and a Greco-Roman bronze at the 2014 Pan-American Games.

The 5 foot 8 wrestler was at one point considered a prospect for the U.S. Greco-Roman wrestling team at the 2012 Summer Olympics and spent some time training at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado.

11. His great grandma was a carnival wrestler!

Otis is not the only person from his family to have a commanding presence in the wrestling world. 

The first wrestler in his family was the great grandmother of Otis who competed in a different genre as part of the carnival that featured people with amazing skills. 

That’s right, Otis’ grandmother whose name is Kattle Kate, challenged people at the carnival to body slam her to win a huge prize! The 300-pound Serbian Kate would pick plants in the crowd who failed to deliver the body slam. 

In comparison, WWE’s Otis is a bit less intimidating than the legend of Kattle Kate.

12. Professional Career:

Bogojevic started his professional wrestling career in 2015 when he joined Mercury Pro Wrestling Academy in Arvada, Colorado for training purposes. He participated in various wrestling promotions including Ultra Championship Wrestling-Zero with a ring name Dozer or Dozovic. Otis also won the NRW Charged Championship.

Dozer won the 2009 Greco-Roman junior Nationals and came third in the 2009 Junior Freestyle championships. Dozer also won the national title Greco-Roman wrestling at the Junior Pan-American Games in 2011 and a Greco-Roman bronze at the 2014 Pan-American Games.

In 2016, Dozer began his wrestling training at WWE Performance Center and made his NXT debut in a tag team match with Adrian Jaoude against the tag team named The Authors of Pain having Akam and Rezar. Dozer formed a tag team with Tucker Knight named Heavy Machinery. In 2017, the Heavy Machinery received its first victory at NXT by defeating the team of Mike Marshall and Jonathan Ortagun. At NXT, the Heavy Machinery lost a golden chance to bag the NXT Tag Team Championship against The Authors of Pain.

Dozer changed his name to Otiz after forming a team with Tucker. “The Heavy Machinery” made their WWE’s main roster debut in 2018. Otis Dozovic and Tucker Knight competed as a duo on Raw for the first time ever in 2019, where they tasted victory. At WrestleMania 35, Otis and Tucker participated in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, however, failed to clinch the victory. They also competed at the 51-Man Battle Royal at the 2019 Super Showdown but lost the opportunity.

Otis FAQS:

Who is Otis WWE married to?

According to his Wikipedia page, he is not married to anyone. 

Who is Otis WWE dating?

According to his Wikipedia page, he is not dating anyone, especially not Mandy Rose. Infact, the truth is that Otis and Mandy have been friends ever since they met back in NXT and that has only helped them become a believable couple on-screen.

By the end of 2019, the pro wrestler entered into a romantic storyline with Mandy Rose. On the February 14, 2020 episode of SmackDown, the Serbian-American wrestler had a date with Rose, but Dolph Ziggler appeared in Otis’s place during the date, the storyline then blossomed into a love triangle involving a feud between Otis and Ziggler over Rose. 

On the April 3 episode of SmackDown, it was revealed that Sonya Deville was working with Ziggler to keep Otis from Rose. Otis defeated Ziggler with the help of Rose, who kissed him after the match, at WrestleMania 36.

Otis defeated Ziggler to qualify for the Money in the Bank ladder match, on the May 1 episode of SmackDown. 

At the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, Otis was awarded the Money in the Bank ladder match, earning him a world title match at the time of his choosing. On the September 11 episode of Smackdown, Otis and Tucker started a feud with The Miz and John Morrison after they stole the Money in the Bank briefcase from Otis. However, the briefcase never had the Money in the Bank contract as the contract was inside Otis’ lunchbox. 

On the September 18 episode of SmackDown, the Serbian American wrestler was sued by Miz and Morrison and was told to relinquish the contract but Otis declined and opted to go to court instead.

As part of the 2020 Draft in October, the Serbian pro-wrestler remained on SmackDown, while Tucker was drafted to the Raw brand, disbanding the team, however, on the October 19 Raw, Otis tagged with Tucker but was masked under a disguise and using the name El Gran Gordo. At Hell in a Cell, Otis was stripped off his Money In the Bank briefcase to the Miz, after Tucker betrayed him, hitting him with the briefcase.

What happened to Otis WWE?

Firstly, Otis was victorious in taking home the 2020 Money in the Bank briefcase, but he did not get to cash it in. He was stripped of the title of Mr. Money in the Bank to The Miz several months later. The fact is that Vince McMahon booked Otis to win the briefcase to get a shocking moment, but there was no follow-up.

WWE had operations for an Otis program with Bray Wyatt’s Fiend. Those plans were scrapped, but we reported in July that: “Otis’ Money In The Bank win was supposed to ‘set him up down the line for The Fiend.’ In 2020, Bray Wyatt had been transitioned into a multi-match program with Braun Strowman.”

There were other speculations for Otis to hold the Money In The Bank briefcase for a while and not cash in. Ringside News stated on September 18th, 2020 that the company had no plans for him to cash it in any time soon.

As the days went on, Otis’s storyline didn’t advance at all. In fact, his victorious time period as Mr. Money In The Bank entered a “holding pattern.” This is about the time when The Miz began powering in and making his intentions known that he wanted to take Otis’s WWE briefcase. 

The WWE kept their options open, and finally, Mr. McMahon made up his mind that he was going to change plans once again. The pro-wrestler was stripped of his Money in the Bank briefcase at Hell in a Cell. Tucker turned on Otis in the process, a decision that was made about a week in advance.

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