Wrestling's 10 Greatest Kay-Baes

5. Mandy Rose

AJ Lee
WWE

Otis and Mandy Rose’s relationship was played for odd couple laughs, with Otis trading his tag partner Tucker for a new flame to heighten his outrageous behaviour. The two started working opposite each other while there was talk of Mandy and Sonya Deville’s relationship taking a romantic turn. This made more storyline sense, however it was 50/50 whether we’d get real LGBTQI+ representation or softcore titillation.

With Mandy, Otis’ character development was vastly boosted. The relationship allowed him to show his lovable underdog side via his devotion, while also showcasing the gross-out comedy side of his gimmick, such as when the two hugged and Mandy’s dress was stained by Otis’ meat sweats.

Otis got a kiss and a ‘Mania moment at WrestleMania 36 – a satisfying payoff for the odd couple who navigated the betrayal and deceit of the locker room.

Many wrongly assumed Otis championed the storyline, though, as Mandy later revealed:

“Otis always was around in NXT and posting pics of me and talking about how much he liked me. In a cute way, not a creepy way. This continued on and I thought it would be great if this became a storyline, especially once Otis entered WrestleMania. I actually went to Vince McMahon myself and pitched the idea and he loved it.”
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An English Lit. MA Grad trying to validate my student debt by writing literary fiction and alternative non-fiction.