David Otunga Says John Cena Subjected Him To “Verbal And Emotional Abuse” In WWE Locker Room

Posted By: Ben Kerin on Dec 06, 2025

In a new YouTube video, former WWE star David Otunga finally addressed what he described as a moment that changed the way he viewed both John Cena and the company itself. After keeping quiet for 15 years, Otunga revisited an incident from a 2010 WWE European tour , an experience he says left a lasting mark on his career.

In the video, Otunga opened with a statement he had clearly held onto for a long time:
“This next story I have waited 15 years to tell.”

He explained that the moment in question happened on September 24th, 2010, during a tag match in Paris that pitted Otunga and Wade Barrett against John Cena and Evan Bourne. Goldust was also part of the tour, still wrestling at the time, and Otunga credited him for taking extra time to help a young talent develop. As Otunga recalled, Goldust had been coaching him before shows, offering new moves and ideas to expand what Otunga called his “limited” early skill set.

Goldust suggested an extremely simple rope-based heel spot , something every wrestling fan has seen over and over. According to Otunga, Goldust made sure Cena was aware of the addition, even though John, as Otunga said, “didn’t even need to be told.” The communication was simply out of courtesy, acknowledging Goldust had been working with him.

During the match, Otunga set up for the rope spot. Cena was in position, hanging over the top rope. Otunga played to the crowd, walked over, and reached for the rope to begin the sequence. But the moment he touched it, something unexpected happened.

Cena “does this awful-looking sell,” Otunga said. He emphasized that the move had not even started , the rope was never pulled or pushed , but Cena reacted early as if the spot had already happened. Otunga stayed silent and carried on, but the reaction backstage would become the real story.

He turned, and immediately sensed trouble.
“And boy, Cena is pissed,” Otunga recalled. From that point on, he said Cena began stiffing him, berating him, and shouting insults mid-match , telling him he was terrible, lived in a fantasy world, and would be sent back to FCW once the tour ended. All of this, Otunga said, took place in full view of the arena, with Evan Bourne allegedly snickering across the ring while Wade Barrett remained quiet.

Things escalated after the match.

“I don’t even get to say sorry,” he said. As soon as Cena walked through the curtain, Otunga claimed the tirade continued in front of the entire locker room. Cena allegedly berated him further, insisting he wasn’t a real wrestler, that he didn’t belong, and threatening to call Vince McMahon and the office immediately.

According to Otunga, he stood there seething , not crying, but fuming with anger , feeling publicly humiliated over a mistake he says wasn’t his.

Goldust was the first person to approach him afterwards.
“Man, that’s messed up. He should never talk to anybody like that,” Goldust reportedly told him. He even said he planned to speak to Cena about it. When Otunga explained the complaint was about the rope spot, Goldust’s confusion only grew, because he believed Cena was the one who mistimed the sequence. They later reviewed footage together, and Otunga said the tape confirmed exactly that.

What hurt most, Otunga said, was how isolating the moment felt. No one in authority intervened, and no apology ever came. Instead, he walked away questioning whether he even wanted to remain in WWE.

“It actually changed the way I saw the company, too,” he admitted.

Otunga stressed that while Cena only stiffed him in the ring, the backstage encounter was purely verbal and emotional. Yet he also made it clear that he believed Cena knew where the line was:
“I’m telling you right now , if John Cena had put his hands on me backstage, I would have beaten the dogsh*t out of John Cena, and fast.”

He even suggested a physical confrontation might have been simpler, because at least it would have ended quickly. The verbal humiliation, however, lingered , especially considering his status as a rookie, with little power to push back.

Fifteen years later, Otunga says this remains the single worst dressing-down he has witnessed in wrestling.
“I have never seen anybody do that,” he said. “And up until then, I had never seen John Cena blow up on anybody like that. In fact, I’d never seen anybody blow up on someone like that for anything.”