Technically, Otis could cash in his Money in the Bank contract that he won in May on either the WWE Champion or the Universal Champion. Otis is currently on the SmackDown brand, so it would be most logical from that perspective for him to cash in his contract on Roman Reigns. The issue is that WWE is finally electing to book Roman as a heel with more edge to his character, which is a real positive because that is the element of his WWE character that the WWE universe was so drawn to back in 2014.
Because of this, a heel Roman Reigns working with a comedic character like Otis may not do much to further the career path The Big Dog is going down with Paul Heyman. Roman Reigns may be the Universal Champion on SmackDown for quite a while (at least until WrestleMania 37, as Vince McMahon reportedly wants this to be Reigns’ long championship run – similar to when John Cena held the WWE Championship for over a year from 2006 – 2007. Mr. McMahon would like Roman to be able to cultivate that same presence on the microphone as Cena consistently did previously as the face of the company), so Otis may be better suited to potentially move to Monday Night Raw.
Another reason it might be best for Otis to move to Monday Night Raw is so that he can potentially continue his romantic storyline with Mandy Rose which has resonated profoundly with the WWE universe throughout most of 2020.
Mandy is a key reason why Otis is so popular right now. She has also blamed The Miz for orchestrating her move to Raw as he and John Morrison are involved in a storyline right now where they are intent on costing Otis his championship opportunity.
Otis coming to Monday Night Raw to challenge Drew McIntyre for the WWE championship immediately after McIntyre’s Pay-Per-View title defense against Randy Orton at Clash of Champions Gold Rush on September 27 (so on the September 28 addition of Monday Night Raw) would open the door for Randy Orton to attack Otis immediately after the bell rings.
This would make it so that:
- Otis does not have to take a loss, and;
- The integrity of the Money in the Bank contract is preserved since it would not be viewed as a complete failure of a Cash-in. This could also set up a third pay-per-view match between McIntyre and Orton inside Hell in a Cell (which is scheduled to take place shortly after the upcoming WWE draft in mid – October.
Otis is still super young as a WWE superstar at just 28 years old. 2020 is technically his second full year on the main roster, as he was called up in December 2018 after spending a couple of years in NXT. The most impactful thing Otis has going for him is that he has the complete backing of Mr. McMahon, who has taken a personal interest in the booking of Otis. Otis will be around for a long time in WWE, because if one has the backing of Vince McMahon, then they are guaranteed to be a long-term prospect.