Mandy Rose is currently involved in a romantic relationship with Otis on Friday Night SmackDown , and she left Dolph Ziggler to be with the Heavy Machinery member. However, Rose also has a boyfriend in real life, and during a recent interview with TV Series Hub to promote her new fitness app, she opened up about how he feels about her storyline relationships.
“My boyfriend doesn’t have an issue with it. It’s all a storyline and entertainment. If he got jealous of this, or if any guy did, it wouldn’t work out, honestly.”
The storyline has proven to be the most popular storyline on WWE television at the moment, but it’s been developing for a while. Otis spent months showing his affection for the Friday Night SmackDown superstar before she decided to give him a chance. They were supposed to have a date on the Valentine’s Day episode of the blue brand’s weekly show, only to have their plans scuppered by Sonya Deville and Ziggler.
However, the pair officially sealed their on-screen romance at this year’s WrestleMania , making for a feel-good moment that WWE fans have wanted to see for months. During the interview, Rose went on to elaborate on her current storyline with Otis, stating that it can be traced back to her days in development, where she became friends with the Heavy Machinery star.
“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.”
. @otiswwe got his #WrestleMania moment and now it’s time for a celebration with @WWE_MandyRose, his PEACH! ? pic.twitter.com/XH409msTJ0
— WWE WrestleMania (@WrestleMania) April 6, 2020
WWE romance storylines are usually more miss than hit, but Rose and Otis are currently two of the most popular babyfaces on Friday Night SmackDown . However, as The Inquisitr previously reported, Rose was almost involved in a relationship storyline with Deville, who she’s currently feuding with.
According to Deville, she pitched the idea to WWE officials in an effort to have more positive LGBTQ inclusion on television, and she was even working with GLAAD to make sure the storyline wasn’t problematic. Rose was also more than happy to be a part of it.
In the end, the idea was rejected because the company had a lesbian storyline with Lana and Liv Morgan, which received a negative backlash from the LGBTQ community, as well as wrestling fans.