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Otis and Tucker of the Heavy Machinery rose to become a popular tag in the WWE, and the decision to split them up is still widely criticized.
Tucker embarked on a brief heel run before being released earlier this year as part of WWE's budget cuts.
The former WWE star, who has reverted to his real name Levi Cooper, appeared alongside Dr. Chris Featherstone for a massive edition of Sportskeeda Wrestling's UnSKripted. During the Q&A, Tucker revealed the person responsible for the idea behind Heavy Machinery.
Cooper credited WWE Performance Center Head Coach and former Intercontinental Champion Matt Bloom (A-Train, Lord Tensai) for the tag team's formation.
Tucker recalled working as a singles performer in 2016 as part of a developmental tour in Florida, and the match cards also featured a newly-signed Otis.
"Okay, yeah, so that was actually Matt Bloom's idea initially, Head Coach at the Performance Center," Tucker revealed. "Otis had been there maybe four months or so in NXT, at the Performance Centre, I should say, wrestling on what we call the coconut tour, which is kind of a Florida loop of all the talents and armories within three hours of Orlando essentially.
We shared this foundational level of understanding: Tucker on his WWE tag team with Otis
Matt Bloom saw immense potential in the Otis-Tucker pairing as the stars shared similar backgrounds and were both accomplished amateur heavyweight wrestlers. Tucker stated that Otis might have been new to wrestling, but he was already winning over WWE crowds with his infectious energy.
Tucker was informed about the tag team by Bloom, and was confident about their success as a tandem since day one. Cooper explained that he formed a deep understanding with Otis due to their identical upbringings.
"You know, I was doing a singles thing, and he was doing the opener and had been doing his Otis thing and doing the worm and getting over with people," Tucker said.
"So Bloom was just like, 'Hey, I'm going to put you guys together', and you know, it became apparent very quickly to me that it was going to work out pretty good because well, we both are kind of small-town guys and grew up kind of similar, in fashion and we were both pretty high-level amateur wrestling heavyweights. So we shared this foundational level of understanding that, you know, what's understood doesn't need to be said."
Unfortunately, most good things meet abrupt ends in WWE, and Heavy Machinery's run also came to a hasty conclusion.
During the most recent episode of UnSKripted, Lee Cooper also revealed if he is still in touch with Otis, thoughts on his WWE release, Mandy Rose's storyline, and more.
If any quotes are used from this article, please add a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling and embed the UnSKripted video.
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