Throughout WWEin the midcard split of the 2010s, Titus O’Neil steadily grew to become a prominent name. Beginning his WWE career on the first iteration of NXT when he was a reality show, the former University of Florida football player eventually found himself a main roster member. Throughout his WWE career, he was part of numerous teams. This included The Prime Time Players, Slater-Gator, and Titus Worldwide. In addition, he also rose to popularity as a singles wrestler, but O’Neil has not been actively wrestling since 2020. However, he has continued to be employed by WWE as a global ambassador for the company and does charity work.
Titus O’Neil has been rehabbing a knee injury
In March 2022, O’Neil appeared on 95.3 WDAE, a radio station based in Tampa, Florida. He explained that the reason for his absence from the ring had to do with a knee injury that was undergoing rehabilitation.
He said (h/t Fightful), “I am not retired. I haven’t wrestled in a minute, but I had a procedure done on my knees that I’m rehabbing. A lot of people don’t know this, so they just assumed I’m retired, but I’m a global ambassador for the company.”
Titus O’Neil has achieved remarkable success in WWE
When O’Neil was actively wrestling in WWE, he was part of teams such as Slater-Gator with Heath Slater (known as Heath in Impact Wrestling) and the Titus Worldwide faction with Apollo Crews, Akira Tozawa and Dana Brooke. However, his most successful team was with Darren Young (known as Fred Rosser in NJPW). While O’Neil and Young briefly parted ways as a team in 2014, they reunited in 2015. The duo were able to capture the WWE Tag Team Titles at Money in the Bank 2015, dethroning The New Day and ending their first reign as champions. . O’Neil also wrestled Rusev (known as Miro in AEW) for the US title on a few occasions. He was also the first 24/7 Champion.
The last match fans saw O’Neil participate in was in a United States Championship match against Bobby Lashley on the November 9, 2020 edition of Monday Night RAW. O’Neil had wanted to form an alliance with The Hurt Business, which led him to interrupt MVP and Lashley that night after they turned him down. O’Neil then challenged Lashley to a match for his championship. However, the match did not go as O’Neil intended, and he promptly lost the match to Lashley. While it was his last match in over two years, O’Neil has stated that he is not done with the competition in the ring.
There have also been occasions where O’Neil has been seen on screen. He co-hosted WrestleMania 37. He also worked commentary. Most recently, he has done this at WrestleMania 39 for the men’s and women’s fatal four-way matches.
The job Titus O’Neil is most proud of is helping others.
Outside of the ring, O’Neil has been applauded for his charity work. His work has focused specifically on helping children. Helping others is something for which O’Neil has always had a genuine love and passion. In an interview with Daily DDT in 2021, he said: “I’ve been responsible for breaking other people’s generational curses, whether it’s being the first high school graduate in my family… My mom graduated high school after I graduated high school. She worked for years as a waitress and cleaning houses to make ends meet. When she was a child, she didn’t have two cents to spare. Now, I’m helping to raise millions to help change people’s lives and give them their first new car.”
O’Neil has also received a lot of recognition for the work he does. In 2020, O’Neil was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as a recipient of The Warrior Award. He has also been nominated for the Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award.
While O’Neil hasn’t wrestled a match since 2020, he has spent his time doing the job he loves the most helping people at charity. As of this writing, O’Neil has yet to return to the ring. He has assured fans that he is not done with professional wrestling. However, in the meantime, it is evident that he has enjoyed the work that he currently does for WWE in his role as Global Ambassador. He said, “I’ve always said that WWE or soccer or whatever is what I do for a living, but I am who I am for a living and I’ve been doing this for a long time.”