5 most disappointing WWE factions of all time
Last night on Monday Night RAW, RETRIBUTION finally made themselves known, as it was revealed that five of the faction's members had "signed" with the company. SLAPJACK, T-BAR and MACE, along with two female individuals, made quick work of WWE's other faction of the moment, The Hurt Business.
RETRIBUTION's big moment hasn't exactly been well received, either by fans or the folks backstage, but the group still has a lot of potential. How could it not when it boasts talent like Mia Yim, Dominik Dijakovic and Mercedes Martinez? So, we'll just have to wait and see if this team fizzles or sizzles.
On the other hand, we can certainly mention five other factions from WWE history that really just let everybody down. So, that's what we're going to do. The five most disappointing factions in WWE history.
Before diving into it, an honorable mention goes to the WCW/ECW Alliance from 2001. While the entire angle was a big let down all around, they were just too big to be a "faction". They were also presented as their own company, as opposed to a group of wrestlers signed with WWE.
#5 WWE missed a great chance with Nexus
Back in 2010, WWE debuted a new show called NXT, except this first time around, it was essentially a game show. It featured eight of WWE's developmental talent which, at the time, were based in Florida Championship Wrestling. They would compete in matches, physical challenges and other competitions. Each week, at least one contestant was eliminated via an audience vote. No, seriously.
The winner, which at the end of season one was Wade Barrett, would be awarded a main roster WWE contract and a WWE Championship match. The other seven guys would just... go back to what they were doing.
Except they didn't...
On the June 7th, 2010 episode of WWE RAW, Daniel Bryan, David Otunga, Heath Slater, Darren Young and others interrupted a match between John Cena and CM Punk. They would go on to basically destroy everything around them. It was amazing.
This was the beginning of one of the most fascinating and exciting stories WWE had put together in years. The Nexus, as they were known, would run roughshod across the company for weeks, attacking anybody they saw backstage.
It all led to a confrontation at SummerSlam that year, as the remaining seven members of Nexus took on seven WWE stars including Bryan, who had been rehired after his release.
Team WWE won, with John Cena getting the winning submission on Wade Barrett and effectively killing all of the faction's momentum.
The Nexus should have been the biggest thing in wrestling for years. While members like Barrett, Bryan, Slater, Young and David Otunga would all go on to, at the very least hold a championship in the company, the group itself simply failed to live up to its potential.
Barrett would then go on to start a spin-off group (more on them in a minute), CM Punk would take over leadership and Nexus would eventually fade away.