Former WWE star says John Cena once stopped him from getting fired
Former WWE Superstar Heath Slater has recalled how John Cena’s advice prevented him from getting fired after The Nexus’ debut in 2010.
The Nexus, a villainous faction consisting of eight disgruntled former NXT stars, attacked Cena on the June 7, 2010, episode of WWE RAW. The segment featured a spot where Daniel Bryan choked ring announcer Justin Roberts with a tie. Although Bryan was initially fired for the incident, WWE eventually rehired him.
Speaking on the Such Good Shoot podcast, Slater said he originally planned to choke Cena with part of the ring rope. The 16-time World Champion quickly advised Slater not to use the rope, which ultimately saved him from receiving the same treatment as Bryan.
“You can even see in that one part with the ropes down,” Slater said. “I grabbed the rope and I go to choke Cena with it. And he literally takes it off. He's like, ‘No, no, no, no choke.’ You know that type deal. ‘Alright,’ and you see me just drop it off.”
Slater participated in the seven-on-seven elimination match between The Nexus and Team WWE at SummerSlam 2010.
Team WWE picked up the victory in the main event, with Cena emerging as the sole survivor.
Heath Slater on The Nexus’ beatdown of John Cena
Heath Slater said The Nexus were instructed to cause chaos inside the ring and at ringside during their debut WWE RAW appearance.
Like Daniel Bryan, Slater was unaware that choking was banned until John Cena advised him against it.
“I'll watch it back and I'll be like, ‘Well, he saved my a** there,’” Slater added. “I could’ve been in trouble too, you know, who knows? But he literally stopped, he was like, ‘No, no, no, no choke.’ But we beat the s*** out of Cena. We laid everything in that night to where he just was like, ‘Damn, boys,’ you know?”
As the tweet above shows, the company had planned to release a WWE Untold documentary about The Nexus in June 2021. It remains unclear why the episode did not air.