"One of the biggest crimes in the history of professional wrestling" - Retired WWE star reflects on his career-defining loss to John Cena
WWE veteran Wade Barrett recently discussed his former faction The Nexus' loss to John Cena at SummerSlam 2010 as well as numerous of the villainous group's other defeats.
In 2010, Barrett and a group of renegades from the first season of the reality show version of NXT formed The Nexus. The young stars were the main attraction of the company week after week as they assaulted everyone who was in their path. However, their momentum was quickly halted. The group lost a 7-man tag team match at SummerSlam to a team led by John Cena.
During a recent interview on the Out of Character podcast, the former Intercontinental Champion stated that the number of losses his team suffered was a crime to the wrestling business.
"Lets face it we didn’t win many matches did we, unfortunately, which is one of the biggest crimes in the history of professional wrestling I’m sure most people would agree with me on that one." (From 27:20 to 27:41)
Former members of the group such as Heath Slater and Bryan Danielson (a.k.a Daniel Bryan) continue to wrestle today, albeit outside of WWE. Meanwhile, Barrett now works as a commentator on SmackDown.
Former member of The Nexus claims John Cena changed the outcome of their SummerSlam match
Despite appearing to be utterly dominant, the faction surprisingly lost their first official match teaming as a united front. Many have been on record stating that the leader of Cenation politicked with WWE creative to have his team beat the group of young stars.
Speaking on 1140 AM Las Vegas, former Nexus member Heath Slater said that they were meant to win until 'Superman' a.k.a John Cena changed everything.
"Because we had WWE by the throat, but they never let us clench it, you know what I mean? They never let it be like ‘Holy crap! These guys are legit taking over!’ We were there. We had it. But then Superman (John Cena) had to go in there and change everything.” Heath added: “We were winning though. (...) We got there and they said we were up. Me, Gabriel, and Wade were the last three in the ring. And then the next thing I know, an hour before the pay-per-view starts, it all goes to crap (...) They had to switch it all.” (H/T - Wrestling Inc)
It was a good day to be a member of Team #WWE at #SummerSlam 2010! https://t.co/8YAQV5amNn
The Nexus will always be considered one of the biggest what-ifs in the history of WWE. While many of the stars became major stars in their own right, they never reached the heights they could of done as a group.
Would you consider The Nexus a success or a failure? Give us your thoughts in the comments section below.
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