Te[N] years ago today...

[Deleted]

Man, I loved this angle until John Cena essentially killed them at Summerslam.

[Hobby Drifter]

Jun 8, 2020 9:06:57 GMT -5 @therealoblivion said:

Man, I loved this angle until John Cena essentially killed them at Summerslam.

Imagine how badly that night would be remembered if Daniel Bryan hadn’t returned like 20 minutes before Cena did what he did.

[Rolent Tex]

Jun 7, 2020 17:58:32 GMT -5 Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-] said:

The Nexus to me were a lot of wrestling fans final staws with WWE. I still think the way they booked this angle was a sign of things to come in how they presented the future of their company. An absolutely amazing segment that just had some of the worst fallout booking wise and internally in modern wrestling history and maybe beyond that as well.

It was the beginning of the end for any love I had left for wrestling. I went to Survivor Series that year and from the moment Barrett was pinned and I saw the garbage followup...it was the first in a number of nails in the coffin of my fandom.

[chazraps]

A few things come to mind about it. First, if I recall correctly, this was exactly one week after the start of the main event push for Evan Bourne, which never seemed to get full momentum again. We'd been hearing online for months that Cena was really pushing for him to get a major push for months and it seemed like it was finally going to happen. I bring this up because I've always liked Evan/Matt and him getting the pin in the main event of Raw right before this is a very cool moment that's unfortunately been eclipsed by the Nexus debut.

Now, the Nexus debut itself was so awesome and I think it's important to draw some distinctions between them and other "invading" factions. Unlike the nWo before (who had been so established) or The Shield after (Who those first few months followed a code of "Restoring order" to the WWE, not just taking over for taking over's sake), The Nexus were a group uniting to take their one chance to make an impact they'd all wanted for so long. It was a believable vicious desperation, something that particularly resonated here in the States as we were 18 month post-recession and many of us had lost our dream jobs/chances due to the circumstances of the country's economy. A band of fresh faces who, while they may have been green rookies, had a major numbers game that made them believable.

People use the term "winds of change" a lot with those first few months of Nexus, because it truly did feel different. These fresh new faces with fresh new styles was like nothing else at the time.

Should Barrett have won the title and eventually main evented Wrestlemania against Cena? Absolutely. When the angle is that hot, the promos are that good and the crowd is that into it, you run with it.

Finally, this night's also special for me as it was when VH1 aired a 'Hip Hop Honors: Dirty South' special. It was taped the previous week and I was fortunate enough to attend it. I didn't realize just how much the camera was on me, so getting a close-up during a Geto Boys' Willie D performance of "Mind Playin Tricks on Me" - my favorite rap song of all time, was really special.

[thehottag]

I remember how excited me & my friends felt after this. WWE had felt stagnant for years with the same guys on too, same entrance, same announcers, so this suddenly felt like a breath of freah air. I remember all my online wrestling buddies suddenly copy/pasting "You're either Nexus or against us" & changing their avatars.

Thing is with Vince, I always thought of him as a guy who would try & squeeze every penny out the fans. Yes his commentators would bang on about the next PPV, yes the wrestlers would spout the same stupid catchphrases & wear their merch to the ring, but that's just making sure they've shilled as much as they can. It's annoying, but understandable from someone who doesn't want to leave any money on the table.

The Nexus was such a missed opportunity. I'm not saying every member would've become a legend, or that they weren't green, but you had a chance to create a whole bunch of stars & instead used them to feed the ego of someone who already was. Nexus goes over at Summerslam (or if they must lose, at least let Bryan be the one to beat them), Barrett becomes champ in November, & Cena gets his redemption & title back at Wrestlemania. It's so easy, & the thing is, this isn't even with hindsight... Jericho & Edge told Cena at the time that him winning was a bad idea.

You could argue that Barrett wasn't great in the ring, but since when has that ever stopped them pushing someone? The fact is the iron was hot, Vince didn't strike, & money was left on the table.

[Ryback on a Pole!]

Amazing debut. Shame WWE seemed to get cold feet and had them lose at SS and Barrett never winning the belt ... or any of the members bar the at-the-time worthless tag belts.

They also didn't go all out when Cena was forced to join. Completely half-assed it by still having him show up in bright purple rather than all Nexus gear.

[clifford]

I think their debut as the Nexus on Raw was the last 'holy shit' moment for me watching WWE. Was all downhill from there unfortunately. It was doomed from the start because:
1. The WWE never intended or pushed the Nexus as being strong enough to be able to go toe to toe with the main roster
2. Even if they had done, outside of Barrett and Bryan the group just didn't have the talent or presence to justify such a push.

[A Platypus Rave]

Jun 9, 2020 8:48:24 GMT -5 clifford said:

I think their debut as the Nexus on Raw was the last 'holy shit' moment for me watching WWE. Was all downhill from there unfortunately. It was doomed from the start because:
1. The WWE never intended or pushed the Nexus as being strong enough to be able to go toe to toe with the main roster
2. Even if they had done, outside of Barrett and Bryan the group just didn't have the talent or presence to justify such a push.

on 2. at the time Barrett only really had presence... he was pretty bad in the ring at the time which was the real nail in the coffin.
People point to the Summer Slam match but that was early... and they were still treated as a major threat for months after.

Barret could work with Cena but when they put him with others it was pretty much a disaster.


edit: that said with the fact that they were running so over with Summerslam they should have changed on the fly for Cena to Lose. But without the Timing issue I don't think there's much of an issue of the Nexus losing there.
It was their first actual setback in over two months of terrorizing the roster.

[clifford]

Jun 9, 2020 15:04:59 GMT -5 A Platypus Rave said:

Jun 9, 2020 8:48:24 GMT -5 clifford said:

I think their debut as the Nexus on Raw was the last 'holy shit' moment for me watching WWE. Was all downhill from there unfortunately. It was doomed from the start because:
1. The WWE never intended or pushed the Nexus as being strong enough to be able to go toe to toe with the main roster
2. Even if they had done, outside of Barrett and Bryan the group just didn't have the talent or presence to justify such a push.

on 2. at the time Barrett only really had presence... he was pretty bad in the ring at the time which was the real nail in the coffin.

Yeah, Barrett had the presence but not the talent, and at the time Bryan had the talent but not the presence. But being in a faction they could've masked each other's shortcomings. Outside of them though, MAYBE with the exception of Skip Sheffield, who was still a looooong way from becoming the type of character Ryback was, it was just a collection of jobbers dressed up like some marauding force of warriors.

It was the 2001 Invasion angle all over again, where we were supposed to buy WCW midcarders as the force to be reckoned with.

The only time in recent WWE history where I think you could've had such a force of 'invading' wrestlers is early last year- where you had a group of ready made stars like Ciampa, Gargano, Black, Ricochet and UE that could've stormed RAW and Smackdown as a legitimate threat- and even then I wouldn't of trusted the WWE not to f*** that up.

[héad.casé]

I loved the whole angle. Unfortunately I didn’t see this live so I went on my Twitter and had this spoiled for me, but I had to see it and it was one of the most incredible things I’d seen. An excitement I hadn’t had watching wrestling since the start of the WCW Invasion.

I’m still pissed that Nexus didn’t beat Team WWE at Summerslam, and I know Cena after the match told Jericho and Edge they were right and he was wrong, but too little too late. Damage was done.

[fw91]

Yep Yep Yep What It Do > Feed Me More

[Chiral]

I feel like if they were smart they could have given the belt to Barrett and hid his weaknesses, like Jinder got a like 9 month long world title reign and he's way worse in ring than 2010 Barrett was IMO with none of the heat or anything.

[Lupin the Third]

[Lupin the Third]

It's crazy to think that the only one still with the company in any way is David Otunga. Unless you count Bryan.

But yeah, it was so stupid. The hottest angle of the summer, killed by SummerSlam.

And then they did the same thing next year.

[Chainsaw]

Jun 7, 2020 3:40:07 GMT -5 EoE: Well There's Your Problem said:

...a collective of victimised game show contestants went “F*** ALL Y’ALL SHIT” in front of a worldwide television audience, and created some absolute bloody magic, if only for one night.

FAN’s live reaction at the time: officialfan.proboards.com/thread/335328/raw-thread-ufc-rampages-wwe?page=102

MysteryDriver predicting the future inadvertently.

officialfan.proboards.com/post/5991321

[chazraps]

I really think Barrett's shortcomings in the ring at that time are widely exaggerated. His mic skills and presence were more than enough to balance anything else.

[Perfect Timing]

Barrett was strangely more enjoyable for me at this time as the big boss character he could of done with more of that later on being positioned as a leader and not a generic guy. As for what happened with the group? anything to do with Cena was bound to crumble. It's sad but this is the type of character he was nobody was going to let him look weak or the fall guy he could of easily put over guys at this stage of his career yet he was doing the same superman gimmick that everyone and their grandma literally could see through.

[Rolent Tex]

Jun 10, 2020 14:50:39 GMT -5 Perfect Timing said:

Barrett was strangely more enjoyable for me at this time as the big boss character he could of done with more of that later on being positioned as a leader and not a generic guy. As for what happened with the group? anything to do with Cena was bound to crumble. It's sad but this is the type of character he was nobody was going to let him look weak or the fall guy he could of easily put over guys at this stage of his career yet he was doing the same superman gimmick that everyone and their grandma literally could see through.

What’s stupid is this entire angle is something that could have greatly added to the John Cena legend if he wasn’t such a bitch about it at the time. He ignored Edge and Jericho’s advice and started derailing the whole damn thing. Then he was getting comeuppance on them in a weekly basis after joining so no need to pay money to see John kick Barrett’s ass. It was so damn easy to book too. Barrett doesn’t have to do anything at Mania except look serviceable and get his ass handed to him. People would have paid to see Cena beat the piss out of him. He was that good of a heel in that feud.

[Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby]

Jun 10, 2020 14:34:58 GMT -5 chazraps said:

I really think Barrett's shortcomings in the ring at that time are widely exaggerated. His mic skills and presence were more than enough to balance anything else.

Seriously. He was a cut above most of the mid-00's hosses who got pushed despite no skills, he absolutely was good enough for the environment he was in.