10 Best Non-Attitude Era WWE RAW Moments
9. The Nexus Formation
A masterpiece of subversion, shock, production and performance, the formation of the Nexus angle remains just that, despite the catastrophic way in which it all imploded—with John Cena’s face imploded on exposed concrete, followed immediately by his preposterous 90 second recovery.
As CM Punk and John Cena fought in the middle of the ring on the June 7, 2010 RAW, the rejects of NXT season one encroached on it menacingly. Wade Barrett wore an expression of silent intent. You couldn’t detect Michael Tarver’s; his face mask on this night morphed from optimistic gimmick table fodder to something actually, disturbingly redolent of a gangland scene.
Their fellow contestants followed—the word ‘contestant’ felt immediately antiquated, somehow more of an insult—and unleashed a disturbing beatdown on everybody, headline stars and innocent non-wrestling personnel, in a scene as chaotic as it was brutal as it was astonishing. An instant reimagining and rehabilitation, this was legitimately harrowing at various points; the sight of Justin Roberts spluttering for life, at the mercy of Daniel Bryan’s overzealous choke, was indeed much too harrowing for WWE’s sponsors.
Eight browbeaten men literally destroyed the lay of the land, and reordered it to their liking in an inch-perfect visualisation of their mission statement.