10 Classic Wrestling Rivalries That Would Have Flourished In The Attitude Era
9. The Nexus Vs John Cena
Strength in numbers was logically preserved as a huge advantage in the Attitude Era. Even Stone Cold Steve Austin on his best day had to retreat into the crowd from the gaggle of midcarders looking to deck him before the 1998 Royal Rumble or an infuriated Nation Of Domination after he picked one or two off with a Stone Cold Stunner. Between 1997 and 1999 particularly, the product was dominated by factions as a means to an end - WCW's mammoth roster had robbed WWE of card-fillers, but putting giants on bikes or Puerto Ricans in Panama hats briefly plugged the gap.
By 2011 though, the mould had been broken. John Cena, for better and worse, had become a stronger babyface superhero than Hulk Hogan and Stone Cold Steve Austin combined. In the case of The Nexus, his powers ultimately killed careers.
The downtrodden 'rookies' from the original series of NXT were given some of the biggest shine in company history when they made their incredible and destructive June debut, but 'The Champ's physical retribution was swift and decisive. Their threat was severely diluted following a demeaning SummerSlam elimination match defeat that August, and it only took until November for 'Big Match John' to be outsmarting and outfighting them on a weekly basis completely by himself.