6. The Nexus Arrive In WWE And Destroy John Cena (2010)
At the start of 2010, the WWE scrapped their dismal recreation of ECW and replaced it with a new show: NXT. This saw 8 rookies being mentored by 8 current WWE stars in what can only be described as wrestling meets X Factor. The 8 rookies were Daniel Bryan (a 10 year pro and multiple title holder at this time), Wade Barrett, Heath Slater, Darren Young (now one half of the Prime Time Players), Tyson Tarver, Justin Gabriel (now PJ Black in Global Force and elsewhere), Skip Sheffield (now Ryback) and David Otunga. When Barrett won, he won himself a place on the main roster and the rest of the crew were out of a job. On June 7th 2010, John Cena was facing CM Punk in the main event, when Barrett walked down the ramp, smirking. He was quickly followed by his seven NXT colleagues, all sporting black armbands with the letter N on them. What followed was an assault on everyone at ringside, the level and range of which had not been seen on WWE TV before. As well as an 8-on-1 attack on Cena, they attacked the commentators, overturning their desk and hurling their chairs down the aisle, the timekeeper, officials, the ring announcer and even starting tearing the ring apart. The visual of the famous WWE ring being torn up, together with the complete lack of audio commentary, made for a shocking and unusual dynamic. Raw went off the air in silence as Cena was stretchered off in a neck brace. This devastating angle led to the formation of The Nexus, propelling the eight man crew to the main event of SummerSlam 2010, where Cena formed a team of established stars to defend the company. This was a version of the age-old invasion angle, akin to the previous NWO invasion of WCW or the future Aces & 8s angle in TNA. Unfortunately, some of the group were not ready for the main event spotlight and their star fell reasonably quickly. While some, like Bryan, Barrett and Sheffield/Ryback bounced back, others faded and left the company or were repositioned as lower card talents.
Dean Ayass is a well known name to British wrestling fans. A commentator, manager, booker and ring announcer who has been involved in the business since 1993, Dean's insight into the business is second to none.
