10 Times WWE Stipulations Meant Nothing

The mention of the Nexus still invokes sad memories for WWE fans. When they debuted they were by far one of the best stables we had seen in a very long time, and all the potential was there to cement their place in the list of most dominant wrestling groups ever. And then John Cena happened.

The beginning of the end for Wade Barrett and his group was their SummerSlam loss to Cena and his random group of friends and enemies - a match everyone was adamant they should have won. Then, things entered bizarre territory. Barrett and Cena clashed at Hell in a Cell that year, with the stipulation that if Cena lost, he would have to join the Nexus. Thanks to outside interference, Cena did lose and credit where it’s due, WWE did follow through on this condition.

This kicked off months of programing where Barrett would basically enslave Cena and make him do his bidding. Eventually, the storyline dragged in Randy Orton and his WWE Championship as the Nexus leader went after the gold. The decisive encounter came at Survivor Series where if Barrett did not walk away as champion, Cena, who was the special guest referee, would be fired. Because John is our shining beacon of hope and purity, he accepted his fate and helped Orton retain the title.

The following night, he marched out to the ring and said his final goodbyes to the fans. LOL, as if. Cena would then come back to RAW every single week, sometimes through buying a ticket, sometimes just magically teleporting to where the Nexus members were and taking them out. At one point, they got so scared that David Otunga and co. forced Barrett to reinstate Big Match John so that he would spare them. Barrett complied, had one last Chairs Match with Cena at TLC and by the end of it, found himself literally buried.