10 Times WWE Wrestlers Went Into Business For Themselves

2. John Cena Halts The Nexus Train

John Cena, Wade Barrett
WWE.com

In all reality, the Nexus is looked back on as a footnote in wrestling history; one of many factions that talked the talk but regularly fell short, before its members all went their separate ways.

Without any sense of hyperbole, though, this Wade Barrett-led group was the talk of the wrestling business at one point in time, with a genuinely jaw-dropping debut instantly making the Nexus white-hot.

The rest of the Nexus all had varying levels of upside to them, but with Barrett it seemed as if WWE had a can't-miss main event star on their hands. That is, of course, until John Cena nixed the Nexus.

Having arrived on the scene with a bang in June 2010, Barrett and his cohorts spent the next two months butting heads with - amongst others - Cena ahead of a Team Nexus vs. Team WWE showdown at that year's SummerSlam PPV.

As has been documented in the years since - including by Chris Jericho, Edge and Barrett himself - the plan was for the Nexus to emerge victorious in that seven against seven encounter, with Wade toppling Cena to win the match.

Instead, Big Match John decided that he didn't want to do that, that it wasn't for him, and thus he got the result changed to him taking down both Wade Barrett and Justin Gabriel at the match's finish as he stood tall to close out the show.

In having Vince McMahon agree to change the finish here, Cena took all of the steam away from the once-unstoppable Nexus, and the faction never again managed to recapture anything close to that initial buzz.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.