10 Wrestling Stipulations WWE Never Followed Through

6. Free Or Fired (Survivor Series 2010)

Stone Cold Steve Austin The Undertaker
WWE.com

"CENA'S FREE!"

"CENA'S FIRED!"

It was quite fitting that the confirmed f*cking of the Nexus storyline came with a call also badly botched, but was Matt Striker really as "caught up" in the moment as he wearily protested after the fact? Or, had he simply failed to sell 'The Champ's predicament because he didn't believe it?

To reset, John Cena was forced to join The Nexus by Wade Barrett as an attempt to rebuild what had tumbled after the once-powerful group got battered by Cena at SummerSlam. He didn't even trade his garish purple shirt for the big yellow "N" one, but looked sad for a month or so as he attempted to take them down.

It all resulted in Barrett installing him as referee for a WWE Championship match against Randy Orton with the stipulation that saw Cena permitted to leave the group if Wade won the big one, or fired outright if he didn't.

If this sounds win-win for Cena (as it must have done for Matt Striker), it's because it was. 'Big Match John' came out and bid a big farewell on Raw the next night, but spent the following month pummelling every member of the group into submission from his laughable spot as a company outsider. Barrett "rehired" him ahead of a Chairs Match (!) at the next pay-per-view which, naturally, he lost comprehensively.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett