The ending of the June 7th 2010 episode of Monday Night Raw in a contender for one of the most shocking of all time. At the end of the main event, the entire eight-man strong cast of the recently finished "reality" show NXT appeared and tore everything to pieces. Dismantling the ring, destroying everything in their wake; it was an incredible debut. The group, despite an infamous tie incident, started incredibly strong and before long were given a prestigious program with John Cena. This feud culminated in a match at Summerslam 2010, when The Nexus faced "Team WWE", a team of John Cena's choosing. Which, of course, they lost. Forsome reason. According to a conversation on Chris Jericho's podcast between himself and Edge (who were both on John Cena's team) they were desperate for The Nexus to win that night. Why would the strongest faction since the nWo be booked to lose their first major match? But even if the plan was never to have The Nexus win, it was the way the match ended that really screwed the group. According to Jericho and Edge, Cena's plan was to have Wade Barrett deliver a DDT to Cena on the floor, which John would then kick out of and beat the two remaining Nexus members. Despite Jericho and Edge fighting for The Nexus to go over and telling John that his idea "was dumb", it went ahead and The Nexus, with their threat nullified, were essentially finished. Afterwards, Cena mentioned to both Jericho and Edge that he was wrong but by then it was too late. Whether he meant to or not, John Cena had used backstage politics and had ruined the career of the most promising heel faction in years.
Michael Palmer is a contributor at whatculture.com and thelineofbestfit.com, and he probably likes WWE slightly more than most people would call "healthy".
