5 Game Changing WWE Moments That Just Lead To Business As Usual

3. You're Either Nexus, Or Against Us

The Moment: When the WWECW brand finally died, the WWE had to create programming in order to fill the void; enter NXT, which was WWE's attempt at creating a Star Search style program for pro-wrestlers. Each week a hopeful was eliminated, until there was one left standing who was awarded a contract with the WWE. However, after Wade Barrett won the inagural NXT outing, he showed up with the entire gang one evening on Raw during a CM Punk vs John Cena main-event and went on the attack. Sure, pro-wrestling has seen more than it's fair share of a faction delivering a healthy beat down, but this was completely different. John Cena wasn't just beaten up, he was DESTROYED. He received the finishers of every member of the group, plus multiple other points of assault. Cena was far from the sole target of their rage. Commentators, refs, announcers, everyone was fair game. Even inanimate objects weren't safe as they completely destroyed the ring-side setting. It was truly unlike anything anyone had ever seen before. It was an absolute decimation, a level of destruction & violence that we'd never seen before, and people were excited. The Aftermath:

For a while, things did seem hopeful. Although right out of the gate, Daniel Bryan was fired for choking Justin Roberts, the ring announcer, with his tie. Apparently you can beat a sports-entertainer like John Cena within an inch of his life, but if you choke a civilian, then that's case for dismissal. Regardless, the NXT team ran roughshod over the WWE, doing whatever they wanted, to whomever they wanted. The WWE had some true heels for the first time in a long time, and a chance to set up business for quite a while. The first big event the angle was leading up to was Team WWE vs Team NEXUS at SummerSlam. The thought was the team needed to go over big here, in order to keep them strong, and keep things fresh. However, what we got was John Cena being DDT'ed on the outside floor, then defeating multiple members by himself before forcing the leader of the NEXUS, Wade Barrett, to tap out, effectively killing the whole thing dead. After SummerSlam, they could have all combusted and they still wouldn't have heat Soon after, John Cena joined the team for 10 seconds, Wade Barrett and his cohorts continued to choke in big time situations before he and a few other cast-offs went to Smackdown to form the heatless Core, and CM Punk picked up the NXT banner before the faction finally died.