8 Dropped Ideas That Could've Helped WWE Ratings

3. The Push Of Wade Barrett And The Nexus

Randy Orton The Revival
WWE.com

There’s so many things that WWE got wrong with The Nexus, but deciding to halt the initial push of Wade Barrett was the major decision that soon saw the invading force become nothing more than an afterthought on WWE programming.

At one point in time, WWE got behind Barrett as a big-time player who was mixing it up with the promotion's top stars. Then, it was as if WWE brass got cold feet and just decided to stop giving Barrett any big wins.

To many, the key moment that killed The Nexus was SummerSlam 2010. The planned finish to the PPV’s Team Cena vs. The Nexus' seven-on-seven elimination bout was to have Barrett standing tall as the sole survivor after toppling Super Cena.

Unfortunately for Barrett, WWE creative had some “bad news” for the Englishman after the finish was changed due to Cena deciding that he should be the one to stand tall – despite Edge and Chris Jericho pointing out how that would absolutely kill the momentum of The Nexus.

Big Match John would, as ever, overcome the odds to win that SummerSlam match, and going with that call saw WWE drop the ball on Wade Barrett and his once-dominant faction.

Before you knew it, Barrett’s can’t-miss World Champion status was no more, as The Nexus saw out their days as perennial nobodies in The New Nexus and The Corre, with the rest of Wade's WWE career playing out in the midcard.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

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 dayjob, 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, Jamie Hayer, 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.