9 Times John Cena Was The Worst WWE Babyface Ever

For the most part this list is remaining within the confines of what happened in storylines and in the ring, not behind the scenes in WWE. Otherwise, Alex Riley might be dragged into this piece.

However, what happened between John Cena and the Nexus in 2010 blurs the lines a bit, with onscreen actions having a significant negative impact on the stable during its formative stages.

Nexus targeted Cena from its inception, pitting the NXT rookies against WWE’s biggest star. It seemed like a solid recipe to give a bunch of young superstars a ton of exposure and hopefully some shine in attacking the Face that Runs the Place.

Longtime fans remember how “well” that went for Nexus. At SummerSlam, the seven members of Nexus competed against Team WWE, helmed by Cena. With John being the last member on his squad, Wade Barrett DDT’d him on the concrete floor, seemingly ensuring victory, given he and Justin Gabriel had a two-on-one advantage.

But Super Cena showed up, overcoming the odds and defeating both remaining Nexus members and basically neutering the group’s momentum just weeks into their run. The original finish called for Barrett to win, but Cena politicked for a different ending with him rising above the Nexus.

Even discounting this bit of backstage hijinks that dramatically affected the product, Cena continuously cut the legs out from under the Nexus by not taking them seriously as a threat and constantly getting the upper hand - the entire “Cena joins the Nexus” was treated as a joke - rendering them as more of an evil Keystone Cops than a modern-day nWo.

While not explicitly behaving like a heel in storyline, Cena’s onscreen antics irreparably harmed other characters and their prospects.