David Otunga's WWE run lasted from 2009 to 2015, with him first coming to the attention of many fans when he finished as a runner-up on the first season of WWE NXT in its original form.
Later, he'd join The Nexus and The New Nexus, and remains the only wrestler to have been present through the entire duration of the stable in each incarnation. While he'd eventually transition to an announcing role, he did win the WWE Tag Team Championships twice, first with John Cena and later with Michael McGillicutty.
Over the years, much has been said about the Nexus' potential and how the faction's momentum was halted when John Cena pretty much singlehandedly beat them at SummerSlam 2010.
During a recent interview with Chris Van Vliet, Otunga was asked if he agrees that the 17-time WWE Champion "buried" The Nexus.
"Oh yeah, that’s 100% accurate. I mean, that’s what happened, that is what happened," he stated, adding that he believes Cena wanted to go over in the match. "I don’t know why he wanted to go over, but we knew all day we were supposed to go over, and then things started getting weird, and then they tell us, no, the finish changed, and it’s because John wanted to go over, and we weren’t happy about that."
"The other guys in the match weren’t happy about that. And if I’m being honest, I think John probably knows that wasn’t the right idea," Otunga continued. "I mean, maybe obviously, at the time, he thought that was the right call, but in retrospect, I don’t even think he would agree that that was the right thing to do."
"I know we were supposed to go over. I don’t know how. I don’t know how many of us there were [supposed to be left in the match], but there were some shenanigans [planned] and ultimately, we went over," he added, sharing his take that, had it not gone down like that, The Nexus could have ridden their wave of momentum right through to WrestleMania.
According to Otunga, original plans called for him to take over the faction after Wade Barrett was ousted, but WWE once again pulled the rug out from under him when CM Punk was named their new leader.
"I guess he needed a faction. Straight Edge Society was done, and he needed a new faction. So I don’t know why they decided just to give him Nexus," the former WWE Superstar recalled. "So then the storyline that we had going just stopped, and now we’re The New Nexus with CM Punk, which, eh. It never really took off, I think, because it was a disconnect for the fans too."
Later, Otunga weighed in on how much potential he thinks The Nexus had in WWE. "I think we would have had a major run kind of like The Shield. Because if you ask me, I feel like The Shield was Nexus 2.0. What they did with The Shield, everything they did wrong in Nexus, they made sure they did it right with The Shield. That’s my opinion. So I assume we would have had a run kind of similar to that."
It's easy enough to agree and disagree with Otunga's assessment, but there's no denying that WWE dropped the ball on The Nexus in all its forms. How much of the blame Cena deserves for that remains up for debate.
You can watch the full interview with Otunga in the player below.