Nexus was a faction formed from the members of the original NXT (back when it was structured more like a reality show), and the group made a memorable main roster debut on Raw in 2010 when they interfered in a match between John Cena and CM Punk.
The segment was red hot, and quickly established Wade Barrett, David Otunga, Daniel Bryan, Skip Sheffield (Ryback), Darren Young, Justin Gabriel, Heath Slater and Michael Tarver as one of the top heel stables in pro-wrestling. Of course, WWE still found a way to mess things up, and any momentum Nexus had was snuffed out when John Cena beat every member of the team by himself at Survivor Series.
While speaking to inside The Ropes, Barrett - who now goes by his real name Stu Bennett - spoke about the faction's debut and what Vince McMahon told them to do when they got involved in the match.
“Vince speaks to us, he says, ‘OK, this is a huge opportunity for you guys, this is going to be big, we want you to go attack John Cena at the end of the show and smash everything up, here’s what I want you to do, I want you to wear these armbands with the little N on there,’ didn’t give us a reason why we were wearing the N, didn’t give us the name Nexus or anything like that, said, ‘Put these on, Wade you go down, everyone else join him, smash up everything, I want you to rip the ring apart, I want you to trash the table, I want you to punch the security guards, punch the referees, punch Jerry Lawler, beat up Justin Roberts.”
Daniel Bryan may have taken Vince's words a little too seriously, as he was fired for choking Roberts with his own tie!
Fans still wonder what went wrong with the group and why the decision was made to halt their momentum and ultimately disband the them, but it sounds like McMahon did see big things for Nexus... at one point!