4 WWE Superstars who lost matches that they wanted to win

#2 The Nexus

In the summer of 2010, one of the most memorable moments in Raw history occurred when the villainous Nexus faction invaded WWE’s flagship show by mercilessly attacking John Cena before causing carnage around the ringside area.

The biggest match during the rivalry came at SummerSlam, where The Nexus (Darren Young, David Otunga, Heath Slater, Justin Gabriel, Michael Tarver, Skip Sheffield and Wade Barrett) faced Team WWE (Bret Hart, Chris Jericho, Daniel Bryan, Edge, John Cena, John Morrison and R-Truth) in a 7-on-7 elimination match in the main event.

It appeared as though the storyline was all set up for The Nexus to pick up the win and establish themselves as the next dominant faction in WWE. However, it has since been revealed in various interviews that Cena fought backstage for his team to win the match, so that is the finish that WWE went with.

Barrett, the leader of The Nexus, said during an Inside The Ropes interview in 2017:

"We were pulled to one side and [WWE road agent] Arn Anderson says, ‘hey guys, here’s the finish.’…We get down to the final three, which is myself and Justin Gabriel... against John Cena. And then we’re told ‘…and Cena’s going to beat you both and go over.’ At which point, I kind of thought he was joking just to gauge our reaction, and then we realised he’s not joking. This is serious; John’s going over."