Former WWE champion blames John Cena for major storyline failing

A former WWE Champion has blamed John Cena for the failure of a major storyline. During his WWE tenure, The Franchise Player has been lauded for his commitment to the company, but he has come under scrutiny for allegedly using his influence backstage.

One such infamous angle where John Cena has been accused of using his star power to get his way is the 2010 Nexus storyline. In the summer of 2010, WWE rookies from the company's brand new show, NXT, showed up during the main event of RAW between Cena and CM Punk.

Led by Wade Barrett, they decimated the two stars and the ringside officials. They even ripped up parts of the ring, leaving destruction in their wake. This led to a multi-man tag team match at SummerSlam.

However, this new group, called The Nexus, lost to WWE stars at the big event, and their hot momentum fizzled out. During an appearance on TMZ Sports' Inside the Ring, former Nexus member David Otunga revealed that they were originally supposed to go over before Cena changed the finish of the match.

"Like, that's an infamous story. We were supposed to win at SummerSlam all day until about an hour or two before showtime. Then the finish is changed and we knew who changed it, and they told us who changed it. It was John Cena," he said.

Otunga, who held the WWE Tag Team Championship twice as part of Nexus, said this defeat derailed the faction and they couldn't recover.

"I think it was Jericho or Edge or maybe both, but like we were told, like, we know who it was, and they disagreed with it. We disagreed with it, and you know, with the ending, we should have won, but Cena went over, and yeah, it completely cut the legs out from under us, and after that, Nexus kind of fell apart," he added.

You can watch the interview below:

Although Nexus would continue to feature on WWE TV after SummerSlam, they didn't quite reach the hype created by their chaotic debut.

John Cena set to face AJ Styles at Crown Jewel

Ahead of this week's RAW, John Cena took to X/Twitter to gauge fan interest for a match between him and AJ Styles.

Later, he tagged the Phenomenal One and Triple H in a post asking them to listen to the fans. Styles accepted the challenge, and soon the match was made official.

The two icons will now face each other at Crown Jewel on October 11 in Australia. With only five dates left on Cena's retirement tour, fans are excited to see how the curtain will come down on the 17-time WWE World Champion's illustrious career.

About the author

Sherjeel Malik is a writer at Sportskeeda and covers pro wrestling. He was hooked on the product from the moment he saw The Hardy Boyz jumping off ladders during the Attitude Era. While he comes from an engineering background, Sherjeel’s love for pro wrestling and content writing led him to pursue a career in sports journalism. Before assuming his current role at Sportskeeda, Sherjeel worked at other reputable organizations for five years.

While writing articles, he ensures that he only relies on credible sources for information and covers relevant subjects that do not project an agenda against a particular person or association. WWE legend Paul Heyman once shared Sherjeel’s work on his social media handle.

Sherjeel’s earliest memory of pro wrestling is watching Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Undertaker square off for the WWE Title in the main event of a pay-per-view in 1998. His favorite wrestlers are Randy Orton and Jeff Hardy. While he admires Orton for his character work as a heel, he looks up to Jeff because of his unique wrestling style and risk-taking ability.

If he could go back to the Attitude Era, Sherjeel would like to manage Ken Shamrock and be his mouthpiece. He feels Shamrock’s promo skills prevented him from becoming a main event-level act in WWE. Hence, he would like to help the UFC Hall of Famer get over with fans.

When not writing about pro wrestling, he likes to read classics and fiction books.

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Edited by Sherjeel Malik