"You’re fired" - Vince McMahon legitimately threatened WWE stars before infamous storyline, former champion reveals

Vince McMahon legitimately threatened WWE stars before an infamous storyline, a former champion has revealed. During Vince's long tenure as WWE owner, he created several storylines that captivated the audience, and one such angle remains etched in the minds of the fans.

During the summer of 2010, eight members from the newly formed NXT brand debuted on an episode of RAW. Led by Wade Barrett, this new group consisted of rookie WWE stars Heath Slater, David Otunga, Daniel Bryan, Darren Young, Ryback, and Michael Tarver.

Known as the Nexus, they brutally attacked John Cena and CM Punk during the main event of RAW and beat up the ring announcer and other WWE officials. They ripped up everything at the ringside, wreaking havoc. Now, in an interview on TMZ Sports' Inside the Ring, former Nexus member David Otunga revealed how Vince McMahon threatened them before their debut if they didn't do their job properly.

"Right before the show started, they call us into Vince's office, and we go in there, all eight of us. It's just us, Vince and Michael Hayes. And they close the door and they say, 'Look, this is what’s going to happen. We want you to go down, storm the main event. We want you to wreak havoc and tear everything up. Beat up John Cena, beat up CM Punk, everybody. The announcer, the timekeeper, tear the ring up. We’re going to give you box cutters and stuff. Tear the place apart.' And then Vince tell us, 'And if it doesn’t look vicious enough, you’re fired,'” he mentioned.

You can watch the interview below:

The Nexus stars were able to deliver on what was asked of them. However, the storyline fizzled out after this new faction lost to a team of WWE main roster stars at SummerSlam.

The faction did have some success in the tag team division. David Otunga, himself became a two-time Tag Team Champion during his stint with the group.

Still, fans have always wondered how Nexus would have progressed in WWE had they won at SummerSlam that year.

Vince McMahon was shockingly featured in a WWE video recently

After Vince McMahon was named in the Janel Grant lawsuit on the accusations of s*xual misconduct, trafficking, and physical abuse, WWE has distanced itself from its former CEO.

Direct references to Vince are rarely made by WWE as they try to steer clear of the controversy. However, ahead of WWE's big debut on ESPN with Wrestlepalooza, Triple H shared a video highlighting the growth of WWE and ESPN.

Around the 40-second mark, the video features a young Vince McMahon talking about a match during his early WWE days. He was also featured in the video and can be seen in the background with the Wild Samoans.

If you use quotes from this article, please credit TMZ Sports' Inside the Ring and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.

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