Nexus (professional wrestling)

The Nexus was a professional wrestling stable that competed on the Raw brand. The Nexus' members were the First and Second Season NXT Rookies, CM Punk and John Cena.

History 

Before the Nexus joined together, they were contestants on the show, NXT. At the end of the first season of the show, Wade Barrett was chosen to be the winner, and he got a WWE contract and a chance to face any champion he chose. The seven losers of the show were left without a job. On the June 7th Raw, the group debuted during a match between John Cena and CM Punk. The Nexus attacked Punk, Cena, Luke Gallows, Jerry Lawler, Matt Striker, and other WWE employees.

A week later, The Nexus explained their motive for what they did. They said that the WWE didn't treat them good during their time on NXT. Now, they wanted the WWE to give the other 7 members of the Nexus WWE contracts. Bret Hart said no, and he also fired Barrett. The Nexus then attacked Hart, and threw him into a limo. They drove the limo around, crashing into other cars, and hurting Bret Hart. During the Fatal 4-Way pay-per-view, the Nexus interfered in the main event for the WWE Championship, attacking all the wrestlers involved. Sheamus used the interference to win the championship from John Cena.

The next night, Vince McMahon chose a new general manager of Raw. This new GM gave the all of the Nexus WWE contracts. Barrett said that this group was going to form no matter who won the competition, stating that the seven of them had formed a "Nexus" and had a common goal they all fought to have accomplished. However, even after apologizing for their actions, the Nexus continued their attacks, including one on McMahon who tried to take credit for the Nexus' actions.

At Money in the Bank pay-per-view, the Nexus tried to get involved in the WWE Championship match involving Sheamus and John Cena in a steel cage by breaking the door. However, the referees threw away the key and the tool that Tarver tried to use to break in. Then, they tried to climb up and get into the match. However, Sheamus and Cena were able to hold them off and escape, with Sheamus winning. Afterwards, Cena began beating up Tarver and Young and then took Tarver's Nexus armband.

On the July 19 episode of Raw the Nexus continued their attacks on the Raw roster by first attacking Edge and then Chris Jericho. Later on in the show Barrett beat Mark Henry. After that, Barrett and The Nexus asked Cena to join them. Cena refused and said that he would take them all down at SummerSlam, and that he had found some help to do it. Cena revealed his team one by one; the members were Edge, John Morrison, R-Truth, The Great Khali, Chris Jericho and Bret Hart. On the August 9 episode of Raw, the Nexus attacked the Hart Dynasty, Mark Henry, and the Great Khali before being stopped by Team WWE in a tag team lumberjack match. At SummerSlam, the Nexus were defeated by Team WWE, who had  Daniel Bryan, who joined Team WWE as a surprise member (after Nexus had (kayfabe) injured Khali, taking him out of the match) and eliminated both Young and Slater.

On the August 16, 2010 episode of Raw, Wade Barrett said that each member of Nexus would have a match facing a member of Team WWE and if a Nexus member lost they would be kicked out. All members of the Nexus, except for Darren Young, won their matches that night. Because of this, Young was thrown out of Nexus and attacked afterwards.

At a live event in Hawaii, member Skip Sheffield broke his ankle during a tag match with Otunga against the Hart Dynasty. This injury would take Sheffield out of action for months and that left only 5 members of Nexus left. The Nexus defeated the team of John Cena, Edge, Chris Jericho, Sheamus and Randy Orton in a 5 on 5 elimination match. They also attacked The Undertaker with the help of Kane.

They would appear on SmackDown and attack Dolph Ziggler, MVP, Big Show and John Cena. The Nexus would later serve as lumberjacks in the main event match between John Cena and Kane.

Wade Barrett went on to face John Cena at Hell in a Cell. If Barrett won, Cena would be forced to join Nexus but if Cena won Nexus would be disbanded. Barrett went on to win the match after Husky Harris and Michael McGillicutty interfered in the match.

On the following Raw, John Cena was paired with Michael Tarver. After their match, Cena attacked Tarver. Barrett said they were going to get rid of Tarver anyways. Cena said he would destroy Nexus from the inside but the mystery GM said that Cena was a member of Nexus now and he would either take orders from Barrett or be fired. During a #1 contender battle royal later that night, Barrett ordered Cena to eliminate himself when it came down to them. At Bragging Rights, Cena and Otunga won the WWE Tag Team Championship by defeating Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre. The rest of the Nexus also helped Kane defeat The Undertaker in a buried alive match later that night. Barrett defeated Randy Orton in the main event match for the WWE Championship by disqualification from John Cena which caused him not to win the championship. Slater and Gabriel won the Tag Team Championship on the next Raw when Barrett ordered Otunga to lie down and be pinned on purpose. Barrett also said that Michael McGillicutty and Husky Harris had become official member of Nexus. Cena defeated Orton in the main event match by disqualification from Barrett. Barrett was allowed to chose a special guest referee for his WWE Championship rematch against Orton at Survivor Series and he chose Cena. He said if Cena didn't make sure he won, Cena would be fired from the WWE but if Barrett did win, Cena would be able to leave the Nexus. Otunga led Harris, Slater, Gabriel and McGillicutty and they invaded SmackDown where they interrupted a match between Edge and Alberto Del Rio. They were defeated in the main event 10-man tag team match by Edge, Del Rio, Big Show, Kane and Kofi Kingston. Barrett wasn't happy with Otunga's decision to invade SmackDown and he forced Otunga to defend his spot in the group the next week. Otunga successfully defended his spot in the group when he defeated Edge in a lumberjack match, after an interference from Kane. Orton defeated Barrett at Survivor Series to keep his WWE Championship. Cena was later fired from the WWE and left Nexus.

Even though Cena was fired, he kept showing up on Raw where he interfered in matches and attacked them backstage. Cena caused Slater and Gabriel to lose their Tag Team Champions to Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov after he interfered in their Fatal 4-Way tag team elimination match. Cena said later in the night that his attacks on Barrett would continue but attacks on the rest of the members of Nexus may stop eventually. Nexus threatened to kick out Barrett if he did not get Cena rehired. Barrett rehired Cena and faced him in a Chairs match at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs. Cena defeated Barrett after he attacked the other members of Nexus throughout the PPV.

Nexus announced that it was under "new management" and CM Punk later revealed that he was that new leader after Barrett was kicked out of Nexus for losing his match against Randy Orton and Sheamus. After CM Punk ordered Slater and Gabriel to hit each other with kendo swords for initiation, they refused and left Nexus to join Barrett and Ezekiel Jackson on SmackDown as The Corre. Mason Ryan joined Nexus after he interfered in a match between Punk and Cena. The feud between Cena and Nexus ended when Cena eliminated the members of Nexus in the Royal Rumble except Husky Harris who was eliminated by The Great Khali. Nexus cost Randy Orton his WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble and Orton would punt Harris in the skull on the following Raw after Harris and McGillicutty failed to win the Tag Team Championship from Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov. Orton would punt each member of Nexus over the weeks and removed them from in ring action. Orton was unable to punt Punk in the head after their match at WrestleMania XXVII which left Punk as the only active member of Nexus. The rest of the members of Nexus returned and cost Orton a shot at the WWE Championship. Orton was drafted to SmackDown during the WWE Draft and defeated Punk at Extreme Rules which ended the feud between Orton and Nexus. Ryan later left the group because of an injury. Nexus quietly disbanded on August 22, 2011.

In wrestling 
 Finishing moves
 450° splash – Gabriel
 Skip-line (Running lariat) – Sheffield
 Sweetness (Jumping Russian legsweep) – Slater
 Tarver's Lightning (Reverse thrown scoop powerslam) – Tarver
 The Verdict (Thrust spinebuster) – Otunga
 The Wasteland (Fireman's carry slam) – Barrett
 Heat Wave - Young
 Guillotine choke - Bryan
 House of Pain - Ryan
 Running senton - Harris
 McGillicutter - McGillicutty
 Attitude Adjustment & STF - Cena
 Go to Sleep & Anaconda Vise - Punk
 Entrance themes
 "We Are One" by 12 Stones
 "This Fire Burns" by Killswitch Engage
 "Death Blow" by VideoHelper Music
 "All About the Power" by S–Preme

References 

WWE teams and stables
2010 establishments
2011 disestablishments