John Cena finally addressed the reason why he did not put over the Nexus at SummerSlam in 2010 during his “An Evening with John Cena” Q&A in Australia earlier this year.
If you recall back in the summer of 2010, Wade Barrett, Justin Gabriel, Heath Slater, David Otunga, Skip Sheffield, Michael Tarver, Darren Young were a hot group at the time. WWE booked Team Nexus vs. Team WWE elimination match at SummerSlam with Cena, Daniel Bryan, Edge, Chris Jericho, Bret Hart, R-Truth and John Morrison comprising the WWE side.
Chris Jericho and Edge have stated in the past that the original plan was for the Nexus to win the match. However, Cena changed the finish and was the sole survivor after eliminating Gabriel and Barrett. The Nexus angle fizzled after SummerSlam. Here is what he had to say (h/t Wrestling Inc):
“This has been a topic of debate amongst really hardcore WWE fans for quite some time because it is their sentiment that I should have lost that match,” Cena explained to the audience. “Why did I win that match? Because that is what we did. It’s difficult for me to blur the lines on this… but I show up to work and do what I’m told. I will give you the gratification of this: I don’t pick how the story is told, I get told that. But I do pick what goes on in the story.
“In that particular moment, it was too much. I think if presented in another way, it could have been a little more palatable. But I can’t change the television show, I’ve never had that power and that’s something I don’t do. If you look at a laundry list of my opponents, you can tell that it’s exactly how I operate. I guessed wrong on the way that the story was told, and I guess that’s why people are so up-in-arms about it. But we tell so many stories. I was wrong once.”
