Former WWE Superstar and Nexus member Heath Slater recently reflected on how John Cena’s victory over The Nexus at SummerSlam 2010 derailed the faction’s momentum.
In 2010, The Nexus made a shocking debut, attacking Cena during his match with CM Punk and destroying the ring. Formed on NXT’s first season, the faction quickly became dominant in WWE.
Their rivalry with John Cena led to a 7-on-7 elimination match at SummerSlam 2010 against Team WWE. The match saw Cena facing a two-on-one disadvantage against Wade Barrett and Justin Gabriel after a brutal DDT onto the concrete, Cena surprisingly overcame the odds and secured the win for Team WWE.
Speaking with Inside The Ropes Magazine, Heath Slater shared how the loss affected The Nexus momentum. “It was amazing being a part of SummerSlam, being the main event, and being in a hot story of that size. The outcome sucked. Because one, when we first got there, we were going over the match finish, and we’re going over. So we were like, oh crap, we’re taking over. Literally, it was like an hour after doors opened, maybe, everything got changed. We’re not winning anymore, we’re losing, and we’re all just like, that makes no sense. Why would we [lose]?
“You would think they would let us have WWE in jeopardy, move on. Here comes ‘Mania. Get your supergroup, your Avengers, have them come in and beat us, as easy as that. But I tell the story as if we had a rocket ship between our legs headed to the moon, and before we landed we ran out of gas. That took the wind out of our sails. There was Cena pretty much taking to bat for himself and next thing you knew, everything got changed.”
Heath Slater reveals Edge & Chris Jericho disagreed with John Cena’s SummerSlam win
Former WWE superstar Heath Slater explained that Edge and Jericho initially crafted the entire match. However, Cena didn’t like the plan and wanted to change it.
“Edge and Jericho were the ones that put the whole match together, made it make sense and it was good. Then Cena didn’t like it, is the story I’ve heard. He didn’t like it, so he wanted to change it. Edge and Chris went to bat for us. They were all for it. Then it got switched and Jericho and Edge were p—sed. They were just like, “Are you kidding? Are you serious? This ain’t good for the story. This is just for his ego.” Back then I’m just like, hold on, what? So I’m gonna die? I gotta take everyone’s comeback and lose now? What the hell?”
Slater believes that after Nexus lost, the faction lost their credibility. “What got me is that once they beat us, it takes the threat away. So us trying to get Cena to join Nexus, or have a match where Wade won and now he has to join Nexus but he fights underneath… It’s like, have us win and then we make the stipulation that Cena is in Nexus, and then have him beat us from the inside. Not beat us, join us, and beat us again. It’s like, come on man. I get you want to be Superman, but this story is great and now it’s watered down and tainted to the point that it’s not believable. We couldn’t get the steam back after SummerSlam.”
