Former WWE Tag Team Champion David Otunga has publicly blamed John Cena for the collapse of The Nexus storyline. Speaking on TMZ Sports, Otunga claimed that Cena used his backstage influence to alter the finish of the faction’s pivotal 7-on-7 match at SummerSlam 2010, a decision he says crippled the group’s momentum.
Otunga revealed that The Nexus had been booked to win until just before the show. “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.
The defeat, Otunga argued, proved fatal for the faction’s trajectory. He recalled that even other veterans voiced disagreement with the change. “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.
The Nexus angle began in the summer of 2010 when rookies from the first season of NXT, led by Wade Barrett, made a shocking debut on Raw. The group stormed the main event between Cena and CM Punk, attacking both men and destroying the ringside area in a chaotic scene that set the tone for their run.
This debut built toward the SummerSlam elimination tag team match, where The Nexus faced a Team WWE squad of Cena, Edge, Chris Jericho, Bret Hart, R-Truth, John Morrison, and The Great Khali. Cena ultimately secured the victory by eliminating the faction’s final members, a booking decision that Otunga believes derailed the group permanently.
After SummerSlam, the feud escalated when Cena was forced to join The Nexus following a loss to Barrett at Hell in a Cell. The storyline saw him attempt to sabotage the group from within, leading to a kayfabe firing at Survivor Series. He was later reinstated and dismantled the faction, paving the way for the short-lived “New Nexus” led by CM Punk. The rivalry remains a defining moment in establishing Cena as WWE’s top babyface of the era.