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David Otunga has spoken candidly about one of the most controversial moments in John Cena's career: the defeat of The Nexus at SummerSlam 2010, a result that many fans consider the beginning of the end for the influential NXT rookie faction.
In a conversation with Chris Van Vliet, the former wrestler confirmed what has been discussed among fans and analysts for years: Cena changed the originally planned ending so that his team would win. When asked directly if Cena had buried Nexus, Otunga replied:
Oh, yeah, that's 100% true. I mean, what happened is what everyone perceived.
The SummerSlam match pitted Cena and his team against a Nexus that was coming in with momentum, freshness, and a dominant storyline. The initial plan, according to Otunga, was for Nexus to emerge victorious. However, things started to go awry hours before the event:
"That day, we knew we were going to win... and then things started to get weird. We were told the ending had changed because John wanted to go over. We weren't happy. The other guys in the match weren't either."
The match's ending is remembered as one of the worst bookings of the PG era: Cena survived a DDT on the concrete, recovered almost instantly, and eliminated Justin Gabriel and Wade Barrett by himself. Nexus never regained that level of momentum.
Otunga added that even Cena himself, in hindsight, probably recognizes that it wasn't the right choice: "If I'm honest, I think John probably knows it wasn't the best idea. Maybe at that moment he thought it was right, but nowadays I don't think he sees it the same way."
Regarding the original ending, Otunga clarified that Nexus was supposed to win "the whole match", although they were never given detailed information on how the closing would unfold.
At another point in the interview, Otunga talked about the real potential that Nexus had and how their fate could have changed if they hadn't been defeated at SummerSlam. According to him, the story would have been very different:
I think we would have had a great run, something similar to what The Shield had. Because, if you ask me, to me The Shield was like a Nexus 2.0.
Otunga explained that, in his opinion, WWE corrected all the mistakes made with Nexus with The Shield: "What they did with The Shield, everything they did wrong with Nexus, they made sure to do it right with The Shield. That's my opinion. So I guess we would have had a pretty similar journey."
