David Otunga Looks Back On The End Of The Nexus

For a stable that began with so much promise, the original incarnation of Nexus ended with a whimper just several months later after John Cena's decisive victory over Nexus leader Wade Barrett at TLC. But while that match seemed to tie a bow on the Barrett led incarnation of the group, the fate of everyone else in the stable felt as though it was left up in the air. And according to one high end member of the stable, that was exactly the case.

In a recent video on his YouTube channel discussing "The New Nexus," former WWE star David Otunga described the time between Barrett's loss to Cena and the formation of "The New Nexus," with Otunga and others now under the leadership of CM Punk. According to Otunga, while none of the members of the group were aware of what was next, signals had been sent to them that suggested Otunga would be the focal point of the group, only for them to fall under Punk's lead instead.

"After that, we didn't know where we were going or what was next for us," Otunga said. "We just knew that Wade was out of the group. And we had been led to believe that eventually, I was going to be taking over the Nexus, and I would be leading the group. 

"But we didn't know exactly when that was going to happen. It seemed like it made sense that it would happen right after we ousted Wade from the group. That would follow, but...we found out there were other plans. On January 3, 2011, CM Punk is here, he ousts Barrett from the group officially, and then starts initiations."

Otunga admitted it was a "a lot to wrap my head around," not only because he had been gearing up to lead the group, but because he felt Punk, his new stablemate, wasn't a fan of his at the time. Things got even weirder, however, when Otunga saw WWE put together The Corre stable on "SmackDown," led by Barrett and consisting of former Nexus members Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel.

For a moment, Otunga thought that this could set up The Corre and New Nexus on a collision course; he would soon learn he was mistaken.

"So now I see things are kind of being set up where there's the Nexus, or rather we're the New Nexus, and now they're building an alternate Nexus in The Corre," Otunga said. "It would seem eventually these two factions are going to meet up, especially cause Wade is leading one, I'm leading the other. Eventually we should culminate in some Survivor Series match or something like that. 

"But that never really happened...the creative was never explained to us. Why Punk was coming in, what the future plans were, if we were going to have any involvement with the Corre or not. It just was 'You guys are now CM Punk's new faction.' Essentially, we were the new Straight Edge Society. But that was it. They really did not give us any direction. And after that, we were just taking it one day at a time."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "David Otunga" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription