Flashback Friday: Justin Gabriel Talks John Cena Changing WWE SummerSlam 2010 Finish, Nexus Losing
Just about six years ago, the WWE saw the debut of The Nexus, a hot new stable comprised of NXT season one rookies who were sick of their treatment, and decided to wreck their surroundings. Justin Gabriel was a major part of that storyline, which culminated controversially with the group being beaten by John Cena at SummerSlam 2010.
Wrestling Inc. spoke to Gabriel for an exclusive interview last year, and the man now known as 'Darewolf' opened up about the much talked about angle.
Chris Jericho and Edge revealed on a Podcast that John Cena was adamant about going over Nexus, who had spearheaded one of the hottest angles in recent memory. Gabriel remembered thinking then they should have won.
"We should have got over, Gabriel said. "I don't know what you read online or what you hear, but there was a back and forth between Jericho and Cena about what should happen. We should have changed the finish, but being rookies we didn't want to be pushy. We all knew we should have changed it. Everything from that point went downhill. It should have ran for at least a year and put more of an emphasis on some of the characters. I don't know what happened. I don't know if the powers that-be got bored or if someone got in their ear or what."
Gabriel said that the whole team knew that they were going to have to go through with the plan, but looking back should have stepped up and shot down the idea. Fearing for their positions, Nexus went along with the plan, one Cena later admitted was wrong.
"That's something we found out a couple of hours before. You try to work stuff out and a lot of guys will try to get stuff changed. We were new, so we knew we had to it. We didn't have the balls to do it. A guy stood up for us and said we should, and the guy who was adamant about not doing it got his way. A few weeks later he stood up and said we were right, and that he should have done that," he said.
Even though the Summerslam 2010 result slowed the momentum of Nexus, Gabriel doesn't hold any ill-will towards Cena.
"It would have been good for everybody," explained Gabriel. "He's probably one of the best in the business and that is where he is, but that one day he made a wrong call. Nobody's perfect, especially in this business. But you can't change it now.
You can check out our full, exclusive interview with Justin Gabriel at this link.