On a recent episode of his podcast, "Conversation with the Big Guy", Ryback talked about how and why The Nexus stalled and was eventually disbanded as a faction. According to Ryback, it was all because there was one top guy who just didn't want to play ball.
And his name is John Cena.
Coming out of the first season of NXT, a new stable arose in the WWE, that of the villainous Nexus. They debuted on an episode of Raw, interrupting a John Cena vs CM Punk match and laying waste to absolutely everything and everyone they could get their hands on.
Ryback says that he and the rest of the guys in the group, including Daniel Bryan for a brief time, were just along for the ride, not knowing how it would all pan out, and he was pleasantly surprised at how well it got over with the fans.
"None of us knew what was going to happen with our careers, but we knew we were going to be a faction called The Nexus. And for a lot of the WWE Universe, a lot of fans, they loved it. It was a great faction and it was underutilized."
Ryback continued, saying: "(Wade Barrett) was the mental leader. I was the physical leader. I always kind of put it as that. And I felt like that came across very well with the dynamic of the group that we had. And I felt like people got that. I felt like we both played our roles perfectly in that and that's why, a big part of why that all worked, along with everybody else that added their (contributions). (Justin) Gabriel was the high-flier and Gabriel was a huge part of it too, I feel, and everybody was. Everybody had their role."
According to Ryback, it was John Cena who killed the Nexus angle because Cena didn't take too kindly to eight talents getting over on their own. Ryback said "Big Match John" didn't like the new competition and he made sure to nip it right in the bud.
"It was not used properly mainly because of John Cena," said Ryback. "F--king marks, that's your headline for the f--king week. And it's a fact across the board. Everybody knows it and he did not want that to go any further than what it was going to go passed because it was working, because it was eight guys getting over naturally. That's why. God forbid guys get over naturally."
Ryback added, "That's what happens when you get a noncompetitive athlete in the top position who's not used to competing in real life. That's what happens."
You can listen to the entire podcast here.
