Trivia / The Nexus

• Breakup Breakout:
  • Daniel Bryan, CM Punk and Bray Wyatt (The repackaged Husky Harris) are by far the most successful alumni of the Nexus/New Nexus, with none of the Corre even coming close to matching them. Notably, if one goes back and watches CM Punk's 2011 "Best In The World" run, he starts off wearing the Nexus arm band and t-shirts before quietly abandoning both without any mention as he became the talk of the industry following his "Pipe Bomb" promo.
  • Michael McGillicutty and Skip Sheffield saw some mild success after being repackaged as Curtis Axel and Ryback respectively.
• Follow the Leader:
  • In-Kayfabe example - the NXT Season 2 "Rookies" (minus the season's winner, Kaval) decided to stage their own riot on the final episode of their season, which would presumably have led to a similar stable. Unfortunately, their riot was a terrible version of the original NXT Riot, and the idea was quietly shelved. Two of the more promising Season 2 rookies, Michael McGillicutty and Husky Harris (the sons of "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig and Mike "IRS" Rotuna, respectively), have since joined Nexus proper.
  • Shortly after the Nexus Riot, TNA have had the debuting ECW Originals (a.k.a. EV 2.0) faction randomly attack TNA wrestlers to end a show; and 6 (7 if you count Ric Flair) existing members of the TNA roster create the group Fourtune, who have a similar MO to Nexus.
• Real Life Writes the Plot:
  • Daniel Bryan's firing necessitated a kayfabe explanation, and when Barrett finally got the chance, he explained that when WWE officials asked the Nexus to apologize for the NXT Riot and other subsequent actions, Bryan was the only one who showed remorse - and was kicked out of the group for it.
  • Michael Tarver was expelled from The Nexus in kayfabe after being defeated by John Cena, but was really moved out of the group due to injuries.
• Real Song Theme Tune:
  • The Nexus/New Nexus used a modified version of "We Are One" by 12 Stones.
  • CM Punk retained "This Fire Burns" by Killswitch Engage as his solo theme.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Everyone was left wondering how the Nexus angle would have progressed with Bryan's presence. On the plus side, it allowed Bryan to return to the indies on a temporary tour of duty before being hired back by WWE, giving many of the promotions he was working for an extra promotional boost (and giving him a chance to tell fans to give TV-PG a chance, as well as asking fans to support the indies).
  • The dynamic between Wade Barrett and David Otunga, with Otunga trying to usurp leadership and undermine Barrett, feels like as if it would've worked much better with Daniel Bryan involved as neither Barrett nor Otunga seem as if they have any business turning face. Daniel Bryan as a Nexus member in general is another example, as he was fired within a week of the stable forming and returned as an anti-Nexus WWE babyface.

---