The Nexus (professional wrestling)

The Nexus (later renamed The New Nexus in January 2011) was a villainous stable in WWE that competed on Raw from June 7, 2010 to August 22, 2011, originally consisting of eight rookies of NXT season one and shifted their roster several times throughout their existence, with David Otunga being the longest-tenured member. Their initial goal was to obtain WWE contracts for all members, with the exception of original leader Wade Barrett (now known as King Barrett), already guaranteed a WWE contract for having won NXT. After NXT, the group went on to antagonize the Raw roster (and, on two occasions, the SmackDown roster), with then-WWE Champion John Cena as their main focus, who forcibly became a member of The Nexus after losing in a match at Hell in a Cell, but was eventually removed from the group by being fired at Survivor Series after Barrett lost his WWE Championship match to Randy Orton only to be rehired by Barrett. On January 3, 2011, Barrett was exiled from the group anyway after losing a steel cage match against Orton and Sheamus and Punk became the group's new leader, at which point the group was renamed The New Nexus in an attempt to distance itself from The Nexus, becoming a tight-knit group dedicated to one another by faith. Throughout its existence, the group won the WWE Tag Team Championship three times, while Punk won the WWE Championship in his final match with the stable at Money in the Bank.