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 WWE NXT season one and shifted their roster several times throughout their 14-month 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, 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 WWE Hell in a Cell 2010, but was eventually removed from the group by being fired at WWE Survivor Series 2010 after Barrett lost his WWE Championship match to Randy Orton only to be rehired by Barrett, but that was only because Otunga threatened to exile him as leader if he didn't. On January 3, 2011, Barrett was exiled from the group anyway after losing a steel cage match against Orton and Sheamus and CM 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 WWE Money in the Bank 2011.
Members
- Wade Barrett - June 7, 2010 to January 3, 2011 - Original leader of The Nexus.
- Daniel Bryan - June 7, 2010 to June 11, 2010
- Darren Young - June 7, 2010 to August 16, 2010
- Skip Sheffield - June 7, 2010 to seeAugust 22, 2011 - Suffered an ankle injury at a live event in Hawaii in August 2010, but never left the stable. However, he was never mentioned as member of The New Nexus.
- Michael Tarver - June 7, 2010 to October 4, 2010
- Justin Gabriel - June 7, 2010 to January 10, 2011
- Heath Slater - June 7, 2010 to January 10, 2011
- David Otunga - June 7, 2010 to August 22, 2011
- John Cena - October 3, 2010 to November 21, 2010 - Left the stable after he was "fired" and forced to "retire" after Wade Barrett lost his WWE Championship match to Randy Orton at Survivor Series.
- Husky Harris - October 25, 2010 to January 31, 2011
- Michael McGillicutty - October 25, 2010 to August 22, 2011
- CM Punk - December 27, 2010 to July 17, 2011 - Became the leader of The New Nexus in January 2011 after Wade Barrett lost a triple-threat steel cage match to Randy Orton and Sheamus.
- Mason Ryan - January 17, 2011 to June 27, 2011