Falls Count Anywhere

10/11/2010

...and he was a stuffed toy at Burger King.

How big a deal?

A make or break deal, really.

The start of it all was Hell in the Cell, a PPV which looks like it didn't do very good numbers, which isn’t odd because the build-up wasn’t great and the gimmick doesn’t draw when it’s on its own. The match that got the most attention, and was probably the best and most heated, was Wade Barrett vs. John Cena.

NEXUS couldn’t interfere. If Barrett lost, NEXUS would break-up. If Cena lost, then he’d join NEXUS. Interference from Husky Harris (and what a stupid name that is!) and Michael McGillacutty gave Barrett the win, and while they are NXT competitors from season 2 and not actually NEXUS members, it was allowed to stand.

That led to Cena coming out on Monday as the newest member of NEXUS, to pretty good heat. Wade Barrett did some strong talking on the mic, putting down Otunga for bringing out the NEXUS guys and saying that neither of the guys who interfered were officially a part of NEXUS. I guess this makes them Associate Members like Lex Lugar was for the Four Horsemen in 1986 and early 87. Otunga is probably being pulled from the group, but his turn is being slow-played.

They brought out Cena and had him put on the armband, which got great heat and there were kids in the crowd who looked like they’d just seen their Mom kissing Hitler. They were just so sad.

They then set up a tag match with Cena and Tarver vs. Mark Henry and Evan Bourne. Cena fought and kept refusing to tag Tarver. He left to sign autographs at ringside when Tarver finally tagged in. Henry got the win, and then Cena took the mic and said that he was bringing NEXUS down from the inside, but then the GM-puter said that Cena had to follow Barrett’s orders or he’d be fired. That was a nice touch. Cena then helped out later.

Careful... the kids aren't exactly smart marks...

The smart thing here is that Cena has to play along or be fired, so they have a lot to play with, but there’s way more here that is both potentially dangerous and explosive. What if the crowd starts to think that Cena is actually a heel and the group that they really need Cena to draw with, the younger viewers and women, turn away from the product? He’s a giant Merch seller and he attracts a lot of those demographics, specifically to house shows.

I’m thinking they’ll be smarter than that and not exactly turn him unless they have someone to step up and bring in those fans. To me, the only way they really turn Cena all the way is if they get Jeff Hardy back or Randy Orton really connects. I don’t see it happening.

This is an old angle, according to this week’s Observer. It used to be an angle they’d do in Roller Derby where they’d have a guy traded to his old team's rivals and they’d make his life hell until he either snapped or they’d come up with a challenge where the leader of the New Team and the traded guy would have a one-on-one skate-off.

It’s a smart move that brings with it a lot of new face heat. The one thing is that the WWE has been doing traditional angles that they then twist to a new idea, which could lead to a fully heel Cena, but again, that’s sort of shooting themselves in the wallet.

The thing that needs to happen is that NEXUS needs to play out, possibly ending at WrestleMania. Winnowing down the number of guys, dropping one every few months or replacing an original member with one of the NXT Season 2 guys is a good idea, perhaps leading to a face NEXUS group, perhaps led by Cena, facing off with a Heel NEXUS group, led by Barrett. That would be an excellent concept and that would be a worthy part of WrestleMania.

All in all, it’s still interesting, though if they lose Cena as a face, they are in serious trouble. They could also bring a big audience if they give Cena a bit more edge and that could help him win some more of the 18-35 year old males. We’ll see.

And that’s my column!

Chris Garcia