On Raw, John Cena helped Wade Barrett earn a title shot against Randy Orton at Bragging Rights.
Poster boy forced to join Nexus on Raw
On Raw, John Cena helped Wade Barrett earn a title shot against Randy Orton at Bragging Rights.
Just 24 hours on from a controversial defeat at Hell in a Cell, WWE's poster boy John Cena suffered the consequences and was forced to join The Nexus on Monday Night Raw.
Being a man of his word, Cena reluctantly joined Barrett and The Nexus in the ring, donned one of their trademark armbands and read a statement describing himself as an official member of the group.
After receiving immense heat from the crowd, Barrett permitted Cena to choose a partner in an upcoming tag team match against Mark Henry and Evan Bourne. The Nexus' newest member chose Michael Tarver.
Cena may have been forced to join The Nexus, but he wouldn't be forced to compete - at least not to his full potential. When the two faced off against The World's Strongest Man and high-flyer Evan Bourne, it was evident to Tarver and the fans that Cena was holding back.
In fact, when Tarver attempted to tag Cena in, he stepped down from the ring and chose to sign autographs at ringside, a move which permitted Henry to prevail for his team with The World's Strongest Slam.
After allowing his tag team opponents to win, Cena informed his partner and his new Nexus cohorts, that he plans on doing just one thing: Destroying the group from within. He began by dismantling Tarver in the middle of the ring.
Cena struck Tarver in the head with a microphone and then slammed him on the steel ring steps on two separate occasions. As the fans chanted Cena's name, he then went after Tarver's knee and eventually applied the STF.
Not tolerated
Cena's actions, however, would not be tolerated as Raw's anonymous General Manager emailed, informing Cena that he must live up to his own stipulations. Having lost to Barrett at Hell in a Cell, Cena must obey Barrett's orders. Should he choose to rebel, the GM informed him that his WWE contract would be terminated.
Later in the evening, The GM announced a huge main event in the form of a 20-Man Battle Royal in a bid to determine the Number One contender to the WWE Championship at WWE Bragging Rights.
Having had enough of Edge's temper tantrums, the GM then stated that Edge would not be included in the Battle Royal. The Rated-R Superstar demanded to know why, and the GM told him it was because he was being traded to SmackDown!
And so to the main event, where despite exceedingly long odds, Englishman Wade Barrett emerged victorious in the 20-Man Battle Royal to emerge as the Number One contender to the WWE Championship.
The victory did not come without assistance however. Despite his reluctance, The Nexus' newest disciple, Cena, assisted the group's leader on a number of occasions throughout the match.
Finally, with Barrett, Cena and Sheamus remaining, Cena tossed the Irishman over the rope. Barrett then instructed Cena to step over the top rope, which The Nexus' newest member reluctantly did in order to prevent being fired.
You can still order repeats of WWE's Hell in a Cell event, on Sky Box Office (channel 743) and Sky Box Office HD (channel 753).
Next week, funnyman Danny McBride will be the guest star of Raw, which emanates live from Seattle, next Monday Night at 2am on Sky Sports 3.
