The Nexus (later renamed The New Nexus in January 2011) was a villainous professional wrestling stable in WWE that competed on the Raw brand 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 14-month existence, with David Otunga being the only member to serve the group throughout the entirety of its existence. Their initial goal was to obtain WWE contracts for all members, with the exception of original leader Wade Barrett, who already had a WWE contract for winning the first season of 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 a match at Hell in a Cell thanks to outside interference. However, Cena 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 three weeks later, but only because Otunga, who should have been named new leader instead of CM Punk, gave Barrett an ultimatum-- that either Barrett rehire Cena or he would be out of the group. On the January 3, 2011 edition of Raw, Barrett was ultimately exiled from the group after losing a triple threat steel cage match against Orton and King Sheamus to determine the number one contender for the WWE Championship as well as Barrett's leadership, which Barrett lost in favor of Punk after losing a chairs match at TLC: Tables Ladders & Chairs. Punk, who ended up costing Barrett the match, officially became the new leader, at which point the stable 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. The group won the WWE Tag Team Championship three times-- two of which under Barrett's leadership-- while Punk won the WWE Championship in his final match with the stable at Money in the Bank.
Concept
On the February 2, 2010 edition of ECW, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon announced that NXT would replace ECW on Syfy when the latter ends its run on February 16, describing NXT as "the next evolution of WWE television history." The concept of the stable was derived from each original member of them being a contestant on the first season of the NXT program, which composed at the time of the talent from WWE's developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling. The series ran them through a competition to become WWE's next breakout star with the help of mentors from WWE's Raw and SmackDown brands. On the June 1, 2010 edition of NXT, Barrett was declared the winner over Otunga and — as a result — was awarded a WWE contract and a championship match at a WWE pay-per-view of his choosing (he ultimately chose Night of Champions), while the others were left without a job.