Ex-WWE Star Wants To Rekindle John Cena Rivalry
A wrestler from John Cena’s past thinks it would be a “travesty” not to be a part of Cena’s WWE retirement tour.
Over the course of his incredible 23-year WWE main roster career, John Cena made a lot of enemies along the way. During his 2025 retirement, Cena has been able to reconnect with some old rivals in the ring, like CM Punk, Randy Orton, R-Truth, and, soon, at WWE Wrestlepalooza, with Brock Lesnar.
It seems like everybody wants a piece of John Cena before he competes in his final WWE match on December 13th in Washington, DC.
David Otunga was a wrestler for WWE from 2008 to early 2015 before turning into an announcer. His most notable run in WWE was part of the Nexus group that debuted on the main roster in June 2010 when they brutally attacked Cena and others.
During his WWE run, Otunga was a two-time Tag Team Champion and even held the titles with John Cena for one day.
In the main event of SummerSlam 2010, John Cena led a team of WWE superstars over The Nexus in a 7-on-7 tag team match. The result upset many people because it would have made more sense for The Nexus to win, giving them positive momentum. It has been confirmed by multiple people in the match that Cena felt his team shouldn’t lose, so Vince McMahon changed what was the original finish.
John Cena Cut The Legs Out Of The Nexus
The storyline between Cena and The Nexus, which was led by Wade Barrett, continued for a few more months, but they lost momentum and eventually faded away.
While speaking with the creatively named The F Y’all Podcast, David Otunga spoke about what it was like for The Nexus dealing with Cena.
“We were the hottest thing running, and they knew that, and then it was so bad. The SummerSlam thing, that was a disaster. We should have won that. That completely cut the legs out from under us. Everybody agreed, but one person – John Cena.”
In Otunga’s opinion, a return for The Nexus needs to happen.
“I think it’s a travesty if he retires without the Nexus coming back to whoop his ass. I think that’s what should happen. All of a sudden, who’s coming through the crowd? Who pops up on the ring? Boom, it’s payback. Here’s your receipt. Our receipt.”
The only wrestler from The Nexus that is under contract to WWE is Wade Barrett, who is a part of the commentary team. The others in the group were David Otunga, Heath Slater, Justin Gabriel, Skip Sheffield (aka Ryback), Darren Young, and Michael Tarver. Most of them likely could return to WWE if asked, but a return of The Nexus seems unlikely at this point.