Jump The Shark Moments

[The CyNick]

Originally Posted by Vito Cruz I feel like the Nexus was the biggest "Jumping the Shark" moment for me in recent history. My interest in general just dropped like a stone by the time that whole debacle of a storyline had finished. They took one of the most unique, hottest angles they've ever done and then just whiffed on the execution. Most people point to SummerSlam as the point that the angle lost all credibility (and by most accounts - including Cena himself, the Nexus should have gone over). But even in spite of that they still had numerous opportunities to salvage the storyline and botched it on each occasion. There is no reason whatsoever that Wade Barrett vs. John Cena in a Title vs. Career match could not have ended up being the main event of WrestleMania 27. The outcome may be obvious as all hell, but who cares? It would have been the logical ending after months of a well-built story where Cena has had to act against his will serving Nexus for months. AND if they were dead set on doing Rock/Cena at WM28, you can still quite easily plant those seeds the next night on Raw. But at least in this scenario you'd have wound up with Barrett as a legitimate, credible main eventer. Instead not a single member of Nexus got anywhere as a result of being in the group, which means it was a fucking waste.

I think the mistake they made with that angle was targeting Cena. None of those guys were ready to headline, but they were thrusted in a main event angle because it was against Cena. I think it would have been more effective as an upper mid card angle and let the guys develop from there.

If you compare that to The Shield, which was essentially the same idea (a group of brand new guys), you can see how The Shield was slowly elevated to the main event and it was far more effective. Plus Nexus was such a cluster with like 8 guys or whatever. Nobody could really stand out. Should have been a 4 or 5 person group from jump.

That said, many of those Nexus guys are still around. So in the long run, they were not hurt by what happened with Cena.

The idea that Barrett was ready to take the ball with Cena at WM27 is utterly absurd. The guy isn't even ready to headline NOW and its 5 years later.

[Evil Vito]

Originally Posted by The CyNick The idea that Barrett was ready to take the ball with Cena at WM27 is utterly absurd. The guy isn't even ready to headline NOW and its 5 years later.

Oh bullshit. The man could cut a promo like nobody's business from the second he walked into a WWE ring. And in the ring, he was quite good. WWE wouldn't have been throwing him in main events against Cena and Orton for much of fall 2010 if they didn't think he could handle the spot. If WWE wanted to have the big Cena/Barrett blowoff at WrestleMania 27, it could have easily been done and would have been believable. And of course he doesn't seem like he can headline now...because they've given him precisely nothing to work with in that time.

His body betrayed him with injuries on a few occasions but beyond that they've never treated him as anything less than a midcarder. They stuck the KOTR gimmick on him and then immediately had him doing clean jobs to everybody.

But anyway...I don't think there was any way to have Nexus come in and go on a tear WITHOUT getting Cena involved. Why would Cena just sit back and allow a group to come in and destroy Raw without him intervening? The problem I feel was just rushing things too quickly. Once he got "fired" after Survivor Series he was back in a freaking week and single-handedly killed every member of the group in less than a month. And really once he got "fired" they booked themselves into a corner because they were never going to willingly keep him off TV, so they had no choice but to wrap things up quickly.

Instead had they just had Cena bite the bullet and unwittingly help Barrett win the belt over Orton at Survivor Series, they could have put the seeds in motion for the eventual WM 27 match and allowed the angle to work itself out naturally over the coming months. Cena would keep doing Nexus' bidding to the point where his friends (other faces) continually question his integrity, but Cena never goes full heel because you know his job is on the line and that he really has no choice.

Then at the Rumble he can have his proper "screw this Nexus bullshit" moment, and turn on his brethren during the Rumble match itself. Cena wins the thing and Barrett can no longer fire him since the Rumble winner is contractually guaranteed a title match at Mania. Hell during the time between the Rumble and Mania you can end up having Cena destroy the Nexus one by one like Orton wound up doing in the build to his Punk match. At least then it's not rushed and building to a big moment. And then of course Cena gets the win, Barrett is dethroned, and you go from there.

You really think people wouldn't have preferred a long-term, well-built program like that to Cena vs. Miz, which featured Miz being a complete afterthought in the whole build despite being the fucking CHAMPION? I loved the Miz at that time and even I thought that build was completely rotten, and a big part of the reason WM27 was completely forgettable.

Oh and as for the whole "they're still employed so Cena didn't hurt them" bit, that's not the point. It's not that many of them were hurt by being part of Nexus...it's that absolutely any of them could have been debuted at a later date in the gimmicks they're in now and be in the same exact spot. Nobody looks at any of them and says "oh yeah, that guy was a part of the Nexus" because the Nexus angle was a complete flop.

[The CyNick]

Originally Posted by Vito Cruz Oh bullshit. The man could cut a promo like nobody's business from the second he walked into a WWE ring. And in the ring, he was quite good. WWE wouldn't have been throwing him in main events against Cena and Orton for much of fall 2010 if they didn't think he could handle the spot. If WWE wanted to have the big Cena/Barrett blowoff at WrestleMania 27, it could have easily been done and would have been believable. And of course he doesn't seem like he can headline now...because they've given him precisely nothing to work with in that time. His body betrayed him with injuries on a few occasions but beyond that they've never treated him as anything less than a midcarder. They stuck the KOTR gimmick on him and then immediately had him doing clean jobs to everybody. But anyway...I don't think there was any way to have Nexus come in and go on a tear WITHOUT getting Cena involved. Why would Cena just sit back and allow a group to come in and destroy Raw without him intervening? The problem I feel was just rushing things too quickly. Once he got "fired" after Survivor Series he was back in a freaking week and single-handedly killed every member of the group in less than a month. And really once he got "fired" they booked themselves into a corner because they were never going to willingly keep him off TV, so they had no choice but to wrap things up quickly. Instead had they just had Cena bite the bullet and unwittingly help Barrett win the belt over Orton at Survivor Series, they could have put the seeds in motion for the eventual WM 27 match and allowed the angle to work itself out naturally over the coming months. Cena would keep doing Nexus' bidding to the point where his friends (other faces) continually question his integrity, but Cena never goes full heel because you know his job is on the line and that he really has no choice. Then at the Rumble he can have his proper "screw this Nexus bullshit" moment, and turn on his brethren during the Rumble match itself. Cena wins the thing and Barrett can no longer fire him since the Rumble winner is contractually guaranteed a title match at Mania. Hell during the time between the Rumble and Mania you can end up having Cena destroy the Nexus one by one like Orton wound up doing in the build to his Punk match. At least then it's not rushed and building to a big moment. And then of course Cena gets the win, Barrett is dethroned, and you go from there. You really think people wouldn't have preferred a long-term, well-built program like that to Cena vs. Miz, which featured Miz being a complete afterthought in the whole build despite being the fucking CHAMPION? I loved the Miz at that time and even I thought that build was completely rotten, and a big part of the reason WM27 was completely forgettable. Oh and as for the whole "they're still employed so Cena didn't hurt them" bit, that's not the point. It's not that many of them were hurt by being part of Nexus...it's that absolutely any of them could have been debuted at a later date in the gimmicks they're in now and be in the same exact spot. Nobody looks at any of them and says "oh yeah, that guy was a part of the Nexus" because the Nexus angle was a complete flop.

I like the way you laid out the storyline, and I agree the booking painted them in a corner when they fired Cena. The fact is you can't have Cena off TV for extended periods of time, so once they pulled that trigger, Cena had to win. But yeah they could have timed things better.

For me watching as a fan, not someone who is biased towards Barrett, I never felt like he clicked as a top guy. There was something missing in his promos and his work. He always felt like a guy who was being shoved down our throats way before he was ready. It wasn't good enough to be a headliner at Mania. Miz was far superior, even though that angle between Cena and Miz ended up being terrible. However, it was always just meant to be a backdrop to kickoff Cena-Rock, which was obviously wildly successful.

Going back to Barrett. Imagine if Seth Rollins was pushed to main event Mania 6 months after he debuted. He would have failed because he wasn't ready. Barrett did what he could, but it wasn't enough. It's a lot to ask a guy to headline Mania that quickly. A select few could do it, Barrett wasn't one of them. I say this about a number of guys, but even today, watch his work. He's not ready to headline. He belongs exactly where he is.

[Simple Fan]

Originally Posted by The CyNick The idea that Barrett was ready to take the ball with Cena at WM27 is utterly absurd. The guy isn't even ready to headline NOW and its 5 years later.

And Reigns is? Barrett could have headlined Mania 27, won and be a top star right now but he's been up and down the card since then.

[The CyNick]

Originally Posted by Simple Fan And Reigns is? Barrett could have headlined Mania 27, won and be a top star right now but he's been up and down the card since then.

Reigns is more polished in the ring. Plus it's a different thing headlining as a heel vs headlining as a babyface.

[Maluco]

I thought "jump the shark" was more something ludicrous or over the top that signalled the end of a particular show?

To stick with that definition, I will go with Warrior/Hogan in WCW and the infamous appearing in mirror. Not only was it sad and weird, but that fact that Hogan, fans and commentators could see Warrior but Bischoff couldn't, was baffling and showed where their writing was going at the time...

[The CyNick]

Originally Posted by Maluco I thought "jump the shark" was more something ludicrous or over the top that signalled the end of a particular show? To stick with that definition, I will go with Warrior/Hogan in WCW and the infamous appearing in mirror. Not only was it sad and weird, but that fact that Hogan, fans and commentators could see Warrior but Bischoff couldn't, was baffling and showed where their writing was going at the time...

I hated that too, but to play devils advocate that kind of stuff is done in movies and nobody bats an eye