Former champion believes his faction was partly the "catalyst" for The Shield's success in WWE

The Shield made their WWE debut in November 2012. A decade has passed, and all three members have disrupted the wrestling industry like seldom athletes could. Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, and Jon Moxley are all multi-time world champions. While the latter's success came largely in AEW, his stint with the Stamford-based promotion had its high points too.

Stu Bennett, fka Wade Barrett, recently discussed the debut of Nexus in 2010. The faction, consisting of seven members originally, was an instant hit. However, their momentum was brought to a screeching halt when John Cena's makeshift team vanquished them at The Biggest Party of the Summer that year.

While making an appearance on the Even Stronger podcast, Barrett touched upon the legacy of Nexus in WWE. Recalling the buildup to SummerSlam, during which the team took out John Cena and even former chairman Vince McMahon, among other top stars, he stated that it "changed the trajectory" of his life.

"To have a massive impact on your debut like that. You can’t really ask for too much more as a young and coming star and I hope that helped show the company ‘Hey, there’s a way forward here to debut dominant young groups of stars,'" Barrett said.

The former Intercontinental Champion then added that The Shield did a similar thing two years later and found even better success:

"They [The Shield] knocked it out of the park so maybe we were the catalyst for some of that." [H/T: PWMania]

Presently, Wade Barrett is a color commentator on Monday Night RAW and has retired from in-ring competition since 2016.

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John Cena calls Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns the GOAT

Out of the three aforementioned WWE stars, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns are the world champions of their respective brands. Both of them are at the top of their game. Suffice it to say, though, that The Tribal Chief might just be the single most important name in the wrestling business today.

"In my perspective I think Roman Reigns is the greatest of all time," John Cena stated on the media junket prior to Superstar Spectacle in India.

Roman Reigns has been absent from WWE television for well over a month now. Meanwhile, Seth Rollins recently retained the World Heavyweight Championship against Shinsuke Nakamura in the main event of Payback. Jon Moxley competed in a massive Stadium Stampede match at AEW All In and recently won the International Championship at All Out.