#1: The Nexus
This is a team that had everything going for it. Upon their iconic debut at the end of the June 7, 2010 edition of RAW, the former NXT season one rookies made a strong statement: you made fools out of us, but we’re not joking now.
Their attacks on various WWE talent, ranging from Evan Bourne to John Cena, established The Nexus as a credible threat. For a couple of months, anyway.
What started the downhill spiral for The Nexus was the team’s loss at SummerSlam, which was capped off by John Cena, who had previously been DDT’d on the exposed concrete outside of the ring, eliminating both Justin Gabriel and Wade Barrett to win the match for his team.
From that point on, The Nexus slowly disintegrated until the brand was so watered down that not even CM Punk could revitalize it. While it’s fortunate that WWE caught fire with The Shield, a more successful stable, The Nexus is a textbook example of what poor booking can do to a band of potential upstarts and, by proxy, a gimmick that should have gone places.