Wade Barrett and Daniel Bryan were members of Nexus
Wade Barrett opens up on the real story of Daniel Bryan getting fired after Nexus breakout
It was on June 7th, 2010, that WWE introduced fans to one of the most dangerous heel factions in the form of The Nexus.
Led by Wade Barrett, the group of Daniel Bryan, Darren Young, David Otunga, Heath Slater, Justin Gabriel, Michael Tarver and Skip Sheffield announced themselves in style on an episode of Monday Night Raw, interrupting an ongoing match between John Cena and CM Punk.
The group went on to destroy Cena, while also attacking everyone nearby, including Punk, the referee, commentator Jerry Lawler, tearing apart the ring in the process.
During the demolition, Bryan happened to spit on Cena, while also choking ring announcer Justin Roberts with a tie.
These actions did not go down too well and as a result, WWE fired Bryan three days after the incident.
Barrett, speaking on Inside The Ropes, claimed that Bryan’s firing came as a surprise as their actions on debut had been well-received.
“We were surprised when they fired Daniel Bryan. We only found out through Twitter because we came to the back after Raw everyone shook our hands, nobody said a word to Daniel Bryan, nobody said a thing.”
Barrett also touched on the fact that Bryan hadn’t gone through the WWE developmental. Something the rest of his Nexus partners had been through and as a result, had different training.
The former Nexus leader also added that WWE chairman Vince McMahon ‘hated‘ spitting on opponents and choking during wrestling, something which was drilled into every wrestler that went through the WWE developmental, something that Bryan hadn’t done.
Barrett also has claimed that one of WWE’s main sponsors at the time were unimpressed by what Bryan had done on the night of The Nexus’ introduction and demanded that McMahon take action.
“It was a silly thing to fire him for, but I believe one of the main sponsors of WWE made a complaint that they didn’t like how horrific it was and how lowdown disgusting it was. The only way Vince could respond to that was to fire Daniel Bryan for it.”
Bryan’s release was written as part of a storyline, with him getting thrown out of Nexus for showing remorse for his actions. He would return a few months later at SummerSlam. Bryan helped Team WWE beat The Nexus in a seven-on-seven elimination tag team match.
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