Another Year, Another Nexus

I'm not against reusing old angles. After a while, it should pretty much be expected that old angles will be revived with little variations to make it something different. Those variations can possibly even make the new angles even better than the old ones. What I am not liking with current WWE events is the fact that they have not even waited a good enough period of time before reusing an old angle. I talked about pacing just yesterday. The WWE didn't pace this out very well.

I am, of course, talking about the WWE's decision to have guys from NXT randomly show up and go on a rampage. That's Nexus, the big summer storyline from 2010. It continued into 2011, with CM Punk leading a watered-down version on Raw and Wade Barrett leading his own faction on Smackdown. 2010, 2011, and now 2012. Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns have arrived. And with a huge impact? That's how the WWE will sell it. If it wasn't pretty much a weaker version of what happened in 2010, I would care more. I know a lot of wrestling fans love some of these guys. I don't judge wrestlers by how they were in the independent circuit or development. If I am going to like these guys, it is going to be based off their work on the main roster. They are already coming in with some hype and in a big storyline, so that should benefit them with connecting with some fans out there.

One thing that the Nexus angle lacked that a lot of fans were expecting was a leader from the main roster. Who was behind the attacks? It turned out Nexus was in it for themselves. This time around, the WWE might have an actual leader. It would be too easy for CM Punk to take credit for this. Paul Heyman? Brad Maddox will likely be it. Why not? He has issues with Ryback. Ryback has been the chief target of the NXT thugs. If the WWE did try to run the exact same angle as 2010, it would look stupid. Three rogues from NXT? Three? Nexus had more than double that amount during their prime, not to mention forcing John Cena to join. Who would buy three guys as that kind of threat as Nexus? No, the best way to go with these guys would be to develop them with a leader.

As I said before, pacing counts. Had the WWE tried another NXT/Nexus storyline in 5 years, that would be one thing. But they have done this kind of thing every year since it started in 2010 now. I have pointed out many times that the Nexus angle was successful in bringing in good ratings for Raw in the summer of 2010, so it should not be too surprising for them to want to go to that again when their ratings need a boost. How many more tricks do they have left?