Former WWE Superstar Heath Slater has revealed a wild and unexpected backstage moment involving John Cena, frustration, and… foam pool noodles.
During an exclusive interview with Kenny McIntosh of Inside The Ropes, Slater looked back on his time in the controversial Nexus faction, specifically a bizarre incident at a WWE live event in 2010 that led to an irate reaction from Cena.
The moment took place during a steel cage match, where The Nexus was booked to interfere and unleash a brutal beatdown on Cena. However, the chaos quickly turned comedic thanks to a questionable creative decision involving the babyfaces.
“Funny story on that,” Slater recalled. “One time, there was a live event. John Cena was working somebody. It was a cage match. We all ran down, jumped the cage, got in, let the guys in and we beat the s—t out of Cena.”
That’s when things took a strange turn.
“Next thing you know, Santino, Morrison, Kofi – all the babyfaces run out, but they have foam pool noodles. They’re running down and they’re just in the ring hitting us with them and we’re selling it. But then we see it and we start fighting back, like, what the hell?”
Needless to say, Cena was not amused.
“We get in the back and Cena is so mad, he picks up this red stool and overhand throws it on the ground and shatters it. And he’s like, ‘Guys, what the f—k? You guys are coming in here while we’re trying to build this group up, make them killers and everything, and you’re fighting with pool noodles?’”
According to Slater, Cena’s fury wasn’t about ego – it was about protecting the credibility of The Nexus, a group that had been carefully built as a dangerous and dominant heel faction.
“He went off on them trying to protect us, to where I just was like, Cena is invested a little bit, so that’s kind of cool,” Slater added. “But yeah, that was just one time where it was like, we were supposed to be killers. Don’t treat us like we’re not killers… They came down with pool noodles just swinging on us. We were just like, what the hell are you doing?”
Despite the absurdity of the situation, the story offers a glimpse into just how seriously Cena took the art of storytelling in WWE – even on untelevised live events.
Stay tuned to PWMania.com for more.
