Fred Rosser: Why I Think The WWE Nexus Documentary Was Scrapped

The Nexus’ debut in 2010 is regarded as one of the greatest moments in WWE history, when the eight ‘rookies’ from NXT brutalised John Cena and destroyed everything in sight on an episode of RAW.

To commemorate over 10 years since the group’s debut, WWE announced an upcoming WWE: Untold Nexus documentary was in production, but the project was later shelved, and during an appearance on My2Cents podcast, former Nexus Member Fred Rosser (fka Darren Young) has some reasons why WWE could have pulled the plug:

"One of the reasons why, it could have been Daniel Bryan going to AEW, or it could have been, last May, me wearing my New Japan track jacket on the set of the filming that they invited me to,” started Rosser. “I didn't call WWE back, they called me back to be part of this documentary and I said 'sure, no problem.' I showed up and planned it out because I knew they were going to ask me to take my jacket off. I wore it proudly and as soon as we started filming - it's almost like you saying, 'do you mind if you take off your New Japan compression shirt,' at the time is was my track jacket. I would have said, 'I worked very hard for this New Japan track jacket and you guys just inducted Jushin Liger into the WWE Hall of Fame. If this documentary is supposed to be uncut and uncensored, Nexus style, then let me be me’.

“Ten-plus years later, I'm not some washed up wrestler. I'm still active and active with New Japan and very proud of it. I remember the producer saying, ‘No problem, you sold me on it.' I also told him that I talked to John Laurinaitis weeks before we did the Nexus interview. He was checking up on me because he originally hired me in 2009. I told him I was going well, with New Japan and making moves, he was the guy that talked to me about possibly doing a collaboration. This was last year. Who knows what's going to happen as we speak because the landscape of pro wrestling is so major.”

The Nexus angle unfortunately, was badly handled by WWE, and all the momentum from their debut soon fizzled out. When asked as to what he spoke about on the documentary, Rosser said the following:

"Pretty much the interview talked about the history of the original NXT, all the ups and downs we went through with that, doing Nexus, me not being comfortable with myself because I wasn't out to the world, so I wasn't comfortable with myself. My potential with the Nexus wasn't any good because I wasn't comfortable. Now, ten-plus years later, I'm so confident and happy with the moves we've made. I use that platform that I built with the original NXT and Nexus and use it today, making move with New Japan.

“I talked about how the NXT originally was an obstacle course, a game show, and I hated it. You had guys juggling. Just imagine Tommaso Ciampa being in an obstacle (course), have to juggle and do these wacky obstacles and you fail. No one is going to take you seriously. It took me that much longer to be taken seriously. As we speak, 19-plus years in the business. Finally, I'm starting to get recognition. I didn't have it with the Nexus because I wasn't comfortable. I pretty much talked about my journey, my journey in WWE, my best friend was Heath Slater. At the time, I didn't like Justin Gabriel [PJ Black] because he was very picky and metrosexual. All those guys, we still stay in contact through a text thread. Everyone still loves one another. Nothing I say is off limits. I can plan these interviews, but I work better by speaking from the heart."

Several other WWE documentaries were also shelved in recent years with little to no explanation, such as planned features on Lex Luger, and Vladimir the super-fan.

H/T: Fightful