It took several weeks, but, according to F4WOnline.com’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, word is finally seeping out that the original Nexus invasion angle was almost completely unformatted, with the eight NXT rookies told to improvise their spots to make the attack on John Cena and the WWE employees look especially believable.
The only direction they were given was to take out the ringside employees and to make the attack look different than the standard pro wrestling beatdown. It is not clear, however, that the employees knew of the plans, and the Observer report notes that Justin Roberts, in particular, was apparently unaware he was going to be ‘attacked’ and simply had to roll with the action.
The lack of planning (and lack of clarification about WWE’s “rules” for PG broadcast) would explain why Bryan “Daniel Bryan” Danielson ended up going against the WWE grain with the “tie choke” on Roberts and spitting on John Cena; it also explains why John Cena had to blatantly tell Heath Slater to halt his attempt to apply a choke with the ring ropes.
As far as Bryan’s firing goes, the word going around now suggests that he did not receive prior approval to spit on Cena, although Cena’s public comments make it clear that he did not want the wrestler fired over the issue.