Much like everything in the world, decisions and choices govern how people behave. With each, there is a motive and a deep reasoning behind it. This applies to sport as well. Moves are made that require explanations. Lately, there has been one unanswered question: Why did John Cena turn heel?
That very question was answered this past Monday on Raw in Brussels, Belguim. It was quite an emotional explanation.
In his first appearance since turning heel in shocking fashion, Cena showed up live on Raw at a raucous crowd in Brussels on Monday night.
The WWE legend came out to the same theme music and wore the same jean shorts but his demeanour was completely different. Greeted by deafening boos, Cena slowly walked to the ring before eventually picking up the microphone and addressing the audience.
The crowd proceeded to erupt with chants of, "F*** you Cena!" and "Shut the f*** up!" leading to Netflix censoring the expletives on their live broadcast.
Calling out the WWE fans who cheered his name for so many years, the 47-year-old former Make-A-Wish machine said he had been, "the victim of an abusive relationship" for 25 years and was now breaking up with the supporters.
"For 25 years, I’ve been a victim of an abusive relationship," Cena said. "All you do is be hurtful, and bully me into being your puppet, and expecting me to do it with a smile on my face. No more! I am not a babyface. I am not a heel. I am a human being. You have been awful to me… I’m breaking up with every single person whether you like me or not, you’re dumped. I don’t care about you and you don’t matter."
Upon leaving, Cena received ear-shattering jeers. The segment was closed out by veteran commentator, Michael Cole, who spoke his piece on Cena's antics and called him an "irrational pr**k" in a furious response.
To truly appreciate the 22-minutes of beauty that Cena gifted us last Monday, you have to watch his promo several times. As Roman Reigns said, "There are levels to this." Cena's speech can be looked at from different perspectives and each time you will get a different impression.
As Cena led us through this journey, it's quite clear that Cena didn't just turn heel at Elimination Chamber 2025. Cena has always been a heel. Everything he did until hitting Cody with the Jeff Jarrett-patented "nutslap" was a lie. Every time he smiled, every time he catered to his fans, to the audience, to the kids, he was lying. He did everything he had to do to get to the top and to stay there but psychologically, it was taking a toll. Sure, you can argue that the toll was paid in millions of dollars but that's not the point here. Listen to any professional wrestler (especially those who commented on Cena's promo) and they will all agree: dealing with the fans is not easy, regardless of how successful you are.
"You claim to support me," Cena said to the "Let's go Cena! people" but, instead, "all you ever do is steal from me. You steal my personal moments. You steal my time. You've made me a freaking toy. I'm an object to you." This was the turning point. Like all master performers, Cena led us one way with the whining at the beginning, then swerved and threw us off balance.
Something that stood out was Cena's mention of how he had to change to please fans but it was never enough. You can interpret that any way you want but it's a beautiful retcon of the history of John Cena. Rapper Cena was cool but that wasn't enough. The company wanted him to change and he did; but he isn't blaming former WWE CEO, Vince McMahon; he blames fans. When he changed, he started "winning, and winning, and winning" as he said, but fans complained again.
Let's take a look at some significant moments from Cena's history. At ECW One Night Stand 2006, Cena loses the WWE Championship to Rob van Dam. At Money in the Bank 2011, John Cena (c.) vs. CM Punk for the WWE title. Punk wins the title and kayfabe leaves the company, leading to a 434 days-long championship reign. At SummerSlam 2013, Cena loses the WWE Championship to Daniel Bryan (admittedly, Cena had to take time off due to injury). At SummerSlam 2014, Cena loses the World Heavyweight Championship to Brock Lesnar during a squash match. In 2016, Cena puts over the newly-signed AJ Styles in a series of matches, including (yet another) loss at SummerSlam for the WWE title.
Sure, you could argue that for any one of these moments, there were countless others where Cena hugged the spotlight and "buried" other talents. Let's look at his WrestleMania record, then. Cena's time at the top of WWE lasted roughly between 2005 and 2015/2016. Over his entire career, he only main evented WrestleMania five times (not counting the upcoming match with Cody Rhodes), a surprising statistic. Of those, he won three times and lost twice, at WrestleMania XXVII, against The Miz, and at WrestleMania XXVIII, against The Rock.
Fast-forward in time and the next phase of John Cena's career was about giving, as he said in his promo. He put over every talent he was asked to; got squashed by The Undertaker at WrestleMania and built a newfound positive reputation among the fandom. However, while the fans may have been happy to see him, he was clearly not. The definition of toxic relationship Cena came up with to describe his connection with the WWE universe was a brilliant one. Even when he finally turned heel - giving the fans what they had been asking for years - they still had demands. Change your music. Change your gear. The hell with that, Cena said. That's my voice over that theme song. This is my style. You dress like me, I don't dress like you (want me to).
Those who expected Cena to be at least a little uncomfortable in his first time playing the bad guy got disappointed during Raw from Brussels. There was not an ounce of hesitation in John's voice or mannerism. The Cena we saw until now was a character, the one we see now, who almost left the ring in Brussels before beginning to speak, is the real one. Regardless of if this is true or not, that's the story Cena is selling, and I'm buying it wholeheartedly. This is when pro wrestling works its magic: blending truth and fiction to let us suspend our disbelief.
I completely understand where Cena is coming from. This is from a personal and workplace perspective. I always tend to change certain aspects of myself to please others. However, it's never enough. I tend to get irritated and angry when I don't get any recognition for something I've done or tried. I also feel unappreciated for things that I do for other people.
I also have had thoughts of acting out on my anger (in a non-violent manner, obviously). I haven't yet and I hope to never do.
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