In pro wrestling, there two types of, "characters." They can either be a babyface (good guy) or a heel (bad guy). It's obvious that the fans will always root for the babyfaces. John Cena, for a long time (7 786 days. 21 years, 3 months and 23 days to be precise), was a babyface. This all came to a sudden end this past Saturday/Sunday at the Elimination Chamber Premimum Live Event (PLE). This has the whole world talking about it.
In the main event of the 2025 Elimination Chamber, John Cena emerged victorious from the Men’s Elimination Chamber match. The Men's Elimination Chamber match was a thrilling affair, featuring a star-studded line-up that included: Seth Rollins; CM Punk; Damian Priest; Drew McIntyre and Logan Paul. Cena’s victory sets him up for a title shot against Rhodes at WrestleMania 41, in which he will be recording to win his 17th title so that he can break the record for most world title reigns as he is currently tied with Ric Flair with both having 16 world titles reigns.
As current champion Cody Rhodes took to the ring to congratulate Cena on his triumph, Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson and rap star, Travis Scott, interrupted their meeting.
'The Rock' then addressed Rhodes, demanding his soul. “I want it all, Rock," replied Rhodes. "My soul no longer belongs to me. You know why? I gave my soul to this ring, and these people a long time ago. Hey Rock: Go f*** yourself!"
Moments later, Rhodes and Cena embraced but in one of the most shocking moments in WWE history, the latter hit the champion with a low blow before smacking him over the head with a Rolex watch.
It didn't stop there. Cena hit Rhodes with the Undisputed Championship belt until he started bleeding before choking him with his tie. Travis Scott even got involved in the beating as commentator, Michael Cole, pleaded for them to stop.
Follow the link to check out the full segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mS8W6NY6QjQ
Surprisingly, the idea to first turn heel came thirteen years prior. This came in anticipation of the, "Once in a Lifetime" clash between John Cena and The Rock at Wrestlemania 28 in 2012.
"It was Cena Rock 1," Cena began. "I got word that they were going to do it. I went out and recorded a new song. I went out and got all new gear. I wasn’t prepared for Ruthless Aggression. That was the last time I wasn’t prepared."
"I mean, I heard rumblings of, we’re going to do it, and in 48 hours, I had a new track, a new studio mix theme song, and a final mix. I had seven new singlets, low-cut singlets with boxing-type robes. I already had the boots in storage, so I dusted them off.
"I was ready to go and already thinking about what I could do with the story. Okay, what is a heel? A heel is not just new gear. The objectivity, or the message behind the singlet and the boxing robes and the boots is the exact opposite of what you saw with the street gear, the jeans shorts, the t-shirt, the ball cap, the sneakers. Go the opposite route and now lean into the opposite of everything you stand for."
Cena added: "So I would begin to not work as hard. I would show up less. I would be untrustworthy and unloyal. I would lack respect in what I did. I would give up a lot. All those things you can take and make interesting stories and this is the stuff that’s running through my head, not what moves can I do. It’s like, how can I take the intellectual property that people are familiar with and twist it so it's like, this guy’s f*cking insane.
"It's everything I’ve come to love and now I genuinely hate it and being a real bad guy, and I think that was the conversation that was eventually had where it's like, okay, it’s a bad idea. I’m like, Hey, I know this is going to sting, but I’m not going to sell another T-shirt. I’m going to take all merchandise off the market. I’m not going to put out anything new. I’m not going to do any more appearances. I’m not going to do any Make-A-Wish. I’m not going to do anything like that. I’m going to be a bad guy to make your good guy so your good guy does all that."
"That’s when I was like, we’re kind of in too deep. So it worked out the way it worked out, but bro, I was ready."
Speaking on The Pat McAfee Show, Cena confirmed that he almost became the bad guy for his 'Once in a Lifetime' match in 2012 but Vince McMahon decided against it. "I remember Vince toyed with the idea of turning me heel versus The Rock in Miami," Cena began.
"I said, 'No problem, I understand, I’ll do it. Just remember that we are so deep in at this point that we can’t do it and then jump back because we’ll be sunk at both ends. If we do it, I have to be the opposite of virtue, I have to be pure evil and we go all in."
While it was The Rock who masterminded the shocking moment in the ring, it was Triple H who made Cena's heel turn happen behind the scenes. Speaking in a post-Elimination Chamber press conference, WWE's Chief Content Officer explained exactly how the historic moment came about.
"I'm a really big proponent of collaboration. I want all the ideas, I want us to look at all of them and have conversations around what is the best thing, and out of those things, how can we tear those up and go in a completely different direction," Triple H said.
"At some point in time, little germs of ideas come in and, 'What if? My God, what if, right?' And it just begins to percolate. I'm fortunate in this time frame that I have some of the great minds to work with."
"Dwayne and I have been working together for, I don't know, almost 30 years in some manner. He's always been an epic storyteller.
"He's always been an epic guy to get outside of the box and say, 'Let's do something different. How can we blow this up and change expectations?' So it starts with a bunch of people coming up with great ideas to try to entertain our fans and lead them in a direction and then (take) them into the other direction when they don't see it coming."
"People are pretty savvy, they're tuned in and sense things coming. It’s why we get so upset when we see spoilers and things leak, when you do get the right ones that are out there, it drives you nuts. The one thing I loved about tonight is that it was nowhere, because nobody knew. When I say nobody knew, nobody."
As well as praising The Rock and others for their collaboration on Cena's heel turn, Triple H also praised the man himself for pulling it off to perfection.
He continued: "I’ve been fortunate to be around a lot of the biggest things in this business in the last 30 years. I don’t know that I've ever felt a more powerful moment. When you get to a place in your career, when you know you have months left on the thing that launched you to the rest of the world, it puts you in a different perspective.
"It puts you in a place of, it's now or never, and you can ride that out, and you can rest on the things that you have done, and you couldn’t really blame John for doing that, for just saying, 'I’m gonna come in and I’m gonna ride the nostalgia wave for the next ten months.'"
"Or somebody like him can double down and say, screw it, I want to be challenged right to the last moment." I want to go out on my shield, I want to give this everything I have. I want to challenge myself, I want to do something different, I want to be afraid of it, I want to go out there and do it all. That’s the beauty of John Cena."
Paul "Triple H" Levesque promised an industry-changing weekend heading into WWE’s EliminationChamber. Despite such strong words from WWE’s Chief Content Officer, no one predicted that John Cena would become a bad guy. That’s how Levesque likes it.
"The one thing about tonight that I loved, absolutely loved, it was nowhere. Nowhere. Because nobody knew," said Levesque after the show.
While speaking to the media, Levesque shared his frustration about spoilers and leaks related to creative plans. He likened such activity to an experience moviegoers often face. Levesque said, "I hate when people go to see the movie, and then they have to tell everybody that they know what the finish of that movie is. It’s like, 'Just let me watch it'. Don’t tell me."
Levesque said only a tight circle knew what Cena was going to do. When the moment came, he took full control of WWE's production. "Right before the finish of Elimination Chamber, I had to say to the truck, 'Everybody layout. I have all traffic on this, on where we go next,' because nobody knew what was coming," Levesque revealed.
John Cena has commented for the first time since his heel turn at WWE Elimination Chamber, where he sold his soul to The Rock. Cena, Rock and Travis Scott attacked Cody Rhodes, who will defend the Undisputed WWE Championship against Cena at WrestleMania 41.
After Elimination Chamber, Cena had the chance to speak his mind at the post-show press conference, but opted to say nothing and simply walked out of the presser.
Now, he’s take to social media with his first comments since the events of the Chamber, tweeting: Have the discipline to do what needs to be done, especially when you don’t feel like it.
This appears to be one of Cena’s signature, "motivational quotes" that he posts on X regularly but of course a lot of fans are interpreting how it could relate to his heel turn and alliance with The Rock. Cena had previously posted an uncaptioned image of the official art for GTA 6 on his Instagram following his turn, prompting comments of, "We got John Cena turning heel before GTA 6."
Here's how fans on social media reacted to the scenes.
One said: "I’ve watched wrestling for almost 20 years and this is the single most insane thing I’ve ever seen in professional wrestling. They really did it. They turned John Cena heel. This is REAL TO ME."
A second wrote: "In the final leg of his career John Cena embarks on his most creatively inspired venture yet by turning heel & becoming a villain for an audience who adores him. Moments like these stand the test of time. Only the greatest the industry has ever seen are capable of producing them."
A third commented: "This just solidified John Cena as the greatest professional wrestler ever," and a fourth said: "This John Cena, The Rock and Travis Scott faction tho. I’m here for it."
A fifth added: "You know how great of a babyface you have to be to get The Rock AND John Cena to turn heel in 2025? When his career is all set and done, Cody Rhodes will go down as one of the greatest babyfaces of all time."
Doing some reading after the event, I found it interesting that there was a theory that WWE subtly revealed the ending with a previously released poster (below).
However, I wouldn't agree with that. To me, the above poster isn't a spoiler. It's just displaying the main attractions for the event. To me, it doesn't really mean anything. It's just an advertising tool to bring more people to watch the event.
This sudden turn has been compared to Hulk Hogan's heel turn at WCW Bash at the Beach 1996. I would say that each have their own merit. Each one is unique. It's difficult to compare the two. For me, I was only 2 when Hogan went in this route. As such, I hold no memories whatsoever in regard to that. I feel like Cena's turn was done for one last hurrah for his Farewell Tour and that it was now or never. Hogan wrestled for a further decade. In that time, he turned back to a babyface and never turned heel after that.
Cena's heel turn, to me, has two different perspectives: those who have watched wrestling for a long time and those who are young and are new-ish to wrestling. For me, I found the moment to be very exciting. It's probably one of the best things I've ever seen. I've watched the whole segment over and over and over again.
Those who have watched wrestling for a long time might echo my thoughts and actions. Most of us have wanted to see him go bad for a long time. There have been moments where he could've crossed to the dark side but chose not to. We might all cherish the moment forever.
For the new-ish fans, they might be shocked and lost for words. They probably haven't experienced anything like it before. They'll just have to accept that it happened and try to embrace it. They might not like it but they will have to learn that what happened was a once in a blue moon moment.