John Cena pulls back the curtain on his heel turn that came in 2025.
At WWE Elimination Chamber 2025, John Cena shocked the world when he attacked Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes and unleashed a new, heelish side of himself. It’s largely for that reason that Cena says the trigger for his long-awaited heel turn was finally pulled to begin with.
“No, that stuff you see on [WWE] Unreal is real,” Cena told Insight With Chris Van Vliet when asked if the heel turn had always been planned for his retirement tour. “‘We need to make Chamber big, so let’s do something that’ll shock everybody.’ ‘Hey, man, we got this idea.’ No problem, I’ll do the best I can.”
In the months following his character shift, Cena proclaimed that he’d “ruin” wrestling for the fans that he believed had turned their backs on him. Along the way, he’d also spoil title matches for the likes of Randy Orton, CM Punk, and Cody Rhodes, the latter of whom Cena defeated at WWE WrestleMania 41 to claim his record-breaking 17th world championship.
Cena Gets Candid About His Heel Turn & Its Criticism
When asked for his thoughts on his run as a heel, Cena pointed out that, despite the criticism it faced, it surely got people talking. And at the end of the day, that seems to be most important.
“The cool thing is, people who are critical of it, apparently had some idea in their head about what they wanted, which is great, because that means you’re attached, that means you care,” Cena said. “I enjoy that, and I hear that criticism. When we did it, we did it as a big moment, but with a purpose. Hey, this is going to ignite something with you and Cody. It’s going to start in February and end in August, because you only have 36 broadcasts and Intuit and Rumble are gone. So now we’re down to 34. Then we need some on the back end, with you actually being a good guy, so let’s take it down to 24.
“We kind of have to tell a story that should be two years long, 52 weeks a year, plus 14 to 18 PLEs, we got to do it in like 20 episodes of television,” he continued. “Okay, so it took my focus on Cody, on the championship and on frustrations that I’ve had, it all comes from a genuine place, things I could say. I’m so happy to say that I wouldn’t retread the course, because I gave everything I had.”
Ahead of his rematch against Rhodes at WWE SummerSlam, Cena returned to his vibrant, babyface self, which he has remained in ever since. December 13 will mark his final appearance as an in-ring competitor as he takes Gunther in his retirement match.
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