For two decades, many wrestling fans have been begging for John Cena to turn heel. His babyface run quickly got repetitive and dull, and although we booed him, it was out of frustration with his character, not because we hated the man. Cena had the charisma and the mic skills to be a phenomenal bad guy. At Elimination Chamber it finally happened, with Cena turning on WWE Champion Cody Rhodes and aligning himself with The Rock. It took weeks for Cena to explain himself, but he finally did last week on Raw, blaming the treatment of the fans for his actions. He did the same thing again this week, and has not mentioned The Final Boss at all. The wish for John Cena to become a heel is here, but is this as deep as WWE is going to go?

Related
John Cena Has No Heel Theme Song, But WWE Fans Are Stepping Up
Fans have been composing their own heel Cena themes, and some of them are pretty good.
John Cena Blamed The Fans Bullying Him For His Heel Turn
The Rock Was Never Mentioned In Cenaâs Promo
- It seemed to make perfect sense why John Cena would turn heel and align himself with The Rock.
- Cena breaks Ric Flairâs world title record if he beats Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 41.
- All Cena did during his first Raw promo was complain about the fans.
When John Cena turned heel, it didnât feel forced, as if this was some desperate move to give fans what they wanted as soon as possible before the GOAT retired. Instead, without a word being said, it made sense. The Rock had first come to Cody Rhodes, asking for his soul, promising that he could give him everything, but the American Nightmare turned him down because thereâs nothing the Final Boss can give him. Thatâs not the same case for John Cena. Heâs in his last year in wrestling, and until his Elimination Chamber win, he was on a losing streak. Now in his late 40s, heâs not the same wrestler he used to be. If he was desperate enough to become the champion one last time and break Ric Flairâs record, we could see how he would be driven to accept help from his former nemesis to make it happen.
Instead, what we got from Cena on the March 17 episode of Raw was something different. Cena blamed the fans for what he did to Cody. For two decades they had bullied him, booing him and calling him names, making so many bad âYou canât see meâ jokes, and demanding he give them everything, only for it to never be enough. There was a lot of real-life truth to those words, but his time on the mic was also a bit of a letdown. Thatâs it? How many times have we seen a wrestler turn heel then blame the fans for it? And he never even mentioned The Rock. Still, it was a decent first promo, with plenty of time left to build the story.

Related
John Cena Has No Heel Theme Song, But WWE Fans Are Stepping Up
Fans have been composing their own heel Cena themes, and some of them are pretty good.
The Final Boss Was Still Not Brought Up
- John Cena brought up how his mocking of a child went viral.
- Cena said he is going to ruin wrestling.
- He vowed to win the WWE Championship, then retire and take it with him.
John Cena came out to start the March 24 Raw as well, and was again greeted by sustained boos and foul chants from the crowd. What would Cena say this time? As it turns out, he pretty much just gave a recap of what he said the week before, proclaiming how he was right about the fans, and how every expletive they shouted at him only proved his point. He even brought up how his mockery of a child last Monday going viral validated his reasons.
The only change this time was that Cena said he was going to win the WWE Championship, beat Ric Flairâs record, then retire and take the belt home with him. He vowed to ruin wrestling, but outside of those additions, Cena said nothing new. And yet again, The Final Boss was never mentioned even one time.

Related
How John Cenaâs Heel Promo Broke Several Backstage Rules Of Vince McMahon
Can some of the success of John Cenaâs first promo since his heel turn be attributed to how brazenly the segment bucked Vince McMahonâs preferences?
John Cenaâs Heel Turn Motivation Is Weak
Cody Rhodes Has Yet To Attack His Challenger
- John Cena once wanted to be as bad as possible if he ever turned heel.
- There needs to be more to Cenaâs motivation than whining about the fans.
- Will WWE step it up and have The Rock return once Raw returns to the U.S.?
John Cena said years ago that if he ever turned heel he wanted to go all in and be scorched earth, as vile as possible. Thatâs exactly what we got at Elimination Chamber, but on the last two Raws heâs just like any other whiny heel youâve heard from a thousand times. After all this wait, is this the best WWE could think of? It doesnât make sense why Cena, after two decades, would finally decide to turn on the fans when they were showering him with love. It feels weak and quickly put together, as if it was all decided at the last minute, which, according to a report from Fightful Select, it was. WWE first went to Cody Rhodes about turning heel and joining The Rock, but when he said no, they turned to John Cena, who accepted.
The main event for WrestleMania 41 is feeling surprisingly tame so far. Is WWE holding off on taking things up a notch because they are in the middle of this three-week European tour? Are they waiting to turn it up when they get back to the U.S. and hopefully The Rock appears? To make matters worse, Cody Rhodes has come out the last two weeks and given a simple retort about beating Cena, as if this was any old PLE coming up. Shouldnât he be filled with rage about what Cena did to the point that heâd attack him the moment he saw him? Can you imagine âStone Coldâ Steve Austin simply coming to the ring after being beat up to do nothing more than pick up a microphone?
WWE has one of the biggest dream matches of all-time waiting for them at WrestleMania 41. The main event will have the most over red-white-and-blue babyface theyâve had since Hulk Hogan going against an icon turned heel. It needs to be about more than John Cena being a crybaby because fans used to be mean to him. It needs to be about his desperation in the face of diminished skills and the end of his career. At some point it needs to be about The Rock too. This is John Cenaâs last run in WWE. At the end of 2025, fans canât be left again going âWhat ifâ when it comes to him.