While it was teased the week prior, John Cena would officially turn face on the November 6th, 2003 episode of Smackdown.
At the time, the #1 song on the Billboard charts in the United States was “Baby Boy” by Beyonce and Sean Paul. The reigning #1 movie at the box office in the United States that week was The Matrix Revolutions.
A whopping 7,786 days later… March 1st, 2025… Cena’s run as a face came to an end. It is one of the longest and most successful runs on one side of the face/heel divide in the history of pro wrestling, but just like that, it is over.
John Cena has turned heel.
No matter how many times through the years I wished it would happen, predicted it would happen, or talked myself into thinking it might happen, I had given up any hope that I would ever see this day.
One, he’s still doing incredible charity work, including his high profile work with Make-A-Wish. Two, the WWE fan base has finally accepted Cena with open arms, cheering him like a conquering hero. Most importantly, though, he announced his retirement, and is on a “retirement tour” that has less than ten months remaining before he hangs his sneakers up for good.
If I were to create a list of things I thought I would see before witnessing a John Cena heel turn in 2025, “I win the WWE Title” would be in the same area on that list.
I say this with zero hyperbole whatsoever… this heel turn is the single most shocking in-ring thing I’ve ever seen in my lengthy time as a pro wrestling fan.
Okay, but what happens now?
The “easy” part was turning him heel. There’s a million different ways that you could write a story for John Cena to turn heel. What do I always say, though?
It’s all about the follow up and the follow through.
What are we expecting from a Cena heel turn? For that matter, what is WWE expecting from a Cena heel turn?
Naturally, fans are already comparing this turn to Hulk Hogan’s turn in 1996, as well as “Stone Cold” Steve Austin’s turn in 2001. Hogan’s turn completely changed the entire wrestling industry, changing the trajectory for WCW, earning gazillions of dollars for everyone involved, and extended Hulk’s career by multiple decades. Austin’s turn was also a thing that happened.
Actually, there is a really big similarity between Cena’s turn and Austin’s turn. While Austin’s turn was truly shocking, it wasn’t received by the crowd in Houston that night as the most evil and dastardly thing anyone has ever done. Those folks weren’t going to boo Austin, no matter what he did, and that’s not exactly an ideal reaction to a heel turn.
When Cena turned, there was a very loud and vocal portion of the crowd that cheered wildly. How much of that is due to the show being in Toronto, aka one of the “Bizarro World” wrestling cities with unpredictable crowds? That’s going to be an interesting thing to track moving forward. Having Cena align himself with The Rock, who is already someone who gets a ton of cheers as a heel, only adds to that.
Above all else, if we’re not getting a completely different John Cena, what’s the point?
No more bright, colorful shirts. Black, gray, or maybe even white shirts only. Actually, you know what? How about no more t-shirts at all? If you want to create some shirt designs to sell to fans, that’s fine, but Cena shouldn’t be wearing stuff like that anymore. That also means no more jorts and no more dad sneakers with the high socks. John is on record saying that, after hearing rumblings that the company was thinking about a potential heel turn for him in 2012, he had seven singlets and “boxing-type robes” made for him, as well as wrestling boots. He also wanted WWE to completely stop selling any merchandise for him if the turn took place, so all of this isn’t too far-fetched.
I’m torn on him getting new entrance music. On one hand, his current music doesn’t really fit the “vibe” that a heel Rock, and therefore, heel Cena are going to carry. However, on the other hand, great entrance music is  able to elicit responses from fans the moment it gets played. Cena has some of the most recognizable music of the last 20 years. If you’re looking to “condition” fans to boo Cena, that response can be drawn when fans hear that music now. Like I said about his ring attire, Cena is also on record saying that he recorded a brand new heel entrance theme for himself in 2012, but it has never seen the light of day since the turn never happened. Could that be unearthed now?
I’ve seen a few different people say Cena should have new entrance music done by Travis Scott himself. I’m not the biggest fan of his music, but I like def rebel even less. If Travis can come up with something darker and more sinister sounding for Cena to use, I’d be all for it, honestly.
Cena’s promos are the biggest key to this entire thing. If you’ve ever listened to the man speak, especially outside of the wrestling bubble, you’d know that he is one of the most articulate and well-spoken people that the sport has ever seen. A heel promo from him, in this day and age, would be something that is a rare happening. He wouldn’t need to yell and scream and be over-the-top. The Rock does what he does, and a lot of people love it, but Cena could (and should) go in the opposite direction with his heel promos. He should be able to dress down any opponents and tear into fans with ease.
Speaking of his relationship with the fans… he could have something very special if he is able to tap in and deal with real emotions that he has felt through the years. Yes, fans have been cheering for him recently, but there was a lengthy period of time that ol’ John couldn’t do anything to get the support of seemingly anyone outside of women and children. His on-screen character would always say that it didn’t matter if fans booed or cheered for him, because it was their right to feel whatever they wanted to, and he always played it off like it didn’t bother him. You can’t tell me that it didn’t eat away at him, though. You’re busting your ass and working an insane schedule, doing any and everything the company is asking of you, and the fans are still booing you? Oh, he definitely has a decade or so of pent up anger and frustration he can work with now.
What really intrigues me about this turn is the mystery surrounding it all. Do you think Cena remains a heel from now until the end of 2025? We’re obviously very early in this heel run, but I haven’t seen a single person anywhere predict that this is going to be a lengthy time spent on the dark side for Cena. In fact, I’ve seen a lot of predictions along the lines of “Cena sold his soul out of desperation to win his 17th World Title, but once he fails to win at WrestleMania, The Rock will kick him to the curb” and so on, which would be a heel run of less than two months.
Does that make sense to you?
Can you imagine if Hulk Hogan turned heel and formed the nWo in July 1996, only for Scott Hall and Kevin Nash to beat him down in September 1996, turning Hogan face again?
If WWE finally discovered the testicular fortitude that it takes to turn John Cena heel after all these years, don’t they have to go all the way with it?
Now imagine a heel John Cena lasting all the way until, say, the December 29th episode of Raw, and then… poof… he’s gone, and we don’t see the face version of his character again, or at least not until he goes into the WWE Hall Of Fame, whenever that is.
There is SO MUCH money to be made with a relatively lengthy heel run for Cena. CM Punk, Seth Rollins, Sami Zayn, Penta, Jey Uso, AJ Styles, and more are right there on Raw. Depending on if/when we get a Draft this year, or if Cena defeats Cody, you have Roman Reigns, Damian Priest, Randy Orton, and more on Smackdown that could be available for him to work with. Even with a short amount of time to work with, there’s a lot that can be crammed in for him to do before he retires.
Unless, of course, he isn’t retiring.
He is a heel, after all. Heels lie all the time. What if the soon-to-be 48-year-old Cena decides he’s having too much fun as a heel, and he decides to stick around?
I’m (mostly) kidding.
Right now, we’re in the ultimate “let it play out” situation. There are infinite possibilities for WWE and John Cena here, and nobody can truly say they know what to expect. That’s a great thing. I trust John Cena and his mind for the business, assuming that he wouldn’t sign off on something like this if there wasn’t a plan, or if there was a half-ass plan, in place.
I’m still basking in the wonder of it all. It sounds corny, but I will always remember where I was when John Cena turned heel. When it happened, I yelled so loud that I scared my six-year-old daughter, who was quietly reading a book on her tablet, and we weren’t even in the same room at the time!
I’m excited. You should be, too.
Now that you’ve had some time to digest everything that happened at Elimination Chamber, what are your thoughts on John Cena’s shocking heel turn? Do you think this is a short-term move, or do you think we’re going to get several months, at the very least, of a heel Cena? As always, feel free to hit me up in the comments section below, or on Bluesky (@aaronhyden.bsky.social), and let me know what’s on your mind.
Now, let’s switch it over to my Weekly Power Rankings, followed by closing this out with the list of songs I was listening to as I put this column together.
Weekly Power Rankings
John Cena: March 1st, 2025 is a date that will go down in pro wrestling history.
Men’s Elimination Chamber: The match itself leading up to Cena’s turn was a ton of fun. It actually got even better once it came down to Cena, CM Punk, and Seth Rollins as the final three competitors. Their “Triple Threat” was really well done.
Sami Zayn vs Kevin Owens: As violent and physical a match as you’re going to see in WWE, especially without any blood being shed. These two are certifiably insane for the bumps that they’re willing to take, and even more so for the bumps they actually did take.
FTR vs Roderick Strong & Kyle O’Reilly: Two really cold acts, but that didn’t affect the overall quality of the match itself. AEW’s response to FTR being cooled off might be to turn them heel, and the wheels seem to be in motion for that. We’ll see how that goes, I guess.
Women’s Elimination Chamber: Things got off to a chaotic start with Jade Cargill making her return and immediately going after Naomi, implying that it was Naomi who attacked Jade three months ago. From there, the match itself was fun. Liv Morgan continues to shine as one of the top in-ring performers on the WWE roster. She is on quite the hot streak with her performances. Bianca Belair winning this match sets up a potential bout with Rhea Ripley at WrestleMania, and I’ve been calling for that to happen for a few years now.
Bianca Belair & Naomi vs Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez: Like I said, Liv is on an incredible hot streak right now. It seems like she’s going to have a good’n every single time she steps into the ring.
Daniel Garcia vs Adam Cole: They were having a really good match until it was thrown out due to interference from Shane Taylor Promotions. Look, I like Shane Taylor and all, but throwing him into the AEW TNT Title picture doesn’t exactly seem like a needle mover, you know?
Orange Cassidy vs Konosuke Takeshita: AEW took the long route to get from Point A to Point B, eventually giving us the match we already “knew” we were getting at the pay-per-view. They weren’t the only company to do it this week, but more on that in a bit. This was really good, even if we already knew Orange Cassidy stood zero chance of winning.
Jacob Fatu vs Andrade: I understand that it made sense to have something shorter, with the winner still needing to compete in another match later that night, but I really wish this could’ve had five or so more minutes to work with. They were really building to something great.
Will Ospreay vs Bryan Keith: I’m all for giving Bryan Keith bigger and better showcases like this. He is absolutely drowning in that “Jericho Vortex” and needs to break out on his own. Him having a good match against the man many feel is the best worker in the world today is hopefully a good sign for him in the future.
Ricky Saints & Je’Von Evans vs Ethan Page & Wes Lee: A perfectly good in-ring introduction for Ricky Saints in NXT. It allowed him to shine, but also gave the other three competitors a chance to shine, as well. No complaints.
LA Knight vs Jacob Fatu vs Carmelo Hayes: Here we go again… Point A to Point B by traveling to Point Q and then coming back on track. We already knew we were getting Shinsuke Nakamura vs LA Knight, but then that was canceled, and we got a mini-tournament instead, just to give us… Shinsuke Nakamura vs LA Knight. Okay then. At least the match was good.
Penta vs Ludwig Kaiser vs Pete Dunne: Penta is feuding with two people. It sure would be nice if he could find someone to help him even the odds at times. Someone close to him. Like a brother, one could say. If only there were someone out there to fit that description. Someone who just became a free agent and could sign with WWE any day now.
This Week’s Playlist: “Sorry I’m Here For Someone Else” by Benson Boone… “Crashing” by d4vd & Kali Uchis… “God Complex” by Bleed From Within… “A Hope In Hell” by Bleed From Within… “In Place Of Your Halo” by Bleed From Within… “Bite Down” by Desolated… “To The Sinking” by The Man-Eating Tree… “Who Am I” by Beenie Man… “Fire” by Subway… “This Lil Game We Play” by Subway & 702… “The Time Is Now” by John Cena & Tha Trademarc… “Right Now” by John Cena & Tha Trademarc… “Bad, Bad Man” by John Cena, Tha Trademarc & Bumpy Knuckles… “If It All Ended Tomorrow” by John Cena & Tha Trademarc… “Basic Thuganomics” by John Cena… “You Give Love A Bad Name” by Bon Jovi… “Livin’ On A Prayer” by Bon Jovi… “Wanted Dead Or Alive” by Bon Jovi… “Never Say Goodbye” by Bon Jovi… “Wish I Didn’t Miss You” by Angie Stone… “You Are My Lady” by Freddie Jackson… “Caught Up In The Rapture” by Anita Baker… “Don’t You Know That?” by Luther Vandross… “Locked Up (Remix)” by Akon & Savage… “Let’s Chill” by Guy
