Cena’s father believes his heel turn fell flat due to absent stars.
John Cena shocked fans at WWE’s Elimination Chamber in March by turning heel for the first time in his career. After seemingly embracing Cody Rhodes following his rejection of The Rock’s demand for ‘his soul,’ Cena blindsided Rhodes with a brutal attack, aligning himself with The Rock and Travis Scott. Cena’s heel run would go on to unfold largely without involvement from The Rock and Travis Scott, outside of a WrestleMania appearance from the latter.
In a recent appearance on Sportskeeda’s UnSKripted, John Cena Sr. reflected on his son’s outing as a bad guy, noting that he believes it fell flat due to the absence of The Rock and Travis Scott.
“Turning John Cena heel was a great idea, the shock factor was great, but I think the storyline was destroyed. And that was a poor move, in my opinion, because it was a big gamble for everyone that was involved. And to see how it started and then to see the characters that were involved no longer be present, the heel turn almost became non-essential.”
-John Cena Sr.
Cena would largely attribute his change of character to the WWE Universe, although he later acknowledged during the August 1 episode of SmackDown ahead of his match with Cody Rhodes at SummerSlam that the run was largely inauthentic and that he’d lost the “real” John Cena, turning babyface in the process.
Following his shocking loss to Brock Lesnar at WWE’s Wrestlepalooza, 17-time world champion John Cena edges closer to his retirement match, set for December 13 at Saturday Night’s Main Event. Washington D.C. are set to host the event, with the decision to move away from Boston said to be financial.
One of the final stops on John Cena’s retirement tour will pit him against AJ Styles at Crown Jewel in Perth, Australia, on October 11, a matchup both former WWE Champions had campaigned for on social media.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on John Cena’s WWE appearances as an active performer as soon as we hear more.
H/T to WrestleTalk for the transcription.
