WWE superstar John Cena is one of the greatest babyfaces of all time, and fans have never seen him as a heel since he turned babyface after his debut. He is often considered a role model by most WWE fans, owing to his on-screen portrayal.
However, there was a period when the audience expressed their dissatisfaction with the Cenation leader due to a perceived weariness with his positive persona. Additionally, there were a few instances where WWE Creative expressed interest in transitioning him to a villainous character, but Cena had one condition to throw away his status as babyface.
John Cena laid out his condition to turn heel
Once upon a time, John Cena was thought to be turning heel despite having a massive reputation as a babyface in WWE. John Cena revealed this information during an interview at “The Pat McAfee Show” in January 2022.
Cena shared that during his well-known rivalry with The Rock, there was a suggestion made for the leader of Cenation to explore a darker side. However, Vince McMahon expressed some reservations about the idea and shared with Cena, “Listen, I don’t think we’re ever gonna do it”. John Cena also mentioned that it may have presented challenges for the audience to connect with him if he turned heel.
But one thing the G.O.A.T of WWE missed to mention was the condition he put forward to Vince McMahon if he was turned to heel in WWE. In November 2022, WWE’s head writer Brian Girwitz revealed the condition put forward by Cena. He stated WWE Creative was tempted to make John Cena heel, but there was a problem as he was their top merchandise selling babyface.
John Cena Reported To Have One Condition If WWE Was Going To Turn Him Heel https://t.co/3aJWrER0xu pic.twitter.com/XY4tvllqPX
— The Sportster (@WrestlingSheet) August 14, 2022
“There was a time. We did push plenty of times for John to turn heel. There was a lot of reasoning going into it. Vince was tempted. He was very tempted a couple of times, but ultimately, there was the merchandise and everything John does.”, said Brian.
He also revealed that Cena wanted to go full heel instead of a cool heel. He said, “John himself said when approached with the idea, he was like, and this is what is so great about John, is he was like, ‘Ok, listen. If you want to turn me heel, if that’s what Vince says you guys want to do, I’ll do it, but just so you know, I will go full boar heel. There won’t be any of that; oh, he’s a fun heel, he’s a cool heel, he’s winking at the audience, heel. He is going to go full heel.”
Cena posted a cryptic message about his WWE future
On the latest episode of Friday Night SmackDown, John Cena did a very emotional promo where he teased his retirement. The legendary 16-time WWE Champion said that he has not had any singles match victory in 2,002 days. The leader of the Cenation was almost on the verge of crying until the fans motivated him and boosted his confidence.
But the star ended the promo in a very exciting way as the legend called out an open challenger and Solo Sikoa appeared. Now there is a high chance that these two superstars might soon get into a feud.
After that show, John Cena took to Instagram and uploaded a photo of Leonardo DiCaprio’s character, Jordan Belfort, from the movie “The Wolf of Wall Street”. This photo was from a popular scene in that movie that features DiCaprio shouting, “I’m not leaving!”. This was potentially an indication of his not retiring anytime soon.
Do you think John Cena will ever turn into a heel in WWE? Let us know your thoughts about it in the comment section below!
