Did John Cena Tease a Heel Turn in That Deleted WWE SmackDown Promo?

WWE sent the online wrestling world into a frenzy on Friday night when it uploaded, then quickly deleted, a strange promo John Cena cut from the WWE Performance Center. The promo centered around Cena taking on Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania, whom he called "Husky Harris in a mask" before calling out a certain generation of WWE Superstars for being entitled. The promo felt wildly different from Cena's normal babyface persona, so much so that fans began to wonder if it was pointing towards Cena making a long-awaited character change.

Let's take a look at what he said.

Here is John Cena's "shoot promo" that WWE wiped from all of their Social channels. pic.twitter.com/01RpT2KKCe

— Austin (@rondarouseyszn) April 3, 2020

"I'm not paying it [Wyatt's mind games too much attention," Cena said. "I don't know if you heard what I said on SmackDown a few weeks ago I know The Fiend operates off of fear, but I also know The Fiend is, Bray Wyatt is, Husky Harris in a mask," Cena said, sounding incredibly dismissive of Wyatt's gimmick. "I'm not afraid of The Fiend, and I'm not afraid to say I'm not afraid of The Fiend. The Fiend has been able manipulate his way through the WWE Universe and establish a presence by creating panic. And panic equals fear and fear equals our collapse."

Cena said flat-out that "Bray is going to get his a— handed to him" before turning his attention to other young wrestlers.

"Honestly I'm kind of fed up with situations of people who think they are entitled to get chance after chance after chance to succeed," Cena said. "I'm sick of hearing a certain group of WWE superstars walk around and say 'I deserve this' or 'I deserve that', and maybe Bray's the first name on that list. I don't know. I said I was going to sit back and let the future play its course and the right person issued the right challenge at the right time, and i don't feel bad about saying what's going to happen, because I firmly believe it's gotta be this way. I trust in my own ability. I've been on the WrestleMania stage before. I know this is a bit of a different WrestleMania but if there's anyone prepared for a challenge like this it's certainly me."

WWE swapped it in with a new promo where none of what Cena said was repeated. He also refrained from making those statements when he closed the show with another promo directed at Wyatt.

Fans have begged for Cena to have a heel run in the WWE for years, but he always stopped short of doing so. Considering his next major Hollywood role is as a villain in Fast & Furious 9, it's possible Cena might finally be open to the idea — though it's unlikely we'll see an all-out heel turn this weekend during his Firefly Fun House Match.

Do you think this promo was a sign of things to come for Cena? Should WWE finally pull the trigger and let him work as a heel? Let us know down in the comments!