How Did John Cena Feel About a Heel Turn During His Prime WWE Years?
The idea of John Cena turning heel during his run as WWE's top guy was a fantasy consistently discussed by fans throughout the late 2000s through the mid-2010s. It never happened, but former WWE Head Writer Brian Gewirtz confirmed in an interview with Cheap Heat this past week that it was frequently pitched by the WWE Creative Team. And while Vince McMahon never budged on the idea, Cena was apparently all for it.
"[Cena said] 'All right, listen, you want to turn me heel? If that's what Vince [McMahon] says you guys want me to do, I'll do it. But just so you know, I will go full-bore heel. There won't be none of that like, 'Oh, he's a fun heel, he's a cool heel, he's winking at the audience heel,'" Gewirtz said when describing Cena's response.
So why was Vince always against it? Gewirtz explained, "I think Vince was like, 'John is basically captain of the ship here.'. The issues of who would [Cena] work with? Who would replace him as the top babyface? In [McMahon's] mind, I think he's like, 'I made the right decision because John has been the standard bearer.'"
WWE faced a similar situation with Roman Reigns when the company attempted to establish him as the next top star. Like Cena, he was quickly rejected by many vocal fans, so the company pulled the trigger on turning him heel in 2020 by having him evolve into the egomaniacal "Tribal Chief."
"[McMahon] was like, 'I need Roman to be this guy.' But, Roman is Roman, and John is John. Two months after the Sufferin' Succotash [promo], [they wanted] to have Roman tell stories, because I was consulting WWE at the time, and when I saw Sufferin' Succotash on the script, I was sending out flare gun signals like, 'No, don't have him say that.' But ultimately, yes, they did pull the trigger on Roman ... and he's been amazing," Gewirtz said.
Did WWE make the right call by never turning Cena heel? Would he have been as successful in the role as Reigns has been for the past couple of years? Let us know your thoughts down in the comments! Reigns' next defense as Undisputed WWE Universal Champion will take place on Sept. 3 when he faces Drew McIntyre in the main event of Clash at the Castle.