5 Times the WWE should have turned John Cena heel
The holy grail of pro-wrestling – a John Cena heel turnThe mainstay of the PG era, John Cena, may have draped himself in a multitude of colours and even knicked himself a breakfast cereal sponsorship for the same, but that doesn’t mask the innate dash of irony in the unchanging and monochromatic nature of his in-ring persona.Through hell or high water, John Cena has unwaveringly stuck to his “Hustle Loyalty Respect” motto as a babyface, pandering to the gleeful kids in the audience yet a pantomime villain to the hardcore fans who are sick of the same old schtick over and over again.But as we transition away from him as the top babyface of the company and wait on the dawn of the Roman Empire, talk has been rife that perhaps the time for a John Cena heel turn could finally be upon us.On that note – whether that possibility comes to materialise at long last, or predictably ebb away as it always has – here are 5 instances when the WWE could have chosen to have John Cena go over to the dark side, but failed to do so.
#5 The Rock
Wrestlemania 27 that was headlined by John Cena and the WWE’s very own Hollywood A-Lister, The Miz, provided the perfect platform for the show’s guest host, The Rock, to get himself involved in proceedings.
And soon enough, The Brahma Bull was all set to take on The Leader of the Cenation in a dream “Once in a Lifetime” encounter, not unlike the one that The Rock and Hulk Hogan had put on at Wrestlemania 18.
Only, what was supposed to be a one-off dream match-up, would lose the bulk of its credibility and the hype appended to it by the WWE by virtue of playing out again the next year, if only to satisfy John Cena’s itch to ‘settle the score’ with The Rock.
But in hindsight, the WWE could have made the repeat encounter at Wrestlemania 29 tick had they just taken advantage of the massive mainstream appeal of the Rock and turned John Cena heel in their feud.
For starters, it wouldn’t have cost the WWE any points with the general public because The Rock’s popularity surely superceded that of John Cena and secondly, it would have painted the whole angle and the re-match in a more believable hue.
But as it would turn out, they predictably played it safe and went for the babyface versus babyface formula for Wrestlemania 29 as well, thereby ensuring that the intengrity of the John Cena character was better protected in the long term.
Yet one cannot help but feel, should John Cena ever have been turned heel, it certainly could have been against someone of the mainstream allure, popularity and drawing power of The Rock.