"He was very tempted a couple of times" - Former WWE writer recalls a time when Vince McMahon didn't allow a megastar to turn heel
Former WWE writer Brian Gewirtz recalls a time when Vince McMahon didn't allow John Cena to turn heel.
Vince McMahon created a handful of megastars in WWE such as Stone Cold, The Rock, and Hulk Hogan. John Cena was the face of the company for almost two decades. The Leader of Cenation is currently busy being a Hollywood A-Lister and has made a few appearances with WWE programming since then.
Speaking on the Cheap Heat Podcast, former WWE writer Brian Gewirtz recalled a time when Vince McMahon didn't allow John Cena to turn heel. He also noted that McMahon was tempted on numerous occasions to turn the superstar heel:
“Yes. For sure. There was a time. We all did. 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 merch and everything John does.
He also stated that Cena was completely onboard with the heel turn.
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.’" [H/T - Wrestling News]
It would have been interesting to see The Leader of Cenation turn against the WWE Universe and play the ultimate bad guy in the industry.
Brian Gewirtz explains why Vince McMahon didn't turn John Cena heel
Fans have seen John Cena as one of the biggest faces in the company for several years. A few years later, the audience wanted him to turn heel, but Vince McMahon had other plans for the megastar.
In the same episode, former writer Brian Gewirtz explains why Vince McMahon didn't turn Cena heel when he had the opportunity. He further explained that the roster didn't have a major babyface for a heel Cena could go up against:
“I think Vince was like, John is captain of the ship here. There’s the issue of who he would work with? Who would replace him as the top babyface? The merchandise and everything else John does off screen. So, ultimately, Vince didn’t want to pull the trigger on that. I think he made the right decision because John has been the standard bearer.” [H/T - Wrestling News]
Fans would have seen a different side to John Cena if he had turned heel and gone against everything he stood for.
Do you think John Cena would have been a good heel? Sound off in the comment section below.