Hulk Hogan Felt Disconnected By John Cena’s WWE Heel Turn

Hulk Hogan doesn’t feel strongly about John Cena’s heel turn, especially when compared to Hulk’s famous NWO heel turn.

It has been announced by Hulk Hogan & Eric Bischoff that they will be running a new project called Real American Freestyle Wrestling.

Even though Hogan is known for being a two-time WWE Hall of Famer, he believes in this new venture of freestyle wrestling.

The last time Hulk Hogan was in front of WWE fans was at the Raw on Netflix premiere episode in Los Angeles when Hogan was booed loudly by the sold out crowd while he was shilling his beer.

Wrestling fans have also thought of Hogan since then. John Cena turned heel at WWE Elimination Chamber, which was a significant shock for wrestling fans, as it was the first time Cena had been a heel in over 20 years. It also led to comparisons to Hulk Hogan’s shocking 1996 heel turn in WCW that led to the formation of the New World Order stable.

While speaking with Forbes, Eric Bischoff explained why Cena’s heel turn wasn’t the same as what Hogan did in WCW to form the NWO.

I respect the hell out of John Cena. He’s a good man and I consider him a friend, but I’d say the differences are pretty substantial. There’s some parallels, too. John Cena was a babyface throughout the majority of his career. Okay, that’s a strong parallel, the “who’s the third man?” storyline that played out for weeks, however long, before Hulk Hogan turned heel. That was an integral part of the story.

John Cena’s change of character to heel was spontaneous. There were rumors of it, and people speculated about it, but it wasn’t part of a storyline that was being built, and creating anticipation and then delivering at that moment and surprising people along the way. John surprised everybody because they didn’t know it was coming, but it just wasn’t the same because it wasn’t part of a story.

John Cena Was Hulk Hogan’s Favorite Wrestler

Hulk Hogan shared his thoughts on John Cena’s heel turn, saying that he was initially encouraged by it. However, after The Rock left TV following his involvement in Cena’s heel turn, Hogan felt disconnected from the storyline.

First off, John Cena was my favorite wrestler. Let me start there. Because I grinded for years, brother, and there was no Rock, no Stone Cold. There was only me for 20-plus years. I saw all the Make-A-Wish kids. I’ve met with all the station producers, everybody. So John stepped up and really ran with the ball and he did a really great job. I think he saw more Make-A-Wish kids than anybody’s ever seen.

And at the end of the day, when he turned heel—like the [nWo] storyline, like Eric said—we set it up, we set up, we set up, then we delivered. And then not only did we deliver, we rolled out with me, Hall and Nash. And that story kept snowballing and snowballing, and we kept getting more evil and evil. And so for me, watching that story with John Cena, when The Rock did the throat thing, cut his throat, and John Cena turned heel, I expected more of the same.

And then John Cena came out and there was no Rock, and I just got disconnected at that point, ’cause I was expecting the characters to keep rolling out like we did. So I know everybody’s got movies and obligations and stuff, but it didn’t feel like that big tidal wave coming at you. Like when the nWo took over, man, I even hate to say the word, we just cleaned house and beat everybody’s ass, and we just killed it. All the babyfaces were crying and complaining, and it got really ugly. We were so powerful with that trio.

The Rock‘s absence from WrestleMania 41 led to widespread anger among fans, and even those within WWE are confused about the story.