John Cena Reveals Scrapped Plans For Cody Rhodes WWE SummerSlam Match

John Cena had a prominent rivalry with Cody Rhodes during his Last Time Is Now retirement tour in 2025.

The rivalry began at the Elimination Chamber, when Cena won a title opportunity and then shocked the wrestling world by aligning with The Rock to attack Cody Rhodes, turning heel for the first time in 22 years.

John Cena went on to face Rhodes for the WWE Undisputed Championship in the Night Two main event of WrestleMania 41. He defeated The American Nightmare to win his record-breaking 17th World Championship. However, the victory was not clean, as Travis Scott distracted Cody Rhodes, allowing Cena to deliver a low blow and secure the win.

John Cena later faced Rhodes for a second time at SummerSlam after Rhodes won the King of the Ring tournament to earn a rematch. Before the match, Cena transitioned back into a babyface. In a brutal Street Fight, Rhodes defeated Cena to regain the WWE Undisputed Championship.

John Cena’s Babyface Turn Was Originally Planned For SummerSlam

Speaking in a recent interview on the No Contest Wrestling podcast, Cena revealed that the original plan was for him to turn babyface at SummerSlam, where Cody Rhodes would have “beaten some sense” into him. However, WWE ultimately went in a different direction and turned John Cena babyface before his SummerSlam match instead.

You can’t work like it’s 1950. Okay. Hey, what would you like me to do? I’d like you to have more competitive matches. That way, people long for the old John Cena. Yeah. And Cody was originally supposed to turn me at SummerSlam. Like, beat some sense into me, but the crowd turned me before that. Yeah. Cuz they gave me Randy, they gave me Punk. I had the fun stuff with Truth. (From 1:10:56 – 1:12:22)

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