Why WWE Hall Of Famer Is Glad John Cena Had Heel Run
A WWE Hall of Famer has explained why he believes it was “fascinating to watch” John Cena as a heel.
The heel run of John Cena lasted for about five months from the WWE Elimination Chamber PLE on March 1st until the last SmackDown before SummerSlam on August 1st.
Along the way, Cena broke a historic record by winning the WWE World Title for the 17th time. Cena also berated the fans constantly, complaining that they had booed him for years despite his efforts to be a good guy. He also cheated to beat big names like Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton, and CM Punk.
With less than five months left in his final year as an in-ring WWE superstar, Cena was back in his babyface role at SummerSlam and on the SmackDown after SummerSlam. Cena appeared to be overwhelmed by the love he received on SmackDown in Montreal, nearly crying at the emotional response from the fans.
Paul Heyman has a long history with Cena because he was the head writer of SmackDown when Cena debuted on the main roster in the summer of 2002. Over the years, they have been adversaries many times, and there’s a lot of respect there.
In an interview on The Ariel Helwani Show, the “Oracle” Paul Heyman said that the audience knew their role when John Cena was doing his heel promos and matches.
“It opened my eyes to the fact that this is an audience that is here to see stars and performances. As much as they are rooted in the storylines, they are there to appreciate the twisted performance art known as professional wrestling in WWE. And here’s how I knew: the moment [mimics Cena’s entrance theme] and John Cena comes out, that place went nuts. [But when he got in the ring] Boo him out of the building as a heel.
And the moment they saw the red light go off and knew the show was over, and he’s standing there in the ring, they all gave him a standing ovation because it’s his last time as an in-ring performer in that city. And they’re all chanting, ‘Thank you, Cena.’ So the audience knew their role. And that’s fascinating to watch.”
John Cena Turning Heel Answered A Lot Of Questions
Since John Cena was a babyface in WWE for over 20 years, many fans wondered, “What if Cena turned heel?” They got their answer for a five-month period in 2025 as some fans booed him, but many fans still wanted to show Cena the respect he has earned as one of the greatest superstars of all time. Heyman made the point that he was glad that Cena answered the “what if” questions.
“It was just fascinating to watch. I’m glad he got to do it, too, because I hate ‘what ifs.’ What if John Cena had ever turned heel? Oh man, we’ll never know. Well, now we know. Now we know what would have happened.
The ‘what ifs’ I like are for the future; I can’t stand them for the past. And that would have been a ‘what if’ that we all would have asked. And I thought he delivered. I thought he took it as far as he could possibly take it. He even took it places I didn’t think he was going to. And he put his heart, his soul, and his passion into it. And it was a risk for him to do that.”
Heyman went on to speak about how Cena is a huge merchandise seller and how some the heelish things that Cena may have upset people in Hollywood.
“Number one, that man sells a lot of merchandise. He makes a lot of money on merchandise. Number two, hey, you never know who you’re going to p**s off. So John Cena has much bigger deals in Hollywood than I do, and you don’t know what studio head you’re going to p**s off.”
The next PLE match in John Cena’s WWE retirement tour will be a Clash in Paris showdown against Logan Paul on August 31st in front of what should be a raucous crowd in France.