WWE Hall Of Famer Lays Out Reason For John Cena’s Failed Heel Turn

Fans didn’t want to boo John Cena.

At Elimination Chamber, John Cena turned heel in one of the most shocking moments in WWE history. At the best of The Rock, Cena attacked Cody Rhodes to turn his back on fans for the first time in over two decades.

Cena went on to beat Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Championship and continued his villainous ways until an abrupt about turn on SmackDown 24 hours before SummerSlam. In storyline, Cena said he’d been left high and dry by The Rock and Travis Scott, and he’d been pretending to be something he’s not.

This led to claims that WWE had realised Cena’s heel run wasn’t working, and it was time to change course.

WWE Fans Didn’t Want To See John Cena As A Heel

During an appearance on Something to Wrestle With, JBL gave his thoughts on Cena’s run from Elimination Chamber to SummerSlam. The veteran said that in his view, turning Cena heel was a good idea on paper, but something that just didn’t work in reality.

The WWE Hall of Famer said that fans didn’t want to boo Cena, which left the star facing an uphill battle from the outset.

“I think sometimes when you draw something up, it’s a great plan, and all of a sudden it doesn’t work. And I think that’s what it was… You put it out there on the field or the ring or wherever you put it out there to implement it, and it doesn’t work like you thought it would. And I think that’s what happened here.

You got one of the greatest of all time, in John Cena, certainly on the Mount Rushmore of almost anybody’s Mount Rushmore for people. And he had something that was not resonating. I didn’t think it was resonating, you know, as well as the people wanted to see Cena.

I’m not sure they wanted to see the heel Cena. I think they just wanted to like, ‘you know what? We just love this guy. We want to see him.’”

Following his loss to Rhodes at SummerSlam, Cena was attacked by the returning Brock Lesnar, who was making his first WWE appearance in two years. There had been plans for Lesnar to return at the 2024 Royal Rumble, but these plans were scrapped after he was named in Janel Grant’s sex trafficking lawsuit against Vince McMahon, WWE, and John Laurinaitis.

Despite Triple H suggesting that it was John Cena who pitched Lesnar’s return, the 17-time World Champion has now claimed this wasn’t the case.

Both Lesnar and Cena are expected to appear on the August 8 edition of SmackDown.

H/t to WrestlingNews.Co