When John Cena announced his retirement, not one wrestling fan could’ve predicted that after over 20 years of him to be the character playing a babyface and a good guy, for his final wrestling year he would turn to be the bad guy.
The shocking heel turn happened at the World Wrestling Entertainment Elimination Chamber 2025 and to say shocking is an understatement.
For the past two decades John Cena has worked hard to build a noble career over his slogan hustle, loyalty and respect based on his personas morals and what he wishes to represent in his storylines, according to a November 15, 2013 Ring the Damn Bell article.
He was able to take this persona and turn it into an A-list career transcending wrestler to a blockbuster actor and pop-culture icon.
It’s WrestleMania season — the “Super Bowl” for wrestling — and all the big storylines and twists that were built up over the past year usually come to a conclusion at this event.
Currently the storyline goes as follows, Cody Rhodes was booked into a two-year build up that hinted at him becoming the top champion. However, in last year's WrestleMania when Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson came back, he pushed himself to the main-title scene removing Rhodes out of the picture.
Fans had a problem with this and voiced their opinions, as the support for Rhodes was so overwhelming that the storyline was changed to return to Rhodes’ story and win the WWE championship in last year's WrestleMania, according to a Feb. 16, 2024 SB Nation article.
After Cena’s Elimination Chamber match that he won this year, Rhodes comes out to make a decision.The six-man-single elimination match guaranteed Cena a match at WrestleMania for a championship.
Rhodes, the current WWE champion, was asked to sell his soul and align with Johnson and Travis Scott alongside him, who plays heels which Rhodes refused, according to a March 2 SB nation article.
Cena celebrated the refusal and reached over to Rhodes for a hug, in which Johnson gestured to him with a slice over the neck removing Cena’s smile signaling his attack, according to the same source.
The arena grew quiet at the idea that the guy they grew up cheering and always doing the right thing was finally a bad guy.
After Cena’s attack, the WWE was able to grab multiple headlines on ESPN, showing that despite the controversial decision to have such a drastic change of character for what is Cena’s final year in the ring, it will only grow the company.
Wrestling in the past decade has lost its mainstream appeal and with other real life controversies like former CEO of the company Vince McMahon’s sex scandal, the public view of the company is negatively tainted, according to a Oct. 24, 2024 CNN article.
Having controversial and shocking storyline moments like Cena's, helps restore that connection with old and new fans, creating one of the most successful times for the company.
The WWE was struggling to gain popularity and keep fans like the once adored “Attitude Era” that lasted from the late 1990s and early 2000s with stars like Johnson, Undertaker and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, because of often convoluted storylines and narratives that don't interest fans, according to a June 4, 2018 Bleacher Report article.
The shift from the way storylines are told within the company from a decade to now, where things from the past in stories can be brought back up and listening to fans have made the company extremely profitable.
The wrestling promotion was able to bring in a revenue of $1.33 billion in 2023 compared to 2020 $0.97 billion showing the immense growth the company has been through, according to the CompaniesMarketCap webpage.
Despite the current storyline, Cena’s journey to becoming a pop-culture icon to entertain us and all the charitable acts he does, he will be missed from where it all started for him in the ring.
