LUKAS BLANKENSTEIN / CONTRIBUTOR

Coming into the March 1 Elimination Chamber Pay-Per-View (PPV), John Cena seemingly had it all. He had won 16 World Championships as part of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). He was  the  company’s    biggest star  in the late  2000s and early     2010s and transitioned into a lucrative career as a Hollywood actor. Most notably, he was a beloved veteran by fans. 

According to a poll by Ranker, a website that lets people vote up or down on lists to create a ranking on topics, Cena was voted as the fifth greatest WWE superstar of all time. 

USD junior Brandon Gaither, a long time WWE fan, recalled what Cena meant to the company when he was a child.

“John Cena was the face of the company when I was a kid,” Gaither stated. “He was everywhere from being   featured    in   the Fred movies on [Nickelodeon] to being on every box of Fruity Pebbles. He was the man.”

When Cena announced that 2025 was going to be his last year as an active WWE wrestler, many thought he was going to end his career as he had been for the past 20 years, a triumphant “babyface,” the wrestling term for a good guy.

Then  he  punched undisputed WWE champion Cody Rhodes in the face with a Rolex. 

At  the Elimination Chamber, Cena won the event’s namesake match, and with it, won the right to challenge  Rhodes for the WWE championship at WWE’s biggest show of the year, Wrestlemania. The  chance to challenge for the championship is even more important than usual. This is the case because Cena is currently tied with Rick Flair at 16 world championship wins, giving Cena the chance to break the record at Wrestlemania. 

To close out the event, Rhodes went out to greet his future challenger, only to be interrupted by fellow wrestler and Hollywood superstar Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Johnson and Rhodes have had an ongoing rivalry from last Wrestlemania, when Rhodes teamed up with Seth Rollins to battle Johnson and his real-life cousin Roman Reigns. 

After some back and forth between  Rhodes  and Johnson, Cena and Rhodes joined together in a hug. It was at this point that Johnson signalled to Cena with a “slit  throat” gesture. Cena then hit Rhodes with a low blow, before punching Rhodes with the aforementioned Rolex, the WWE title belt. Finally, the Rock hit Rhodes with his own weight belt. This left Rhodes a bloodied mess on the floor, and shocked audiences across the world. 

Obviously, WWE is scripted. Everyone who watches WWE, besides maybe the youngest kids in the audience, knows that John Cena, the person, and John Cena, the WWE character, are very different people. In wrestling terminology, this is called a heel turn, with heels being the wrestling term for a villain. While the twist was planned out well in advance, the shocking part is that WWE pulled the trigger on turning one of their most beloved and popular superstars, who, according to the Guiness Book of World Records, now has the longest single run as a face before turning heel. 

From a macro-perspective, Cena turning heel does a few things for the match. Firstly, it adds an emotional element to the feud between Rhodes and Cena. Traditional wrestling storytelling has a feud between the dastardly heel and the stoic face dueling in a battle of good vs. evil. While face vs. face matches are not unheard of, it’s easier to get the crowd on board with a good vs. evil match than a good vs. good match. 

It also is something that is guaranteed to draw eyes on the franchise. Cena is a big star, not just in wrestling, but in movies and tv shows as well. Cena’s heel-turn led to articles being published  by mainstream  sources like ESPN, Newsweek Today and Forbes, bringing more eyes ahead of their biggest show of the year. He is also a recognizable    name to late 2000s and early 2010s kids who watched WWE as kids and fell off of them as adults.

Seeing a star from their childhood become the villain might make many who once watched WWE want to tune in again. USD first-year Santi Garza, who hasn’t watched wrestling since he was a kid, said he’s more likely to watch it now that Cena is a heel.

“I haven’t thought much about the product since I was a kid,” Garza said. “Maybe this is the turning point to get me interested in it in the future.”

WWE will likely be hoping that this increase in eyes on the product will translate to an increase in viewers for Wrestlemania. Even if it doesn’t, however, Cena’s heel turn will act as an interesting point in the history of the company, when one of it’s biggest stars became the villain at the twilight of his career.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (left) and John Cena (right) stepping on Cody Rhodes. Photo courtesy of @johncena77c/Instagram