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John Cena had been the ultimate baby face of professional wrestling, who never turned heel after turning babyface in late 2003 despite it being a huge request from the fans. A large number of fans craved to see a heel run of Cena when he had been the face of WWE, but Vince McMahon was desperate not to turn him heel and keep him as a babyface only.
But that is until early 2025, when John Cena started his retirement tour and made it clear that he would never wrestle in the ring after this year. He did almost everything that was remaining in his career, including turning heel after more than 21 years. The fans were overly joyed to see the much awaited heel run of Cena, and it was also his first ever World Championship run as a heel.
John Cena's heel run is not a failure, according to Lana
But despite granting the request of millions, it looked like the WWE creative team did not have any plans following this heel turn, and ultimately, it turned out to be a terrible run. However, wrestling legend CJ Perry, who is better known by her ring name Lana, recently explained that she did not like the much awaited heel run of John Cena. Speaking with TMZ Sports, she explained the following;
John Cena turned heel at the end of the Elimination Chamber event
“So I liked the heel run because — well, I’m a big heel fan. So, like basically anytime anyone is a heel, I’m happy. And it’s very rare that I like babyfaces. Like, John Cena is a rare situation, right? Even CM Punk. Whenever he’s babyface, I want him to be that heel character still.
"And so when he turned heel, I was one, so excited because I thought that would never happen. Anytime you have like a movie that we don’t we get an unexpected turn, I’m excited because I’m just so tired of the babyface always winning, you know?
It had been his first heel run in over 21 years
“So that was like one thing, I never thought it would happen. We were told it would never happen. If Vince would have been there, it would have never happened. So I liked all those aspects.” she said, “Now, did it seem forced? Absolutely. Did it seem like he was playing a heel? Absolutely. But I think that’s also what I kind of liked about it. I thought it was funny. Like, him cutting like a super, on the nose heel promo. I thought it was cute.”
After the run turned out to be a failure, John Cena had no other option but to turn babyface before SummerSlam. He dropped the Undisputed WWE Championship at SummerSlam to Cody Rhodes, and he never turned heel again. He will wrestle Gunther at the upcoming Saturday Night's Main Event on December 13, which is going to be his retirement match.
