By Colin McGuire, ProWrestling.net Staffer
It’s absolutely idiotic – especially in today’s world – to respond within 48 hours of something gigantic in the wrestling space by saying that we just saw something we’ll never see again. It’s so reactionary, hyperbolic, ultimately useless. Never say never in pro wrestling, right? Who knows how the landscape will look in 25, 30, 40, even 50 years from now? Not only should such statements be taken with a grain of salt; nobody could blame a consumer if he or she just dismissed such statements altogether.
But I don’t think we’re ever going to see a heel turn like the one John Cena just pulled off at Elimination Chamber ever again. Call me idiotic.
Before we get to why we’ll never see that again, let’s get to why Cena’s turn on Cody Rhodes was not something else: The modern-day equivalent of Hulk Hogan’s heel turn at 1996’s Bash At The Beach. Yes, Hogan was the consummate good guy for a very long time, first in WWF and then in WCW. And yes, his All-American message served as the blueprint for babyfaces who want to cross over into mainstream popular culture. Take your vitamins. Say your prayers. Be like Hulk, and you, too, can be unstoppable (and also, well, racist, but you get it).
The thing about Hogan’s turn, however, was that it intertwined with a much bigger, ground-breaking industry-wide story that unfolded as Razor Ramon and Diesel showed up unannounced at a Monday Night Nitro. That turned out to be the catalyst for everything – and, some could argue, a bigger story than Hogan’s turn, if only because Hogan was merely spinning his wheels as a Good Guy at the time of the formation of the NWO. It was certainly earth-shattering – as a 12-year-old, it blew my mind – but there is a case to be made that if the NWO never existed and Hogan tried to turn heel, it almost certainly wouldn’t have packed as big of a punch as it did.
But Cena? This is all him. The story was his retirement. The story was his chase to break the world title record. The story was this being a simple victory lap for a guy who outgrew WWE and became a legitimate movie star in Hollywood. Sure, The Rock is involved. But The Rock, in a lot of ways, is merely a bit player in Cena’s decision to turn against the most popular babyface WWE has seen since … well … Cena. There is no outlaw crew that served as the shock to Hogan’s awe; in a few short minutes on Saturday night, Cena became both shock and awe.
That leads us back to why we’ll never see it again: While the Internet Wrestling Community has never been more loud – and thus gives off the impression that all fans are Smart Fans these days – the truth is that even the regular, old pro wrestling fan who just likes going to the matches knows far more about the inner workings of the product than the 1996 regular, old pro wrestling fan who just likes going to the matches did. Surprises, alone, are just so damn hard to come by in today’s wrestling world. But surprises that have history, prestige, and decades of story that’s already been told?
Impossible.
Or not. At least not in Toronto. Until the final minutes of Elimination Chamber, John Cena has been boring for the last five to ten years. Affably boring, but boring nonetheless. He went through the backlash of fans thinking it was cool to turn on him. He never blinked and showed up and did his job for all those years – to the point where the fans who grew tired of him turned back and stood behind him in support. And everyone seemed OK with that. “He’s already been through it all. WWE will never turn him heel. Too many Make-A-Wish Kids love him. He’s earned our respect for putting up with our bullshit chants. Sure, man. Come back for one last ride. Play the hits. We’ll give you standing ovations in all the towns. Let’s all just have a little bit of fun before you go.”
Because of that sentiment, Cena faded into the background of WWE’s main stories – even despite this being his retirement tour. He was slotted as a nice addition to anyone who wants to see a WWE live show. The question of if he would get one more world title reign didn’t really mean much. I guess it would have been nice. But if it didn’t/doesn’t happen, that’s OK, too. We all just kind of viewed John Cena’s 2025 as a fun, little fluffy B-story to all of WWE’s A-stories. Not anymore.
And that matters in the context of why we’ll never see something like this again in pro wrestling heel turns. There isn’t a single active wrestler who hasn’t spent notable time being on both sides of the aisle at various points in his or her career. The obvious argument today would be Cody Rhodes, but anyone who followed his non-WWE work has seen him be a heel (and a good one, at that). AEW, for its part, has never really had a monster babyface in the vein of a John Cena or a Cody Rhodes (except for when they had Cody Rhodes, of course), so they’re out (imagine if Orange Cassidy was 20 years younger and the company actually gave him world title wins … but I digress). Look at NXT and nobody sticks out as a World Beating Good Guy then, now or forever. There’s just no way a turn with the magnitude of Cena’s could formulate stateside in any type of immediate future.
Which brings us to beyond the immediate future. It was about 30 years between the Hogan and Cena turns, so even if something would be in the running, it’d take decades to establish the groundwork for it and as such, we probably don’t even know the wrestler that might be involved in this hypothetical turn here as we sit in the year 2025. That in mind, take a look at the way this world works these days. There is no patience, no commitment, no chance for a John Cena-like career to develop in the way John Cena’s career has developed. The truth is, the only person stubborn enough to lay the groundwork for Saturday night was the devil himself, Vince McMahon.
McMahon’s unflinching devotion to keeping Cena a babyface for all those years is not something that pro wrestling bookers these days possess. And with the Tik Tok-ification of the world, it appears impossible that any future major pro wrestling bookers will obtain that skill, if only because in so many ways, pro wrestling is a slave to its audience. If the fans don’t get what they want, when they want it, they’ll eventually go away. Every company goes through those periods; some don’t even survive it. This idiom will only tighten its grip on things as popular culture continues down the path it is currently walking.
The real juice, as always, will be in the follow up. If Cena continues to be absent during his farewell tour, the impact of his turn won’t feel as sparkly as it does today, in the immediate wake of what happened. Cena will need to actually show up to TV shows now and, if this thing is to reach its maximum potential, he’s going to have to build a program with Cody that will need attention each week. Will it work? It absolutely could, but one thing that’s worth keeping in mind is the fact that some sections of fans far and wide have already been kind of/sort of leaning towards being over Cody to begin with; will Cena’s turn ultimately elicit more cheers for him and more boos for Cody? That ought to be fascinating to watch develop.
In the meantime, it’s so much fun to bask in the glow of something we probably won’t ever see again as pro wrestling fans. Even if that might be an idiotic thing to say.
They just did basically the same thing with Trish Stratus and it was forgotten about nearly as quickly as it occurred. I hope this one turns out better.
Nothing idiotic. I never thought I’d see it.
Cena played his part awesome, from the shock of being eliminated at RR, to the somber press conference announcing he’d be at the Chamber, likely due to the Rock I think we’ll be told, to taking advantage of Punk’s head stomp at the Chamber, to making that stoic face while glaring at the Rock. Great stuff.
Should the faction be called the Hollywood Drip?