According to Michael Cole - so it must be true - John Cena is one of the all-time greats,
up there with Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Steve Austin and The Rock.
He’s headlined multiple WrestleManias, held various championships and beaten some of the
best the business has to offer.
But a vocal part of the crowd never accepted him the top star, constantly booing WWE’s
number one babyface.
Many fans demanded he turn heel - and he very nearly did - but it never happened.
I am Luke Owen and this is why John Cena Never Turned Heel.
Our story begins at WrestleMania 21 where John Cena captured his first WWE Championship
from JBL, and a couple of months later found himself drafted to Raw.
At first Cena was cheered as champion, a holdover from the popular Doctor of Thuganomics character
he had while in the midcard - a character that was originally a heel because, well,
look at him.
But over the next couple of months, Cena began to get less cheers and more boos.
The rapper gimmick faded away and in its place was a whitemeat babyface that did it for the
fans and hugged kids.
To make matters worse, Cena was no longer in the ring with midcard guys like Carlito
and Jesus, and instead with greats like HBK and Kurt Angle.
“This backlash is a combination of many things.
First, the fans see through his act.
Second, many fans see him in the ring with Angle and Shawn Michaels and know he can’t
hold up his end of the deal.”
- Bryan Alvarez, Figure Four Weekly #542, November 14th 2005
However Cena was the company’s number one merchandise seller, and younger fans were
still cheering him at shows.
During any Cena match you would hear a high-pitched “let’s go Cena” followed by a louder
and deeper “Cena sucks” from the 18-35 male demographic.
“It is acknowledged backstage that the John Cena thing is not working.
The solution talked about, at least at this point, is to keep him off TV until he comes
out for the main events, which of course makes zero sense since his strength is that he can
talk and his weakness is that he [can’t] work.”
- Bryan Alvarez, Figure Four Weekly #542, November 14th 2005
Despite pleas from the older fanbase, WWE were never going to turn their golden babyface
heel.
It may have worked for Hulk Hogan when he formed the nWo in 1996, but it failed miserably
for Steve Austin in 2001.
The decision was made - despite the overwhelmingly negative reactions he was getting - to stay
the course and keep him as the always-overcoming-the-odds good guy.
There was one person who did want to turn him heel, however, Stephanie McMahon.
“I really wanted to see him turn heel.
I wanted it as a fan and I also thought it was the right thing to do, but it turns out
I was wrong.”
Stephanie McMahon, Cheap Heat Podcast, March 2017
It wasn’t until 2012 that the idea of turning Cena heel was taken seriously, during his
feud with The Rock.
The previous year WWE trademarked the term “Fear My Name” - remember that, it’ll
come up later - and Cena revealed on Live!
With Chris Jericho that he recorded new theme music and got new gear made up.
“Immediately, I ran off like a cartoon [and] recorded new theme music, got new gear made.
[I] was ready...
if it happened, it would have been great because I could show that different side.”
- John Cena, Live!
With Chris Jericho, April 6th 2015
The planned heel turn was so close that even Vince McMahon had signed off on the pitch,
but something made him change his mind.
“We started making plans for it, and Vince got cold feet.
We had just signed a John Cena exclusive merchandise deal with Wal-Mart and Vince came into a booking
meeting one day with the head writers, and he said ‘I know you guys really want to
do this, but we just can’t do it.’”
Kevin Eck, PWTorch, March 2017
The problem that Vince McMahon had, at least according to former writer at the time Kevin
Eck, was that WWE didn’t have a babyface that could replace Cena.
While some lobbied for CM Punk and Randy Orton, it was argued that Punk wasn’t over enough
to lead the company and Orton was a better heel.
There was one guy, however.
“I can tell you it was around the time Sheamus was World Heavyweight Champion and was being
really protected with the booking...
I think Vince trying to get him over with the crowd actually hurt him more than helped
him.
I think Vince after a while started listening to the crowd and thought, ‘well I guess
it’s not him, so who’s next?'”
Kevin Eck, PWTorch, March 2017
The heel turn was cancelled and Cena revealed to Chris Jericho that rather than get refund
on the new gear he told the costume designer to donate the money to the guys and girls
in NXT.
However a prototype was made, as seen in this Total Divas episode from season 3, with Cena
surprises Nikki Bella wearing a singlet with the phrase: Fear My Name.
It’s been thirteen years since Cena first turned babyface and there is now no chance
he’ll ever turn back - particularly with him working a part-time schedule.
However if you ask him, he turned heel back in 2005.
“You as a grown man may say, 'when is he going to be a bad guy'...
My response to that is you boo me anyway, I'm the biggest heel in the company.
Why?
So you can cheer me?
What about that 8-year old kid?”