John Cena.Photo:Steve Russell/Toronto Star via Getty
Steve Russell/Toronto Star via Getty
It’s been nearly a week since the unthinkable happened whenJohn Cenaturned “heel” and became WWE’s ultimate bad guy.
The storyline is expected to culminate at WrestleMania 41 in Las Vegas come April 20, where the WWE announced Cena and Rhodes, 39, will face each other for the WWE Championship. If Cena wins, he will become the all-time leader in career world championships, eclipsing Ric Flair’s record of 16 world championships throughout his wrestling career.
But Cena – the “John Cena” the beloved actor plays on WWE television – has since remained silent about what drove him to have a change of heart and turn his back on the WWE fans.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, John Cena and Travis Scott fight Cody Rhodes during WWE Elimination Chamber.Rich Freeda/WWE via Getty
Rich Freeda/WWE via Getty
WWEcalledCena’s heel turn “one of the most shocking moments in WWE history” this week and declared that “John Cena as we know him is no more.” The moment made headlines around the world, and even hadESPN talking headsasking, “John Cena, why? Why?!” after he took directive from The Rock and began attacking Rhodes at the end of last weekend’s event.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and John Cena.Rich Freeda/WWE via Getty
Cena has yet to appear on television to explain exactly why he decided to join forces with The Rock, a longtime rival he’s sharedboth fictional and real-life beefwith over the years. His next advertised WWE appearances are scheduled for March 24 in Glasgow, Scotland and March 31 in London, England, though it’s possible he would appear on WWE television before then.Cena, himself a 16-time world champion, briefly appeared at a post-show press conference after WWE’s Elimination Chamber event and walked into the room, picked up the microphone, and dropped it before taking any questions.
Since then, Cena has only cryptically tweeted in reference to last Saturday. “Have the discipline to do what needs to be done, especially when you don’t feel like it,” hewroteon X on Monday. And on Wednesday, Cenaposted: “How others respond to us tends to say a whole lot more about them than it does about us. Evaluate it and don’t take it personal.”
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In recent weeks, Cena has opened up about wanting to become a heel before he retires from pro wrestling later this calendar year,revealing topro wrestling interviewer Chris Van Vliet that he was once “ready” to turn heel in 2012 and even had new ring gear and new theme music made.
“The weird thing is, that’s supposed to happen,” Cena told Van Vliet recently while discussing his desire to play a bad guy on WWE television. “If you think of the course of human life, no one is perfect, right? It’s very tough each day to wake up and live a good life. It’s tough to be mistake free."
“So, that’s human trajectory,” he continued. “We all go through patches where we make decisions against our value system. We all turn heel at one point. It’s just a matter of if you see the light. And I think that’s what makes a lot of the characters redeemable, is you take a really good good-guy and have them lose their way. It’s Darth Vader in Star Wars. You want to root for him, because you don’t give up on that guy. You know there’s good in him. That’s beautiful. Those stories are beautiful.”
source: people.com
