John Cena Turns Heel, Joins The Rock At WWE Elimination Chamber (WWE News)

After nearly two decades of certain fans clamouring for it, the seemingly unthinkable has happened: John Cena turned heel at WWE Elimination Chamber last night.

In the final match of the night, Cena emerged victorious in the men's Chamber, last eliminating CM Punk to earn himself a shot at WWE Champion Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 41. There, Punk passed out in Cena's STF after the Second City Saint had been hit by a Seth Rollins stomp on the outside of the steel structure. That in itself came mere minutes after Punk had eliminated Rollins following a GTS and an Attitude Adjustment to the Visionary.

Post-match, Cody made his way out to share a moment with Cena, the two staring at the WrestleMania sign and sharing a show of respect. That was all interrupted by The Rock and Travis Scott, with the Final Boss of course seeking an answer on whether or not he could have the American Nightmare's "soul". After plentiful kayfabe discourse from Rhodes on recent TV, his answer was a firm "Go f**k yourself!" to the Great One.

With Cena revelling in this moment and giving Cody a hug, Big Match John's face suddenly became a stern, serious one - unbeknownst to Rhodes - as The Rock made a throatslit gesture to Cena. And with that, the 16-time World Champion switfly kicked Cody below the belt before all three of Cena, Rock, and Travis Scott put a beating on Rhodes and left him bloodied as Elimination Chamber went off the air.

Why, Cena, Why?

You have to go back all the way to 2003 - a mammoth 22 years - for the last time fans truly saw a heel John Cena, with that being the early days of Cena's Doctor of Thuganomics gimmick. And for so many of those 22 years, a certain section of the pro wrestling world has been hoping that Cena would at some point revert back to being a villain.

Of course, any such heel turn forever felt outright impossible when John Cena was literally known at times as the Face That Runs the Place. For the longest time, Cena was the guy, the poster boy of WWE, the biggest merchandise mover, and the hero of countless millions of children around the world. While there was a plan to turn Cena heel in 2012 - ironically enough, as part of his rivalry with The Rock - WWE eventually got cold feet on that, even though John had new gear made and had recorded a new theme song to go with this villainous shift in character.

Realistically, if WWE pulled the trigger on a John Cena heel point at certain points in time, that risked massively jeapordising revenue with the drop the company would see in those mammoth merch numbers. Given how Cena has been extremely part-time in recent years, and with Cody Rhodes now doing big business in a role similar to that of classic Cena, some of the previous concerns over a heel turn simply aren't there these days - at least, not to the same extent.

Now, did anyone realistically have a John Cena heel turn on their 2025 bingo card as the 47-year-old icon embarks on his retirement tour? Likely not. Still, there have been some breadcrumbs to this turn in hindsight, such as how Cena has talked about desperately needing that 17th World Title win, how he uncharestically used his status and pull to qualify himself for the Elimination Chamber, or how he talked up that him being WWE Champion is best for business.

While Cena is not currently advertised for the next two episodes of Raw, the patented Road to WrestleMania has for sure had electric energy and plentiful intrigue thrown into the mix after what went down at Elimination Chamber.