“This would be the perfect angle to turn Cena heel” has been the battle cry of the internet fans for years now. John Cena joins Nexus? Gotta be it. Punk walks away with Cena’s title? That’s the moment, for sure. Cena loses to the Rock after a year’s worth of buildup? Clearly the only place to go with this guy is to turn him heel. We can’t shut up about it. And I’m not standing on a high mountain looking down on all those who clamor for a heel turn. I’m right there in the trenches with them. But for the most part I try to avoid talking about it. It’s the easy answer when it comes to armchair booking and it’s clear that WWE has no intention of making the turn any time soon. So I try to let it be, except for today. Today is the day where we really take a look at the best way to turn that guy heel.
If you were to take a look at the next six months the most obvious situation to have Cena turn heel during would be his feud with the Rock. What else could drive former golden child to the dark side than two losses in a row to the Rock, both at Mania? This is the obvious choice but it doesn’t work for me for a few reasons. First of all, turning heel by attacking the Rock is more or less the way Punk turned heel at Raw 1000. The problem here is that once the Rock goes back to film Fast and the Furious 7: Engines of Evil, This leaves an angry Cena without a target for his newfound heelish attacks. The greatest heels are a result of those wrestlers being able to find a grain of truth that they genuinely believe in, and using that to justify all of their heel moves. CM Punk and Mick Foley’s heel runs are shining examples of this and A simple I can’t beat the Rock won’t carry the weight that the eventual Cena Heel turn should carry.
Another problem grows from the fact that once being a heel, Cena would have little to no face challengers. CM Punk, his current rival for top position would be a heel right along side the guy. Top guys from Smackdown (Sheamus or Randy Orton) could come over to challenge new heel Cena, but that leaves the already fairly strapped for talent Smackdown even emptier than before.
A face vs. face match for the belt is big money for the WWE, and though I grumble about it on the internet, I find it hard to really begrudge the company for milking this thing for all its worth. So Cena’s turn doesn’t come until after the match where he wins, reclaims the belt, sends Rock packing to make GI Joe: Trouble in Hawaii and all the little kids are cheering.
But here’s the thing, WWE fans have always enjoyed hating those in charge Mr. McMahon being the prime example of this, and Cena has always been a company man. A dramatic character change is not what is really and truly needed here. Right now John Cena is the WWE. We all know that, but as long as Cena’s a face, it’s all really for the fans. The second that John says it out loud, then the seeds of the turn have been planted.
And that would be my Cena heel. One who wears suits to the ring, one who declares himself both the present and the future of the WWE. One who has Mr. McMahon, re-heeled and by his side because Cena is the most important thing is his business. One who wins by playing corporate games, who won’t give up and coming guys a chance because they’re not worth his time. One who does publicly all the things that the loudest of Cena’s critics already complain about him dong. He already gets boos for exactly that anyway, they might as well get intentional heat for it as well.
Unrelated Thought: Undertaker Returning? Whatever. The true highlight of the night on Monday was when, even though it was only a second, Mark Henry and Mae Young were standing next to each other. A family reunited.
