John Cena may have shocked fans by turning heel at WWE Elimination Chamber: Toronto, but the decision to embrace his dark side was not a difficult one. Despite Cena’s two-decade-plus status as a babyface, Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque told Alex McCarthy of Mail Sport that John immediately embraced the pitched turn.
“When it was brought up… in John’s mind he was like ‘wow, I didn’t think you were going to say that. I love it.'”
Cena’s heel turn has been especially surprising given that it’s come mere months before he will retire from the ring for good. Calling the turn the “absolute biggest possible thing” Cena could do, Levesque acknowledged that turning the WWE icon heel came with significant risks.
“[It] would have been very easy for him to come in here and say, have us roll through all these dates, I’ll do my greatest hits – everyone is going to love it.”
Rather than do what fans have seen for two decades, Cena “made the whole world go ‘wait, what just happened'” according to Levesque. As WWE’s Chief Content Officer, Levesque recognizes that taking risks and going against expectations are often pivotal for compelling storytelling.
“This is going to be special because John is lit up about it. We’re lit up about it. It’s going to be incredible.”
Cena plans on capturing his 17th WWE World Championship at WrestleMania, a tall order as he’ll face off with year-long champion Cody Rhodes. With two of WWE’s biggest stars poised to do battle, all eyes are on Las Vegas for a showdown that’ll prove to be one of the biggest in years.
