People rave on about a Cena heel turn but....

[That N Word]

People constantly complain about a Cena heel turn. But the guy doesn't want to do it fully. I would love to see it still and will still fanasty book it lol. But techinically Cena has turned heel (not talking aobut his 2002 heel turn on Billy Kidman or based on reactions.) I am talking about during his WM 29 feud with The Rock. He turned heel in Philadelphia for 2 or 3 weeks before re-turning face at WrestleMania. I know alot of people will argue against it so let's spark a debate.

 

[Mudlup50]

I think they've been edging Cena to being a tweener for a while now. Like they're doing it on purpose now. For example he goes to AA Heyman(heel move) then drops him(face move). Attacking Heyman a few weeks ago to get Lesnar out there. At least since he dropped the belt, him being a full face is debatable.

I don't think it should matter whether he's face or not, I just don't want him on my screen forever. For example, this Raw was really good in my opinion(at least compared to the last month or two), Cena was on the screen a lot but he wasn't the main attraction. Orton face turn is higher at the moment, Seth/Dean feud is higher, even the Rusev promo was higher in importance. Cena didn't bug me on Raw, he doesn't need to be a heel to be good, he just needs to take his foot off of the face gas pedal....on a side note, he claimed Orton hasn't been relevant since 2002? That's just straight slander, Orton has been 1 of the top 3 guys pretty much for the last 7-8 years.

 

[MERPER]

Simply put, you can't turn Cena heel because he's too much the good guy outside the ring and in today's modern age that matters.

Just like the Nikki/Brie feud was terribly thought out from day 1 because they are real-life sisters who party and hang out outside the ring constantly, you simply can't sell the storyline.

well, you can't sell Cena as a full heel either because of all his stuff outside the ring. You simply can't hate the guy because of all the charity work he does, all the stuff he does with the troops, etc.

 

[GeneralKarim]

Cena is a brand, he can't turn heel. They have invested a lot of money and especially TIME in the John Cena brand. Turning him heel wouldnt raise profits one bit. The people who boo him will cheer him and the people who cheer him will boo him, so same ol same ol. There's no real debate to be had. We all know why we want Cena to turn, but at this point there is not reason for management to turn him heel.

Will they get more money from him? No. Will they get more viewers on RAW? Barely. Remember wrestling is not cool anymore and the people who watch wrestling are 99% wrestling fans. Those are the people who give them their ratings and constantly buy/bought PPVs. If they think NeNe LEAKEakes spends her monday's watching 3 hours of garbage or that by her being there they go "mainstream" and "appeal" to wider audiences they are fooling themselves as ratings havent been good for years now and have been going down bit by bit even tho they have made humangous efforts to reach a wider audience.

John Cena is the only constanty in the WWE atm. Without him they would panic. I mean realy. Take John Cena out, right now, from the roster. What do you get? You get a Cenaless and Lesnarless RAWs with only upper midcarders that will be forced to be put in the main event even tho they are prolly not ready. I hate seeing Cena in the main event all the time but the guy is there for a reason.

 

[Messiah]

John Cena will turn heel when they create the next big thing in WWE. They know it's a moment that has to happen.. They can't turn him heel right now because they have NO babyfaces to take his spot.. and no Dean Ambrose is not an option. Nobody is on Cena's level and that's the problem with turning him heel. If someone drew close to as much as Cena does, he would turn heel.

 

[Zycho32]

Throwing a curveball into the debate, if only because it's been done so often it should be a Sticky thread, but I'm not really one of the people who are greatly wanting John Cena turning heel. That's probably because of how recently I got into wrestling.

That said, ever since he took time off for his arm injury, I've fallen into the Siren Spell of pondering how Cena could play something different and still be a babyface.

At first, I thought of the role Cena could progress to as something of a Mentor/Sensai type, even if only in Kayfabe terms. Someone the good guys could count on for support and have watch their backs. I especially wanted to see him take on this role in light of what was supposedly being built around Daniel Bryan.

And here's a blast from the past idea; remember when WWE had just wrapped up the Invasion Angle, only for Vince McMahon to discover that his 'basterd' kids sold their controlling stakes, the OTHER half of the ownership in other words, to Ric Flair? Flair became a sorta-face Authority Figure playing off against Vince, though that was short-lived. But it made me think; if you wanted to re-run that angle, to put a Good Guy on an Equal footing to Triple H and Stephanie, the only option in terms of feasibility would be John Cena.

Imagine that; John Cena coming out in a suit and tie, telling HHH that they are sharing power, and now the Authority has a thorn in their paw they CAN'T shrug off.

The only real downgrade is that Cena would probably be more of a Promo guy than a wrestler during this time- which I'm not blind about; I know that's a detraction- but on the upswing, it's something different and Cena is still playing the Hero.

 

[FromGlasgow]

I think eventually he will turn heel but not now, Too many kids right now buying his toys/merchandise and going to shows to see him and not having any new worthy faces to replace him at that level, I don't imagine them making anywhere near the money they make on placing the likes of Randy Orton, Dean Ambrose or Roman Reigns into that number one face of the company position.

 

[MC_Live]

The more time goes by, the less I see a Cena heel turn happening. I was of the belief in the past that he would one day turn when the next "guy" was ready to take over the reigns (is that a pun I see there?). But now I just don't see it as much. I think at most, he gets a little edge on him. But as long as John Cena is an active wrestler on RAW every week and the PPV's every month, it's gonna be Hustle, Loyalty, Respect good guy John Cena. Thinking about it, I don't think that turning him heel would be as effective as I once thought. The crowd is split now. It would be split then too. Boo'd by all the kids, and cheered by all the guys. Only difference is merchandise sales drop. In the end, it's probably not worth it. It can't really be compared to Hogan. In '96, WCW didn't have merchandise to sell. Turning Hogan heel didn't effect the bottom line. Not to mention with Sting, Flair, Savage, Luger, and a host of others, WCW had the talent to support a Hogan heel turn. In 2014 and beyond WWE, it's a very different case with John Cena. The only time Cena will ever turn heel in the future is when he does that thing when he literally turns the heel of his foot.

As far as him going "heel" on the lead up to WrestleMania 29, that wasn't a heel turn. That was Cena adding some edge so the story wasn't just, "Big babyface vs. Big babyface" again. He didn't really do anything too hellish. Didn't insult the audience. Didn't cowardly attack people. Didn't cause any harm to any other babyfaces. It was just him being a little meaner than normal. And to me, that's the answer. John Cena may never be a full heel. May never be what the IWC describes as a "tweener". The closest we'll ever come is John Cena, a babyface with some attitude. But not too much.

 

[BeastFromTheEast]

I see what Wale4Real is saying in regard to the WM29 feud with Rock. Though, I don't believe that Cena actually turned heel for that feud. His promos and banter with the Rock weren't the typical Cena but not quite enough to be considered heel. I do believe though that in a face v. face pairing that they had, Cena was meant to, in a round about way, play the heel without a defining turn. As far as an official heel turn in the future I'd say that the only possibility I see that ever happening is maybe one day near the edge of retirement and after a new poster boy has been established. But the chances of that sure appear to be slim to none.

 

[Mustang Sally]

I am talking about during his WM 29 feud with The Rock.

That's not what I remember. I thought Cena talked quietly and respectfully about his opponent, while Rock was the one that came off as the heel; a raving lunatic talking trash about Cena with dirty language and threatening words. It's always interesting to analyze the heel/face aspects of modern pro wrestling, because a person who was watching this stuff for the first time, having no idea who the characters were, would surely have seen Rock as the heel every time he appeared in WWE. He's a bully and a loudmouth. Yet, we cheer him to the rafters and boo Cena. Go figure.

I have no idea what is stopping the Cena heel turn; I think it would be the biggest thing in the past 10 years in sports entertainment. As it is, I don't know how many fans actually dislike Cena....as I see it, they latch onto the "Cena sucks" chant going through the crowd and boo because they hear everyone else booing; snug & secure in the knowledge they're doing what everyone else is doing. Incidentally, I feel the same way about the "Yes!" chant. I would guess that tons of folks who don't have the foggiest idea who Daniel Bryan is are yelling the word when attending a WWE show. It's the crowd mentality at work.

But, however many fans are booing Cena because they're bored (or whatever they've got against him) I think a heel turn would be the fitting response to all the crap being hurled at him. ("You're booing me after all I've done for you, you ungrateful assholes? I'll give you something to boo about!!") Then, he sets about being as bad as he can possibly be. I would absolutely love it. Ultimately, it would make his eventual turn back to face powerful theater.

Of course, it seems the time for this has already arrived, yet they haven't done it. The reason they haven't is what we don't know....and the answer to that question probably involves management's vision of the company as a whole.

 

[chuckmdubya]

If Hulk Hogan can go heel than anyone can. Hogan was even more of a hero to children than Cena is. But Cena's turn will have to be just as big and game changing as the nWo was. The nwo changed wrestling, not because they were a super huge powerful stable, but because they got ratings and created the Monday night wars.
There is a way to switch Cena to heel, and to make it great, but I just do not have a clue what that is. He's to big of a star to join with authority, that didn't or with Austin and will not work with him, he's just too big to put in a heel stable.
If he were to form one, like Hogan, than they would be deeply criticized online.
I don't think he can just one day start telling fans off. There is too much merchandising money at stake, kids would stop buying Cena stuff if he turns on them.

 

[CrucifiedRaven]

I also think it would backfire. Or at least be underwhelming. The smart fans who dislike him as a babyface won't actually boo him. And it's not going to "shock" the wrestling world like Hogan's turn did. Ratings or business won't improve. I think it's necessary for his character, because he's so stale right now... but I don't think it would be as big as people think.

 

[theblasterkid]

There is no point in turning him heel at this point to be honest because there are too many people anticipating it. When Hogan turned heel at Bash at the Beach '96 not many people knew he would be the third guy to join Hall & Nash thus creating the NWO; it was a major shock. Personally, I don't care for his heel turn. I wish that he would either step out of the main event (take time off or go for the mid card titles), go part-time, or retire. I'm sick of him and I think the WWE should move on and build more stars. Luckily, I just started watching the product again Summerslam '13 and beforehand I haven't watched since about late '05. It definitely saved me from watching Cena being shoved down my throat for nine years.