RADICAN’S TAKE: It’s time for WWE to give fans what they want and pull the plug on Cena’s heel turn

It’s time to pull the plug on John Cena’s heel turn. The thought first ran through my head right after Cena beat Randy Orton to retain the WWE Undisputed Championship. Not that his heel turn was all roses and rainbows prior to that, but I felt more disengaged than ever after observing Cena after his match with Orton once the “live” part of the show ended on Peacock.

The cameras continued to follow Cena even after the announcers signed off. The fans had played along with Cena being a heel during his match with Orton, but once the lights came up so to speak to signal the end of the show, they showered him with a “Thank you Cena” chant.

Cena appeared emotional and on the verge of tears, but he held his composure before pausing at the top of the entrance ramp and holding up his title backwards. He seemed to want to acknowledge those cheers and soak them in from the St. Louis crowd, but obviously he couldn’t.

Cena’s heel turn has felt rushed and ill-planned from the beginning. It is one of the most disappointing events to occur in modern pro wrestling in terms of execution. I wasn’t a fan of the initial heel turn, but there was some potential for some great stuff with Rock, Cena, and Travis Scott on the road to WrestleMania as a trio after Cena turned heel at Elimination Chamber in February, but none of my dreams of what might be possible with a heel Cena ever came true.

In fact, it was just Cena left on his own as Rock informed him The Rock had done his job and would not be making anymore appearances after Cena’s heel turn at Backlash. Only Travis Scott bothered to show up for Cena at WrestleMania and we haven’t seen him since.

Cena has taken the most basic path through his promos since his turn. Largely standing pat on his dysfunctional relationship with them that he has talked about multiple times even though he had been roundly cheered by everyone for years prior to his turn.. Cena has threatened to leave with the WWE Undisputed Championship and break the lineage of the title. Yes, that same title that has had its lineage broken multiple times already.

The fans simply won’t care if Cena leaves with the title. As he said, he wants to ruin wrestling for the fans and he knows another champion will be crowned, but it won’t mean anything because he is going to take the real title home with him when he retires. He’s half right.

Cena turned in one of the most soulless promos recently on Saturday Night’s Main event when he had words with current WWE World Champion Jey Uso backstage after beating Ron Killings.. It was strange to see Cena back in his entrance gear. He wasn’t sweating even though the segment aired shortly after his match with Killings. Cena spoke in a monotone voice to Jey in a manner that did anything but make me want to see them in the ring together this coming weekend at Money in the Bank.

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If Cena’s soulless performance on Saturday Night’s Main Event wasn’t enough to show that it is time to pull the plug on this heel turn, his interaction with Cody Rhodes on Smackdown last Friday cemented it. He came out after Jey Uso made his entrance to join Cody Rhodes in the ring. Cena was joined by Logan Paul and they ran down Rhodes and Uso on the mic in a way to ensure their upcoming tag match against Rhodes & Uso draws very little interest. Most heels at least tacitly acknowledge some redeeming qualities of their babyface opponents, so as not to bury them, but Cena and Paul did not mention a single redeeming quality about Rhodes or Uso.

The cherry on the cake for this segment was that when Cena and Paul went to leave, Cody went to an old school Cena staple, a homophobic remark, to goad Cena and Paul back into the ring. They got sent packing to end the show as the faces stood tall, but the message was clear. Cena was once again very cookie cutter in his delivery. There was hardly any bite to his heel promo where he simply just ran down his opponents. It was another relatively soulless performance from Cena, although he was much more engaged than he was the previous week on SNME when he confronted Jey backstage.

What is worrisome about Cena being in this role was that it was Rock’s idea and well, Rock doesn’t seem to really care how his ideas are playing out on Raw and Smackdown while WWE CCO Triple H is left to hold the bag while he’s out of the picture. For Cena’s turn to feel authentic and work, he had to be given material that he could believe in, but he hasn’t been given anything unique or exciting to work with as a heel.

It’s time for WWE to pull the plug on Cena’s heel turn. Will they do it? Probably not as they have a vision that they are likely required to stick to moving forward until Cena’s retirement tour ends. I hope I’m wrong though.

Fans want to see Cena as a face. He is the Babe Ruth of WWE. He is a hero to children and much of WWE’s current fan base grew up watching him as the centerpiece of the company for better or for worse. There’s nothing clicking with his heel turn that makes it worth it for the fans to invest in him as a bad guy when all they truly want to do is cheer him. Not to mention it’s hard to forget that Cena holds the record for most wishes granted through the Make-A-WIsh Foundation. He’s not someone that should go out this way.

Cena is someone fans want to cheer in every arena until he has his last match with WWE. It was clear listening to the fans in St. Louis after Backlash ended that they had played along with his heel turn, what they really wanted to do in his last appearance in the market was cheer him. Every market Cena visits for the last time is a wasted opportunity for the fans to show him their appreciation as long as he’s heel.

It’s sad to see WWE deny fans the ability to say goodbye to one of their all-time favorite wrestlers properly. Cena may have been willing to play along, but he deserves to hear the adulation on what’s left of his road to his last WWE match. I have no doubt Cena will turn back face before his last match. Hopefully WWE gives the fans and Cena what they want well before his final date with the company in December.

Contact Sean at pwtorchsean@gmail.com. Follow him on Bluesky @SeanRadican.