WWE superstar John Cena has acted as a babyface for most of his career. However, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon contemplated making him a heel.
Cena went on Smackdown Announcer Pat McAfee’s show to promote the upcoming show Peacemaker. During the interview, McAfee asked Cena about the challenges of working in WWE as a babyface for so many years and when did Cena know he’d pursue acting.
Cena admitted that being a babyface for so long is a challenge but embraces it. He also reveals that McMahon almost turned him into a heel in his feud with The Rock for Wrestlemania 28 on April 1, 2012.
“…In playing a character that, like I said, a character of virtue. A character that started as a generic wrestler and then morphed into this hip hop persona and then morphed into this character of virtue, to play the same character for a long time that’s a challenge, said Cena.”
He continued, “…I remember Vince toyed with the idea of possibly turning me heel for The Rock 1 in Miami. And I told him, hey, no problem, 100 percent I’ll do it, but just remember that we’re so deep into this point, we can’t do and then jump back because we’ll be sunk at both ends. So if we do it, I’ll have to be the opposite of virtue. I have to be pure evil, and we have to go all in.”
More on John Cena Almost Turning Heel
WWE fans in the past had wanted Cena not be a babyface. Former WWE writer Kevin Eck also shared with Pro Wrestling Torch’s Wade Keller that the company almost turned Cena. However, the company never made the change.
During the interview, Cena pinpointed the conversation he had with McMahon during his feud with The Rock being the deciding factor as to why he never turned heel. While fans never got to see Cena change character, he believes it led to great opportunities.
“…From a believability standpoint, people always see me in uniform. Go figure that, said Cena wearing the Peacemaker costume.
He continued, “If you didn’t see me in a suit in WWE, you saw me ballcap, t-shirt, jean shorts, sneakers, you saw me in uniform. I want people to know that what they see is somebody they can relate to. He (Vince) decided against it and it’s at that point he was like ‘Listen I don’t think we’re ever going to do it.’ So that’s me getting okay you have the luxury of playing this character, but you’re always are going to play this character. Which was great, because it got me to dive into nuances that kind of spawned the creation of like the Firefly Funhouse match, were like yo what if I went on a meta-experience through all of my flaws and through all like my timeline, so you know you can do stuff like that.”
Unfortunately for WWE fans, it seems we’ll never get to see Cena as a heel. However, Cena being a babyface did create moments like his match with Bray Wyatt and his feud with Roman Reigns. In the end, it seems WWE may have made the right decision.
