John Cena Shockingly Turned Heel, And I Think That’s Bad News For Cody Rhodes’ Future As WWE Champion

After decades of calling for John Cena to take his wrestling persona to a darker place, most fans had come to terms with the fact that the legend would never turn heel. He was just too beloved by children, too tied into the Make A Wish foundation and too much of a company mascot to even pretend to be bad. After staying a good guy for more than twenty years, it’s not like he’d suddenly become a villain during his goodwill retirement tour, right?

Apparently wrong. Last night, John Cena shocked everyone in the Rogers Centre and millions of people watching around the world when he kicked Cody Rhodes in his American Nightmares, and in the sober reality of Sunday morning, it’s hard not to feel this whole heel turn is bad news for Cody Rhodes’ longevity as WWE champion.

Before we get into what this means for Rhodes, however, let’s brag about Cena for a minute. The Hollywood A-lister and pop culture figure has built a reputation over the last few decades for being a good guy. As many of his peers in the wrestling industry evolved their characters and waffled back and forth between periods as a good guy and periods as a bad guy, Cena just kept preaching Hustle, Loyalty and Respect. His relentless enthusiasm and positivity were always a huge hit with children and a segment of the larger WWE fanbase, but that lack of evolution also made him a target for another segment of the fans who got sick of the lack of character development.

Because of that split, Cena spent most of the prime of his wrestling career in this odd limbo. Some cheered him like a prime Hulk Hogan and some booed him like an Attitude Era Vince McMahon. He was the baby face’s baby face, so relentlessly a good guy doing the right thing in every situation that it drove some fans crazy. A few times, he flirted with perhaps becoming a bad guy. We now know there were plenty of conversations behind the scenes. Plans were even put in place for him to front a relaunched nWo as a villain, but it never happened.

He eventually went to Hollywood full-time and a funny thing happened. During his lengthy absences, even his biggest haters started to miss him to the point where each time he’s come back, the receptions have just gotten louder and louder. Over the last year or two, he’s been getting huge ovations from almost everyone, the type of unrelenting positivity he desperately wanted during those years where fans were more split. When he announced his retirement tour, fans openly talked about how it’ll be nice to finally all get on the same page and cheer for him as one united group, and yet, here we are.

You know how you can tell John Cena loves the wrestling business? Because he just took a massive risk. Instead of collecting fat paychecks, selling tons of t-shirts and going out with a nostalgic round of applause, he’s decided to tell a new and potentially compelling story by doing something he never really did in his career (at least apart from when he was first trying to make it). It’s really exciting, and I can’t wait to see how the rest of the story plays out.

We know Cena and Cody Rhodes will be facing each other at WrestleMania, but what story beats Triple H and the writers are going to try to hit between now and then is anyone’s guess. A few months ago, I was pretty convinced these two would face each other at 'Mania but Cody would turn heel ahead of the match.

I would imagine The Rock is going to play a major role, as Cena has assumedly become his corporate champion. As a member of TKO’s Board Of Directors, The Rock has tremendous behind the scenes power, and WWE plays into that with its onscreen product and will assumedly do so again, with The Final Boss likely directing Cena to make Cody and everyone else’s life a challenge between now and ‘Mania.

Obviously, we don’t know what is going to happen at WrestleMania, but we need to acknowledge that there is now a very high likelihood Cody is going to lose his Championship. The wrestling game is all about momentum. The goal is to tell hot stories, and most of the time with hot characters, the best way to keep them hot is to have them win.

John Cena just went heel for the first time in over two decades, and the entire wrestling world is on the edge of its seat wondering how this is going to play out. I don’t have the answers, but I think whatever story John Cena is going to tell is going to be a lot more interesting if he’s the WWE Champion while telling it.

So, with all due respect to Cody Rhodes, it's time for you to lose the WWE Championship. One of the biggest stars in the history of this business just took a huge creative risk, and he needs to be rewarded by winning the high profile match that comes after it and in doing so, get the chance to write another chapter as the face of WWE.