Was John Cena's Heel Run Really That Bad?

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So, this time last year, WWE decided to execute what every wrestling fan's dream come true, the long-awaited heel run of John Cena. Some were chumping at the bits to see this come to fruition, while some were heartbroken to see the man who represented Hustle, Loyalty and Respect was joining the dark side and his soul being property of the Rock. This has the makings of being something special considering this was Cena's final year as a competitor.

HIS OPENING PROMO AS A HEEL

Cena arrived in Brussels to explain to the world why he did what he did. The crowd was hot and pissed at John. In the over 20+ minute segment, Cena would tell the crowd that they used and abused him. He even pointed out a child in the crowd and made him viral for a little bit. In my personal opinion, I believe this wasn't scripted and Triple H told him to say how you feel. This could have been the starting point of an absolute build heading towards WrestleMania 41.

THE BUILD WAS OKAY

People wanted to be invested in this since John was gunning for title win #17, which would break the record for most world heavyweight championship reigns in history. His opponent, Cody Rhodes, just finished his story at the previous year's WrestleMania and was on the receiving end of a kick in the ol' CrossRhodes. This was fire when it came to promos since both were willing to unleash hatred and make fun of their opponents at every opportunity. Also, fans were anticipating what role will Travis Scott and the Rock play in the main event.

Yeah, about that.....our buddy Dwayne went to social media the morning of the event and proclaimed that he will not be at WrestleMania. Oh boy.

THE MANIA MATCH

First all, Cena comes out with his iconic theme, "The Time is Now," but the graphics on the Jumbotron showed a pitch-black background with white font letters saying "John Cena."

He scrapped the jubilant aura to the black coldness. Cody came out in a Gladiator-type entrance with his wife, Brandi, by his side. The match, itself, seemed to be stuck in neutral. I realized that the attendance wanted the theatrics of last year's main event, but if you continue to do that, it gets old after a while. Travis Scott entered the fray with his overplayed hit song, "Fein." Scott tried everything to distract Cody. After Cody dispatched Travis, Cena tried to upend Rhodes with the championship, but Rhodes caught him in a tug-of-war and eventually, gained possession of the championship. Cena tried to beg off and caught Cody with a kick in the family Rhodes. Cena hits Cody with the belt and gets the three to break the record. It should have been an earth-shattering moment since Cena is now considered as the greatest world champion in professional wrestling history. However, execution wise, this missed the mark. Travis Scott will be known as the person responsible for John Cena breaking the record.

THE AFTERMATH/ORTON FOR ONE LAST TIME

Dwayne's explanation on Pat McAfee's show was that he didn't need to be there and both Cena and Travis Scott should be able to carry on with the storyline going forward despite Dwayne being the epicenter of the whole thing. This made Cena selling his soul to Dwayne seem meaningless. So, the Raw after Mania showed Cena wearing the WWE Championship backwards, which is considered disrespectful in wrestling circles. He also had a prepared introduction for the ring announcer to say which called him, "The Never Seen Seventeen." During his promo, the crowd chanted, "We are sorry." Cena tried to tell that the crowd was chanting, "We AREN'T sorry." This is when you start to realize that it would take something diabolical for the crowd to hate him. At the end of the segment, Randy Orton comes from behind and RKO's Cena. They are doing this now, I guess. I wanted this to be Cena's final match, but WWE decided against that. During one promo, Orton said Cena needed to have kids for him to be complete, Cena shot back by saying that he's taken care of everyone's brats for years. John was really trying to make this work. The match at Backlash was a beautiful final chapter for both. R-Truth interferes as John pins Randy, wished for a better ending.

MINI FEUD WITH R-TRUTH

During the Backlash presser, Cena executed an Attitude Adjustment to R-Truth on a table. This would lead to a Saturday Night Main Event tilt between the two which Cena won using underhanded tactics. He would interfere in the "main event" of Jey Uso and Logan Paul, then Cody Rhodes returned to even the odds to set up a tag team match at Money In The Bank. The tag team match was solid as Cena tried to use underhanded tactics to defeat Cody for a second time, when a mystery man attacked Cena. It would be R-Truth! He was released and people were pissed and he was brought back due to.....storyline?

CENA/PUNK....YEAH!

In the Raw after MITB in Phoenix, Cena would continue to mock the fans and tell them that he would ruin wrestling by being the Last Real Champion. CM Punk intervenes and we will have an epic clash at Night of Champions. Both decided to turn back the clock as Cena did the Pipebomb while naming off Matt Cardona, Claudio Castanogli and Nic Nemeth, who had other personas in the E, but who remembers? Punk would parody old school John Cena as the Doctor of "Punk"anomics in Saudi Arabia, a place CM chastised some years back. The match was like the Orton tilt, a beautiful sendoff and like the Orton tilt, interference against his opponent gave Cena the victory.

It was around this time when I realized that WWE and wrestling fans were not digging Cena as a heel. Cody Rhodes earned the chance to face Cena at SummerSlam. They had a contract signing set for Smackdown in San Antonio. Cena would come out and state that he can't be at SummerSlam because of a movie commitment from Netflix. It also showed one of the coolest split-screen shot that WWE hasn't used since.

Rhodes didn't accept Cena's excuse and beat Cena to a pulp and landed a splash on a table. Rhodes then used Cena's hand to sign the contract for the match. The next week on Smackdown, Cena switched back to a face and at SummerSlam, he arrived in his old entrance. In a classic match, Cody gets his revenge and wins the WWE Championship. Cena would be attacked by the returning Brock Lesnar. Cena will have a legendary match with AJ Styles, an Intercontinental reign and his final match with Gunther on Saturday Night Main Event where he smiled and tapped out.

It lasted five months and many had mixed reviews on this. So, do I think his heel run was bad? I believed it had potential. With he being an actor by trade now, he used somewhat good facial expressions and showed passion in his promos. Again, both WWE and wrestling fans wanted to make this be successful.

Now, the reason why it didn't work was because the fans. You see, John Cena meant a lot to the community with his charitable work and his ability to grant wishes makes him legendary. Also, the Rock and Travis Scott not being a huge part of the situation didn't do him any favors. It reminds me of Stone Cold's heel run in 2001. Everyone wanted it to work, but the fans adored Austin so much that they didn't see him as a prick.

Sometimes, you just have to do something to make sure it can work. Sometimes, it doesn't.

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