John Cena couldn’t wait to turn heel. Cody Rhodes was the one sweating it.
Cena’s betrayal at Elimination Chamber 2025 remains one of the most shocking moments in modern WWE history. After Rhodes rejected The Rock’s demand for his soul in Toronto, Cena embraced him, then took The Final Boss’s cue and destroyed the champion, leaving him bloodied. Two decades of hustle, loyalty, and respect gone in a single night.
Speaking with Amy Poehler on Good Hang, Rhodes said Cena was buzzing about it, while he carried the weight of getting it right.
With John, if you’ve ever seen it, the moment where he hugs me and his face changes, he was so excited. I was more trepidatious in terms of he had never done that and it didn’t even make sense to do it at this point.
For Rhodes, the pressure came from the sheer magnitude of what they were about to do.
He had never gone rogue, gone bad. So I just didn’t want to screw that massive moment up.
The turn set up their WrestleMania 41 main event, where Cena beat Rhodes for a record 17th world title, and kicked off the villainous run that carried Cena into his retirement tour. Rhodes eventually got it back at SummerSlam last year, taking the Undisputed WWE Championship off Cena in a brutal Street Fight.
