One of the realities of John Cena’s farewell tour is that he wasn’t actually around that much for the first two months of it. Yes, he cut an emotional promo on the Raw premiere on Netflix and he worked the Royal Rumble, including finishing as the match’s top runner up. That’s really all Cena gave WWE fans to remember from the first sixth of his final year, though.
At Elimination Chamber, Cena turned heel, completely reinventing his 2025. Going into SummerSlam, this is the version of him fans have seen for five months, with the three and a half months of that stretch spent as reigning WWE Champion.
Cena’s WWE Championship defense against Cody Rhodes is expected to close out SummerSlam 2025 and that match should mark both the end of Cena’s last title reign and the end of his work as a heel.
John Cena’s Heel Run Has Run its Course
Many fans have rejected John Cena’s heel run—citing the matches have been lackluster and the heel alignment falls flat when most of the audience wants to cheer him on his way out of the WWE Universe.
This creative arc has been better than those fans give it credit for, with the novelty of the heel persona making rematches with classic rivals feel fresh, besides the booking intrigue covering up that the champ has clearly lost a step in the ring. However, he’s running out of iconic feuds to revisit and, after over a quarter of the year, the top title in the business does deserve a better in-ring champion.
In many ways, WWE rolling out its Unreal series on Netflix has put a bow on Cena’s heel run, showing how the powers that be decided upon this monumental booking decision in ways that lend closure to the meta-story alongside what should be the end of a story on screen.
A Five-Month Version Of The Babyface Farewell Tour Will Work Better Than The Originally Expected Year
When John Cena announced that he’d work all of 2025 but that that would be his final year as an in-ring performer, it made fans emotional and created a lot of interest. An uncomfortable truth to go with that narrative, though, was that it was hard to imagine a babyface Cena being featured for twelve months straight and not having the fans turn on him. That point only became clearer as Cena demonstrated he wasn’t as sharp in the ring as he once was.
The heel run gave a segment of fans permission to boo him and a more jaded demographic a chance to cheer the villainous character a lot of them had been calling for for over a decade and had long given up hope of seeing.
However fans have felt about the last five months, now that Cena only has five months remaining as a wrestler, it’s much more palatable for fans of all persuasions to fully get on board the nostalgia train and celebrate a final babyface run.
Another Turn Invites One More Chapter Of The Rock’s Involvement John Cena\'s Story
The big loose end WWE left dangling coming out John Cena’s heel turn was The Rock’s involvement in it. After all, Rock was there for the moment itself and, alongside Travis Scott, helped Cena brutalize Cody Rhodes. The Final Boss was conspicuous in his absence from WrestleMania 41, though, and hasn’t been a presence in a WWE arena since.
Cena renouncing his bad guy ways could invite one last angle with The Rock. Might The Great One feel betrayed by Cena for eschewing what they’d agreed on. Might he pick another proxy to represent him against Cena and Cody Rhodes, or might The Final Boss himself get back in the ring, be it in singles or tag team action? While folks who loved the Rock vs. Cena matches at WrestleMania 28 and 29 are few and far between, there’s still a lot of intrigue around the possibility of a final showdown between The Final Boss and one of the greatest babyfaces in WWE history in 2025.
