John Cena has explained why his heel turn was not a success.
The Cenation Leader recently sat down with Bill Simmons for a lengthy interview. He touched on topics such as the decision to retire from active competition, feud with AJ Styles and more.
During the interview, Cena also discussed the heel run of his retirement tour in detail. He first talked about how Vince McMahon was never in favor of him turning heel during the former WWE chairman's reign, despite the mixed reaction of fans for years.
The 17-time world champion then explained why the much-anticipated heel turn that finally came this year could not live up to the hype. John mentioned that it takes years for a cycle of character change to live up to its full potential, while he had only a few dates to make the most of it:
"I think a lot of people were wondering, ‘What would happen if John Cena turned heel?’ Then when I did, it left a taste in people’s mouths that they didn’t like it. They wanted other stuff. ‘I wanted a music change, a uniform change, I wanted him to act like this.’
I got 11 months to do this. 36 TV appearances. It takes five years to get a guy over, regardless. If you turn him, it’s gonna take a year or two on television for it really to sink in, especially if you really want to get into it and be able to flip and then get a performer to get a nice flip on the other side when it’s time to turn again. I don’t have the time to tell the right story."
A Sucker's Chase: John Cena
After teasing a heel turn at Royal Rumble, John Cena finally turned on Cody Rhodes after winning the Elimination Chamber in March, with a touch from The Rock. This led to Cena winning his record-breaking 17th world title at WrestleMania 41 in April, and the subsequent reign that lasted 105 days, ending at SummerSlam in August.
The Hollywood star only wrestled 5 matches between the two PPVs which included a SmackDown match with R-Truth that ended in no contest. Though despite the complications, the Peacemaker star is not bitter about the experience. He replied negatively when asked if he has any regrets about the run.
This raised the question if he thought the whole thing was executed perfectly, and the wrestling legend explained that perfect is never achievable:
“Not at all. What is perfect? Here is what I do know - perfect is never achievable. I think that’s a sucker’s chase. When I look back on it, could I have given any more than I did? Not a bit. I overprepared. I tried go to every corner of my emotional well-being.
The cool thing is, when the audience began to turn, we turned. They helped it out. That dynamic was a little bit ahead of schedule for let's say Cody and I, but it made for a great showing for the summer. ‘Let’s try John like this, I know we have limited time, but let’s do something really big.’ Okay, it didn’t work, didn't mean I didn’t give my all.”
John Cena will make his final appearance at the December 13 Saturday Night's Main Event. He will face either Gunther or LA Knight at the show that will also feature matches between NXT and main roster stars at Cena's request.