John Cena's Reaction to Potential Heel Turn Revealed by Ex-WWE Writer Brian Gewirtz

Although it never happened, legendary WWE Superstar John Cena was supposedly open to turning heel at one point in his career.

Appearing on the Cheap Heat podcast (h/t Nitish Vashishtha of ThirstyForNews.com), former WWE writer Brian Gewirtz revealed Cena's reaction to a potential heel turn:

"All right, listen, you want to turn me heel? If that's what Vince [McMahon] says you guys want me to do, I'll do it. But just so you know, I will go full-bore heel. There won't be none of that like, 'Oh, he's a fun heel, he's a cool heel, he's winking at the audience heel.'"

Gewirtz added: "He is going to go full heel. That's what he wants to do, which would have been awesome."

Cena did spend some time as a heel early in his WWE tenure, but his rapper gimmick became so popular that the fan reaction turned him babyface.

He made his main roster debut in 2002, and by 2004 he was on a meteoric rise that saw him become United States champion and then WWE champion in 2005.

From that point forward, Cena would be the face of WWE, although the door has been open for others to take on that role in recent years with Cena focusing more on his burgeoning acting career in Hollywood.

Gewirtz divulged that while turning Cena heel was discussed on multiple occasions, there was always a reason why it couldn't or didn't happen: "We did push plenty of times for John to turn heel, and there was a lot of reasoning going into it. [McMahon] was tempted … but ultimately, there was like the merch [sales] and everything John does."

Perhaps the biggest heel turn in pro wrestling history occurred in 1996 when Hulk Hogan joined the New World Order in WCW and became "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan.

Hogan had been the biggest babyface of all time during his WWE run, but fans in WCW started to sour on him, so the decision to turn him was made, and that helped contribute to WCW Nitro beating WWE Raw in the ratings for 83 consecutive weeks.

More recently, WWE turned Roman Reigns heel, and the move has been an unquestioned success, as he has become better and more popular than ever and is in the midst of one of the longest world title runs in WWE history.

There is little doubt that Cena would have thrived in a heel role just like Hogan and Reigns, but at this point it seems unlikely that fans will ever see that scenario play out.

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