WWE: Why There Is No Hope for a John Cena Character Change

Let's get one thing straight: John Cena will not be turning heel anytime soon.

No doubt this will be disappointing to the large subset of fans that have been salivating at the prospect of Cena as a bad guy for years now.

The anticipation for a heel turn has been building steadily for a while. Having tired of his bland, lacklustre goody-two-shoes act, they want to see a darker, edgier, more depraved Cena—one who breaks all the rules and tears through the company, doing what he wants.  

However, while it might be a boon to the promotion creatively—after all, Cena going heel would open up a whole new bunch of options to the booking team—there are a few reasons it will never happen. Or, at least, not anytime in the near future.

First of all, there is simply no one to take his place as WWE’s premier babyface.

While the talented and charismatic CM Punk is popular with fans on RAW, for whatever reason, he has not been able to translate this over to ratings. To be frank, he simply hasn’t caught on as a draw, and probably won't anytime soon. 

That he has spent most of his current WWE Championship playing second-fiddle to Cena—rarely getting to main-event PPVs or close out RAW—strongly hints that management lack faith in him to be the top name in the company.

Over on SmackDown, Randy Orton’s future in the promotion is up in the air following his suspension for violating the company’s wellness policy, with some reports claiming the company doesn’t want him back. 

And, while a decent and hard-working wrestler, current World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus isn’t nearly as over as one would like a main-event performer to be. The fact that heels Daniel Bryan and Dolph Ziggler got heavily cheered in their pay-per-view matches with him says it all about the Irishman’s flaws as a babyface character.

Another reason WWE will keep Cena face is his massive merchandise figures. While his one-dimensional cartoonish face character may still be deeply unpopular with a large contingent of cynical adult fans, he remains hugely over with kids, who buy his colourful merchandise in droves.

If he turned heel, however, his numbers would surely plummet, as these young fans sour on their hero. In their disappointment, they may even turn away from the WWE product. While we may like the idea of Cena going heel, as a business decision it makes no sense.

Many point to Hulk Hogan’s ground-breaking heel turn in WCW at 1996’s Bash at the Beach PPV as a template for a potential Cena turn, pointing to all the good Hulk as a bad guy did for the Atlanta-based promotion. However, these people forget that Hogan was already floundering badly as a babyface prior to turning—the company really had nothing to lose with switching him to a bad guy.

Cena, on the other hand, isn’t truly struggling as a face, despite the perception. As noted, he is highly popular with women and younger fans and still makes the company a truckload of money every year.      

Summarily, while Cena turning heel may sound like a great idea on paper, in practice it doesn’t make terribly much sense—from the business side of things at least. Maybe that will change one day, and WWE will find Cena's new babyface replacement, freeing him up for a turn, but him changing his character in the foreseeable future? I wouldn't bet on it.