WWE Would Be Smart to Book John Cena Like This in WrestleMania Build vs. Cody Rhodes

The globe, even beyond the pro wrestling universe, is waiting to see what John Cena has to say for himself after the shocking, decades-in-the-making heel turn and brutal attack on Cody Rhodes on the road to WrestleMania 41. 

Maybe, just maybe, Cena should say nothing at all. 

Fans have seen an angry Cena promo plenty of times. They’ve seen fired-up Cena promos. They’ve seen a part-timer Cena downright bullying guys like Austin Theory on the mic to see if the rising talents could sink or swim. Heck, they’ve even seen heel Cena rapping and promo battling a long, long time ago.

What’s scarier than a quiet, monster Cena right now?

Pulling back and really thinking about Cena’s likely reasons for a heel turn in the first place, it boils down to a combination of anxiety and urgency. He’s not the guy anymore—years of losses have been proof of that. So he entered himself in the Elimination Chamber behind a best for business guise and has aligned himself with Rock, a fellow Hollywood crony, to make sure he gets that 17th title reign. 

Along the way, there’s a disrespect slant, right? Looking at it from a heel Cena’s point of view, he was booed endlessly for years while at the very top of the sport, dragging it through some shockingly bad times while his impact went unappreciated. 

Now that he’s fading and his time is almost up, now he gets cheered? Clearly, he’s not cool with it. The crowd wants to support him while really propping up Rhodes as top dog anyway? Well, they can have him, because they don’t get to have both, not in 2025. 

So, build off that—silent and violent Cena. Fans couldn’t “see him” for decades and now they don’t get to “hear him” either. 

It would certainly make for some captivating television on the way to ‘Mania. Rhodes, by the week getting angrier due to the lack of an explanation could make for some really interesting character development. 

This would also enable some interesting things as far as feuds and even small backstage segments involving Cena. Maybe he lays waste to babyfaces backstage who try to reason with someone they idolized growing up. Given the wealth of people in the business he’s impacted over the years, maybe non-wrestler bystanders like Michael Cole get roughed up, too. 

WWE does, after all, need to sell the idea of Cena’s threat level in the ring right now, too. He’s been the “five moves” guy for a very long time and due to sheer ring rust, hasn’t done much beyond those things in his brief appearances over the years. 

Perhaps this is a natural way for Cena to tweak his overall in-ring style a bit to fit his age, too. Leaning into more of a brawler-styled fighter who is unbothered by cheating, weapons and otherwise to win would be a refreshing twist. 

It’s appealing from an aesthetic standpoint, too. A predominantly black-wearing Cena with dark hair and bald spot removed after looking like a bowl of Fruit Loops for decades to sell merchandise aimed at kids would go nicely with a silent bully who runs roughshod on the rosters. 

All at the behest of The Rock, by the way, who is more than happy to be a sort of mouthpiece when he actually shows up. 

It helps that the alternatives don’t feel all that appealing. Cena showing up and just revealing all of his reasonings would let the air out of things a little. Him just waxing poetic about mean fans and not being ready to hand over the torch and similar things he could hit on might not feel as captivating. 

Retaining an air of mystery while having a threat level the size of Suplex City Brock Lesnar might just make for a really captivating mix. Each week, not knowing which of the three programs he’ll show up to get violent on would make the trio must-see material. 

It could be a smart evolution that matches the times, too. Again, we’ve all seen passionate Cena promos. But this is an era where WWE is experimenting with really game-changing ideas, like Kevin Owens turning heel on Rhodes off television and letting the moment go wild on social media. Imagine a few segments like that, or just brief hidden-camera glimpses of conversations between Cena and The Rock or otherwise.

As wild as it might sound, we don’t need to hear why Cena did what he did. Those long-winded chats and stuff were fine when his core target audience was kids. Those kids are all grown up now and still watching—now they just want to see the most common fantasy-booked idea of all time unfold in real time. 

No need to hold hands, then. We can all see Cena just fine now, no need to play a stereotypical pro wrestling heel in 2025, either.