Brock Lesnar SummerSlam Return is WWE's Answer to Fix John Cena's Ill-Fated Heel Turn

The passing of the torch between John Cena and Cody Rhodes after the main event of SummerSlam on Sunday night felt too easy.

Too simple. No heel turns, all smiles and handshakes and crowd chants. Just Rhodes with the title and Cena with five months left. 

Then Brock Lesnar’s music hit. 

The Beast Incarnate controversially returns to WWE after a long hiatus and, among many other things, at least gives the company a chance to send off Cena into retirement in a good way. 

A feud that positions Cena as a babyface on his last legs against a returning monster heel, who has bullied him plenty of times in the past, makes sense on many levels. 

Lesnar really feels like a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency move, too. Cena's match against Rhodes in the main event was a nice summation of the rocky road fans have traveled with the veteran since his ill-fated heel turn. 

One could feel the disgust the wrestlers shared toward their so-so WrestleMania match that was massacred with Travis Scott meddling. On Sunday, Cena was moving like it was 2014 and both guys were taking major bumps. That's probably a great sign for the rest of his retirement tour, too. It was a fantastic contest, probably helped by coming after a middling overall SummerSlam. 

And yet. 

And yet, those hoping for a heel turn or some sort of meaningful character development got a handshake and a torch passed (as much as one can pass a torch to a 40-year-old Rhodes, anyway). That was on the heels of Cena awkwardly nixing his heel turn on SmackDown at the last second. 

Somehow, his heel turn is going to remain in that weird what-if category forever now. So maybe it makes sense WWE just cut it out nice and clean and send both guys on their way.

Truth is, WWE never seemed to know what to do with a heel Cena. Or if the bookers did, it didn't show and/or suffered major hiccups in the form of availability, whether it was Cena's schedule, The Rock suddenly being unavailable or other dashed plans and changes due to fan feedback (where the heck is the man formerly known as R-Truth?). 

Lesnar packs a nice punch in terms of an off-ramp. There's not much need for a story. He's back to retire the greatest of all time. He broke the Undertaker's streak; now he gets to end Cena's career.

They are going to get in the ring and put on a throwback match that has some interesting possibilities, such as a quick, shocking finish on one PLE before the rematch later or something. 

Granted, The Beast putting Cena down for good feels unlikely. But a fun feud that goes a few months before The GOAT overcomes the odds one more time, then loses to a next-generation star like Bron Breakker, could still be on the table. 

Fun blueprint? Cena gets past Lesnar and goes to chase the intercontinental title, the one strap he never won. Waiting for him there is Dominik Mysterio. The Rey Mysterio link is just a fun little bonus. 

There's enough here between a Lesnar feud and something else to potentially make the heel turn a funny afterthought. The botched move could just be something else Cena overcame, right? 

Perhaps best of all, this gets him away from the title scene.

If Rhodes wants to be Cena 2.0 and stay babyface while working the expected feuds, all good. If The Rock wants to come back and get involved over there, maybe with a side of Roman Reigns and Bloodline stuff, that works too. 

Cena already had fantastic promos, matches and overall feuds with must-haves like Randy Orton and CM Punk. Lesnar missing the retirement tour just wouldn't have felt right. 

It's a win for WWE regardless, as Cena's heel turn is now very much a forgotten subject, for better or worse. Fans get a fun throwback in the process, with the incoming Cena-Lesnar interactions both shockingly simple enough to predict, yet must-see anyway. 

While it won't be for everyone, Cena's retirement tour actually feels like it's starting to wind down now Lesnar is back to pay his respects, in his own way, anyway.