John Cena Talks Failure in Heel Turn, WWE Rumors on Karrion Kross, Ashante Thee Adonis

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe.

Cena Acknowledges 'Failure' of 1st Heel Promo

John Cena's attack on Cody Rhodes at Elimination Chamber was one of the single biggest moments in WWE for a long time. His long-awaited heel run left a lot to be desired, however.

Appearing at Fan Expo Chicago, the 17-time world champion admitted his first promo after becoming a bad guy again didn't land.

"I wasn't upset. No, I failed," he told the crowd, per Joseph Pete of Popverse. "Ain't nothing wrong with that. You can learn from failure, right? I went up there and bombed. S--t happens."

This isn't the first time Cena was candid about some of his mic work not connecting with the live audience.

In a segment that lasted nearly 30 minutes on the March 17 edition of Raw, the WWE legend laid out his reasons for abandoning his fans after being a good guy for almost 20 years.

At the time, Bleacher Report's Kevin Berge called Cena's rationale "weak" and argued it failed to provide a satisfactory explanation for why he chose now to be a villain.

Especially in retrospect, the storyline looked doomed to disappoint because of how The Rock removed himself from the picture entirely after Elimination Chamber.

From a narrative standpoint, he was the impetus behind Cena's heel turn and then left that thread totally unresolved. What was the point in even aligning with The Final Boss in the first place when he earned his WrestleMania match against Cody Rhodes straight up without any outside help?

The Rock cast a big shadow over Cena's on-screen character over the last few months, and that played a role in what many consider to be a massively missed opportunity.

Kross Contract Negotiations Reportedly Mirror WWE Approach to 'Marginal' Talent

Karrion Kross addressed his exit from WWE on The Ariel Helwani Show last week and revealed the company gave him an exploding offer. He had 24 hours to sign or the deal would be pulled.

Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio (via Steve Carrier of Ringside News) provided some more context and said that isn't an atypical approach with talent WWE doesn't consider to be a top star.

"The idea is when it's someone who they don't care about, how do they do it? You know, before the thing started, I mean, I was absolutely told that like this is how — if it's a marginal person — they will wait to the end and then they will make an offer and they will give a time frame: take it or leave it, this is your offer. And I was told that before the Kross thing," Meltzer said.

The longtime wrestling insider contrasted that with how WWE made overtures to Drew McIntyre months before his contract was set to expire. McIntyre waited and likely secured a better situation for himself in doing so.

With Kross, there's still plenty of speculation over whether this is all part of a planned angle that culminates in him returning to WWE with more momentum than ever.

Meltzer, on the other hand, called it "absolutely stupid business" for Kross to openly discuss his WWE negotiations in such detail if he's looking to go back there.

Ashante 'Thee' Adonis Reportedly Was in 'Bad Position' Thanks to Contract Status

Ashante "Thee" Adonis announced on Aug. 10 he's no longer signed to WWE and will accept outside bookings.

Fightful Select (via Wrestlezone's Ojas Kulkarni) reported that Adonis' contract had expired. That's an important distinction because he isn't beholden to a 90-day non-compete clause.

Meltzer wrote in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (via Carrier) that WWE's decision to let Adonis go was due in part to the classification of his deal.

"He had a main roster contract but he'd been used exclusively on NXT," Meltzer said. "… It's a bad position to be in when a main roster contract expires and the person is in NXT at a time they are making cuts."

WWE first released Adonis and his Hit Row stablemates in November 2021 after they debuted on SmackDown. They showed back up in August 2022, but Top Dolla's subsequent exit in September 2023 effectively dissolved the group.

Adonis got shifted back to NXT in 2024 and was utilized there almost exclusively moving forward. The writing was on the wall as to his departure given he hadn't had a televised match since June 24.