Survivor Series 2011: Why John Cena's Heel Turn Will Never Happen

You can wish, you can pray, you can believe it so, but don’t ever bet on it. John Cena is never turning heel. 

Consider his match versus The Rock an attempt to get the wrestling world to accept Cena for who he is: a good guy. He's the face of a company that has stockholders to impress and kids to sell tickets to.

If this were an HBO show, you’d be correct in assuming that it’s only a matter of time before Cena let’s his “heel persona” shine through. However, this is reality and the reality of the wrestling business is that money outweighs drama. 

Don’t like it? Watch Mad Men. 

If you haven’t been watching closely, something very obvious has been happening—the WWE has no ticket drivers. In fact, they had to beg and plead just to get The Rock to come back and wrestle. 

The Rock drives tickets.

John Cena drives tickets. 

Alberto Del Rio does not. 

More importantly, CM Punk does not. 

During the summer, CM Punk was the hot ticket item and perhaps the WWE’s best chance to forward the Cena story.

But while his merchandise sales have been up, there has been no real increase in pay-per-view numbers. Hence the reason why his title shot this month is on the back-burner in the WWE.

At the end of the day, there is that little CM Punk can do to move the needle. There isn't much they can do with John Cena because of that. 

So, welcome to the hell that John Cena is in. Even if he felt that he was better off as a heel, the numbers don’t dictate it.

I’m afraid that Cena will continue to be the most polarizing figure in WWE history. Still, he's a figure who moves merchandise, and that’s all anyone really wants.