The conclusion and set-up of this week's RAW teased John Cena turning heel after the WWE fans overwhelmingly turned their back on him in a public vote to send him to slaughter against the Wyatt Family in a 3 on 1 match. The latest Wrestling Observer has noted that this direction is indeed interesting, but also poses huge problems. Dave Meltzer states that a few years back the idea of turning Cena was pitched to Vince McMahon, who for the first time didn't reject the idea out of hand, which he had usually done for years previously. Vince decided once again not to go for it, but could that have now changed? Probably not. While Cena is being perceived like a heel against the impressive Bray Wyatt, a formal turn still seems unlikely. This is mainly down to commercial reasons. The Observer reveals that Cena is selling five times the amount of merchandise compared to the number 2 guy in the company, Daniel Bryan. In this respect, John Cena is WWE's undoubted number one babyface star, those sales matter way more than boos or cheers. The fact remains that WWE need two big babyfaces to head their two house show tours and shill their merchandise. There's one argument that business could go up with Cena as a heel performer, but that is quite a risk to take given that we won't know for sure until he turns. The other concern is that Cena is so heavily invested in charity work and being the franchise face of the company, how could he possibly turn when representing the brand in these ways? Well, in this day and age, it could be done where he functions as a heel on TV and face in public, Triple H for example is perceived entirely differently in his duality of roles. Again though, this would be a risk to do with Cena. The intriguing tease of a Cena heel turn is clear, the Raw setup was remarkably unusual, but don't count on a heel turn just yet - the merchandise sales in particular are something WWE can't gamble with.
