10 Things That Must Happen During John Cena’s WWE Retirement Tour

For the longest time, critics and observers suggested that John Cena should turn heel given the nuclear heat he was drawing when he was supposedly the company’s top babyface.

Rather than lean into the very real heel heat, Cena and WWE doubled, tripled and quadrupled down over the years, insisting he remain the virtuous hero. At times, he joked about a “heel turn” in his promos, but he never “embraced the hate.”

During the post-Money in the Bank press conference Saturday night, someone asked Cena if he’d consider turning heel during this final run, a notion he bluntly rebuffed, noting that he would remain true to himself during the upcoming year, which really didn’t lend itself to a villainous turn.

And honestly, WWE would be foolish to have him play heel. Some (including the questioner Saturday) pointed to The Rock’s celebrated arc as the Final Boss this spring as proof that a heel turn could revitalize a career and avoid it feeling like a “greatest hits” tour. But Rock was a fantastic heel at various points in his career, while Cena has been almost exclusively a babyface since 2003.

Maybe WWE has some pixie dust they can sprinkle on Cena and make him a compelling villain, but odds are they would be wise to just do a good job accentuating what’s worked for the vast majority of his career.