10 Wrestling Facts We Didn't Know Last Week (March 31)

by Jamie Kennedy

1. Vince McMahon Agreed To A John Cena Heel Turn In 2012

john cena cap
WWE.com

During a PWTorch Livecast, former WWE writer Kevin Eck outright stated that plans were put in place to turn John Cena heel as recently as 2012. Even more shockingly, it was Vince McMahon who concocted the idea to begin with and decided to green light the plan - before getting cold feet.

Taking a short sabbatical due to an arm injury from late September until November, the franchise player was back in time to face both CM Punk and Ryback at the 2012 Survivor Series for the WWE Title. After being pinned by Punk, the 'Never Give Up' leanings of Cena were supposed to give way before he was to turn rogue entirely.

There was only one problem: WWE had recently signed an exclusive merchandise contract with KMart, and Cena played a huge part in making the deal possible to begin with.

Instead of turning heel and continuing his feud with Punk throughout December, Cena remained babyface and warred with Dolph Ziggler heading into TLC, ending any talk of a prospective heel turn that would have revitalised his on screen character nicely.

What other big wrestling facts did you learn this week? Let us know down in the comments section below!

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Contributor

Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.