10 WWE Superstars You Totally Forgot Were Heel
2. John Cena
Similar to Roman Reigns and Hulk Hogan, John Cena is a flagship performer who WWE often tries to ignore his past work as a heel.
In trying to "find their character", WWE superstars often go through various gimmicks and personas until they find the right version that fits them. Roman was originally named Leakee, Hulk Hogan was called Terry Boulder, and John Cena was first The Prototype.
Another thing these three all have in common is their early days portraying a villain. All three future premier performers would start their WWE careers as bad guys, before several years would pass and each man would be presented as a fan favourite, with varying degrees of success in that realm.
Cena debuted in mid-2002, but by October he would be a full-fledged heel after turning on makeshift tag team partner Billy Kidman. The heel run only lasted a short while as fans eventually turned Cena babyface following the (de?) evolution of his character into a foul-mouthed rapper.
Cena has always been a polarising figure and while his success as a babyface can be hotly debated, one thing that cannot be is the fact that John Cena did work in WWE as a heel.