9 Exact Moments WWE Booking Stopped Making Sense
3. John Cena Turns Heel Over & Over Again
In the first address of a WWE crowd following his seismic heel turn at Elimination Chamber 2025, John Cena spoke of the "abusive relationship" with the audience he'd been on the wrong side of for so much of his career. So far, so fine, though the imperfections - fans had universally embraced 'The Champ' for so long that the old divided crowd stuff was a pull from a totally different era - were already showing through, particularly when 'Big Match John' couldn't decide which emotional lever to pull en route to a WrestleMania showdown with Cody Rhodes.
What followed were a series of duels, both verbal and physical, that continued the same trend. Was Cena simply embittered? Had his brutal turn on Cody revealed a renewed cold thirst for violence? Was he at long last going to live his best, smug, "fine speech" life and put the babyfaces back in their boxes with his experience? A cheat? A coward? A lifelong fraud? The literal last acts of a desperate man?
The answer was, infuriatingly, all and none of the above.
Cena tried his hand at the lot in the Cody rivalry alone, applied to it a wretched WrestleMania main event where he delivered on his promise (!) to become the record-breaking 17-time World Champion, then restarted the routine for his feud with Randy Orton. It got worse before it got better too, particularly when the market leader decided to save money at the expense of a company favourite...