John Cena flat out planned for the WrestleMania 41 main event against Cody Rhodes to be a “s–tty” match. Yeah, you read that right. The face of the company, a global icon, actively tried to make the biggest match of the year bad. This wasn’t some kind of accident or a simple miscalculation, folks; it was a deliberate, calculated strategy as part of his unprecedented villainous run. What kind of wild, almost unbelievable move is that for a main event at WWE’s biggest annual spectacle?
The Villain’s Master Plan
Cena wasn’t messing around with this heel turn, clearly committed to the bit like nobody’s business. He explained on the new season of WWE Unreal, as reported by Andrew Ravens of WrestlingNews.co, that his whole goal was literally to “ruin wrestling” and “take the fun away from the fans.” He wasn’t just aiming to be booed or disliked; he wanted to genuinely frustrate and disappoint the loyal audience. Cena aimed to “win that championship with methodical, catastrophically boring work,” a tactic designed to drain all excitement. The guy literally said he was gunning for people to go, “F–k this guy,” and think to themselves, “That’s it? What a shtty main event.” He even explicitly stated, “Yup, that’s what I was going for. Watch the next one.” Talk about absolute, unyielding commitment to being the ultimate bad guy, right? He wanted us to absolutely despise the match, and him, with every fiber of our being.
WWE Pushes Back, Fans Get Panned
But even Cena admitted his extreme approach was way too risky, and it seems WWE wasn’t fully on board with his total vision for a match that truly sucked. He had to pull back enough, as he explained, to avoid fans turning on the *entire promotion* itself, not just on his character. Cena revealed the perspective from the company was a stark, “Hey, this isn’t heat on you. This is heat on the company.” Yikes, that’s a tough line to walk when you’re trying to be the most hated man in the game. Even with Cena dialing it back from his original, ultra-boring vision, the match itself was still “largely panned” by critics and fans alike. And honestly, it wasn’t solely Cena’s planned boring style. Remember how his heel storyline was totally set up by aligning with none other than The Rock? Everyone, and I mean *everyone*, expected “The Final Boss” to show up and get involved in some major way. Instead? Zero Rock, and a whole lot of Travis Scott showing up, which definitely wasn’t what people were hoping for. Plus, the finish itself made Cody Rhodes, our supposed top babyface, look straight up silly. Rhodes had a golden opportunity to nail Cena with the title belt after Cena feigned begging forgiveness, but he hesitated. Cena, ever the opportunist and master of mind games, capitalized immediately, hitting a low blow and then using the belt to get the pin, winning his record 17th world title. Brutal, absolutely brutal for Cody and the fans.
Cena held onto that record 17th world title for a solid four months before Rhodes finally got his sweet revenge at SummerSlam, beating him cleanly and sending Cena back to being a babyface. So, while Cena’s heel turn ultimately didn’t prove to be a long-term success story for his character, you absolutely cannot deny the pure, unadulterated shock factor when it first happened at Elimination Chamber. That moment, when Cena went full bad guy and embraced the darkness, remains one of the greatest WWE surprises we’ve seen in recent memory. You gotta wonder if we’ll ever see a star risk it all to be *that* much of a villain again, especially when it comes to planning a literal “s–tty main event.”
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Bleacher Report.
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