John Cena Doesn’t Need A Character Change

“This is it. This is the Pay Per View where John Cena finally turns heel.”

“Do you think they’re hinting towards a Cena heel turn?

“Now is the perfect time for WWE to turn John Cena heel.”

If you’ve been a fan of wrestling for any length of time, chances are you’ve heard one, or all, of these statements at one time or another. They fill comment sections, message boards and websites nearly every time a major event comes up.

This speculation regarding John Cena and his unchanged character is seemingly endless and although it would be to the delight of many if he finally flipped the switch and turned heel, it simply isn’t necessary.

More from John Cena

The first and most obvious reason is that he is an absolute cash cow for a company that is currently tumbling a bit financially. After the WWE Network stumbled compared to huge projections, Vince McMahon reportedly lost hundreds of millions of dollars.

With a superstar like Cena who has been number one as far as merchandise sales for years, it just doesn’t make sense at this point to turn him heel and potentially risk the profits that he is currently bringing in, especially with no clear option to replace him.

Another obvious point that needs to be mentioned is the work that he does with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, as well as a variety of other charities. It has long been known that he has granted more wishes than any other celebrity and this impact that he has is truly special.

If WWE were to turn him into a bad guy that would have a horribly negative effect on his ability to grant these wishes. Sure, someone like Daniel Bryan may be able to partially fill that void, but even he isn’t yet on the level of Cena, and his health concerns may impact that standing even further.

Now that the, “What about the children!” portion is covered, there is still a major underlying reason for why John Cena does not need a character change, despite the cries of so many fans: He’s already WWE’s perfect character.

“What!? LOLCENAWINS is the furthest thing from a perfect character.” I agree, it can certainly get frustrating to see the same shtick over and over again (Cena gets beat down the whole match, then hits AA for the win), but this constant repetitiveness drives internet/adult fans absolutely wild.

You hear this outcry every single time he steps into an arena, “Let’s Go Cena!…Cena Sucks.” Just from the pitch of the voices, you can hear that a majority of Cena’s fanbase is women and children (with children being especially important here). He has quickly become one of the most legitimately disliked characters by the adult fan base, which is impressive considering the era we’re in which heels are often cheered.

If he were to ever fall into the long-awaited heel turn, the crowd situation would likely stay the same, just with WWE earning substantially less money. The portion of the fan base that currently boos him mercilessly would more than likely start cheering for him and while that would definitely be a change of pace, that portion isn’t as likely to dole out as much money on merchandise.

On the other side of the stick, this turn would more than likely result in his most ardent fans (children) taking the place of the older fans and begin to boo him. Not only would his charity work take a bit of a hit but again, merchandise sales for him would drop given that they wouldn’t be asking their parents to buy them Cena gear any longer.

In the age of wrestling that we’re currently in, the clean-cut, cookie-cutter face role that John Cena has portrayed over the last decade or so essentially represents a heel among the adult fan base. While he doesn’t typically win by cowardly measures like most heels, his personality lends itself to be booed.

While he’s getting massive amounts of heat, he’s still making the company truckloads of money from the younger demographic. With the way that things are currently going, there’s absolutely no reason for WWE to pull the trigger on the Cena heel turn.

John Cena: A moneymaking face and a despised heel all in one. If you were WWE, what more could you ask for?

Home/John Cena