It's almost unanimous that John Cena's heel turn was a failure and didn't go as WWE intended, and WWE icon "Stone Cold" Steve Austin was also not a fan of turning the beloved babyface into a bad guy.
Despite Cena having no regrets about his heel turn in 2025, the pro wrestling community has been vocal about their displeasure with seeing him be a bad guy, especially in his final year in the business. Austin echoed those sentiments during his recent interview with Chris Van Vliet's "Insight" podcast, stating that too liked to play the role of a villain.
"Everybody well, not everybody a lot of people wanted to see at least one John Cena heel turn in his run," he began. "It was okay [the heel turn]. It was okay. You know,I like him better as a babyface. I wanted to see him as a heel at some point during his career, [but] the way that it was done and I'm not knocking booking I'm just like, 'Man, this far in, forget about it.' Just let him do his thing. Kids love that guy."
When Van Vliet suggested that the original plan was for Cena to turn heel over a decade ago at WrestleMania 28 against The Rock, Austin replied "speculation," before suggesting that the plan could have worked, particularly due to The Rock being involved in it.
"Hey man, but if anybody could have done it and maybe you are correct with the timeline with an opponent like The Rock, [it] could have possibly [been done, but [that's] speculation," Austin added.
The Rock, however, was involved in the eventual Cena heel turn, with both legends on the same side this time when Cena turned heel. But "The People's Champ" was not involved further in the Cena heel storyline, as the 17-time world champion had to venture alone into the unknown with his heel character.
