John Cena's startling heel turn at the WWE Elimination Chamber 2025 not only left the fans but the entire WWE community off guard. Cena had a face run for over two decades and his transforming his gimmick in his final phase with the promotion was a sight that nobody thought could come to reality. The flow of reactions has been continuous since the historic transition, and veteran superstar Matt Hardy has contributed his say to the mix.
The three-time world champion and former WWE United States Champion, Matt Hardy has praised John Cena for taking such a brave decision at this stage of his career. As per Hardy, WWE is planning something big with John Cena as the WrestleMania season is in the offing.
“I thought it was very well done. I thought it was great, I think it is good for business. I think John was very generous in being up for it. And I would imagine he’s pretty excited for it with everything being considered. And you know, you see people post all the time. And this whole meme is kind of like done to death nowadays, right? Where they put up, ‘this is cinema.’ Like when you see the thing with the — you know, he pulls him in, he hugs him. The facial expression changes, and Rock looks at him. And he does the thing where he weirdly comes off and he holds up the two at the end? Like, that was cinema though. And then [Cena] backed off, he kind of smiled again and kicked him in the nuts. The way that was executed was done perfectly, it was shot perfectly. And just the storytelling of that moment was huge. And I think that is something that is going to be a huge positive and huge plus for WWE business over the next few months, leading into WrestleMania.”
Following the sensational heel turn, the biggest question is what's next for John Cena. How he will portray the changed character is what the WWE universe is yearning to find out. Matt Hardy has presented his two cents on how Cena should be booked as a villain.
“I think him coming out and dropping the mic and not answering any questions was a very good call for that first press conference. I almost feel like if he comes out and he kind of explains like, ‘You know, for the longest time I tried to be the good guy. I tried to put smiles on faces, I tried to make you happy. But I got sick of it because it wasn’t the real me. You know, the real me is just someone who wanted to be a champ, who’s wanted to like, be the best and behold the most titles. And then it got to the point, as I got a little older, You know, I couldn’t do it anymore. You know, I couldn’t win the big matches. I couldn’t succeed, I couldn’t do that. So I was like, you know, I gotta just drop the act. I gotta go take what I want. I’ve got to stop giving and start taking.’ Almost kind of that mindset, and that’s just off top of my head.”