When would of been a good time to Turn Cena heel

[ChitownKnight]

Looking at the other thread about Cena apprehensive about jobbing to the rock made me think of when a good time to turn him
Heel would of been? I think having him attack the rock after beating him at mania 29 would of been the way to go. Heel Cena could of easily had Fueds with face Ryback, face Orton, and face Henry before losing the title to Bryan. The authority story could of continued after that and Cena could of taken a break and returned as a face against de rio

[Deleted]

After he lost to Rock, Punk's rise and that Kane feud. Somewhere around that time period would have worked well. We had another guy to take over, we had the storyline implications and to top it off it would have been a huge hit.

[Captain Stud Muffin (BLM)]

Yea, pretty much after The Rock L the first time

Turn heel, act a fool and it would add some real weight to his worst year ever. He lost himself and then found himself again when Rock came back

Once Rock said he was going for the championship, Cena should been a desperate man doing everything possible like how HBK was when he needed to get Taker again at Mania

[ChitownKnight]

Only thing about Cena going heel is what about Punk? Would
He still go heel and hold the title till Royal Rumble? Would Cena beat him and then defend the title against the rock at mania and beat him?

[Captain Stud Muffin (BLM)]

Feb 24, 2021 23:30:44 GMT -5 ChitownKnight said:

Only thing about Cena going heel is what about Punk? Would
He still go heel and hold the title till Royal Rumble? Would Cena beat him and then defend the title against the rock at mania and beat him?

Punk can remain a face and lose the title to Cena at like SvS

Punk held the title much longer then he needed to so he can drop it to Rock. It is why Ryback didn't even get the brief title run because they didn't want Punk to lose it 

He can still be a face and complain about the system being against him cause they wanted golden boy Cena vs Rock at Mania. Rock and Punk can square off at RR to see who challenges Cena. Do a draw and it is made a triple threat at WM

[Instant Classic]

When he had to join Nexus or when he was the only one who could bring back the authority.

[madness50]

He should have turned heel the night after Mania 28. Have Rock and Cena shake hands at the end of the show and right before they go off the air, Cena lowers the boom on Rock.

[Deleted]

Rock in Miami

Nexus

Embrace The Hate

The Punk storyline where he could've alligned with Vince

Turn heel to break The Undertakers streak

There's so many missed opportunities.

[Clash, Never a Meter Maid]

The only Cena turn concept to me that would made sense at the time was him reluctantly going along as a Nexus member. That story wound up being rushed, but it’d have been the most compelling.

Frankly, him suddenly turning into a heel toady for Vince would be too hard to buy. He hadn’t exactly needed much help from management before in the main event scene, it wasn’t like Corporate Rock who was new to it in late 1998, a blue chipper who was ripe for Vince to charm. And during the Rock feud, neither guy was doing or saying anything particularly despicable. They were clowning on each other hard, but they were both obviously on the side of good.

Challenging Undertaker and winning is an achievement that all the wrestlers would like, not just the heels.

[Mozenrath]

The feud with Bray, maybe. They did shake his faith, between the kid cultists and Cena being upset when fans voted to make him face the Wyatts in a handicap match, even if he rationalized the latter as maybe being a probably misguided vote of confidence from his fans he could take both Rowan and Harper at once. I could still see him frustrated and angry.

Then again, that was pretty late in his in-ring career as a regular. Given he already had an eye on film, turning him heel was just not especially prudent by then.

[Kay Faban]

I’m glad they never did.

[Ben Wyatt]

Feb 25, 2021 1:34:57 GMT -5 madness50 said:

He should have turned heel the night after Mania 28. Have Rock and Cena shake hands at the end of the show and right before they go off the air, Cena lowers the boom on Rock.

He'd have to do more than a simple AA though.  He's need to beat the ever loving piss out of the Rock with a chair (Think Austin at WM17)

[fw91]

Punk feud

[repomark]

After losing to Rock at WM28, he then loses to Brock decisively.

A broken Cena leaves WWE for a few months to try and make sense of it all, and the remainder of the year trying to redeem himself. Nothing he achieves can wash away stink of failure and he realises that the only way he can put it right is by doing the one thing no one has - ending the streak.

The heel turn could happen in the build or after the match with taker at mania 29 - but the desperation and crushed spirit following the loss to the Rock would be the clear driver for it.

[Venti]

I'm fine with the fact that Cena never turned heel, but if I had to book it here's how I'd do it:

Loses to Rock at Wrestlemania 28.
Then loses to Brock at Extreme Rules, setting up a "lost confidence" kind of storyline.

He goes on to luckily win Money in the Bank.
At Raw 1000, instead of setting up the match with CM Punk ahead of time, instead Punk gets beaten up by a rival(maybe Big Show since he was around the main event scene at the time.)
Cena then does a heelish cash in for the WWE Championship and wins.
Instead of full blown "I'm an evil heel" type of act, Cena tries justifying it by pointing out that people have cashed in on him during moments of his weakness.

CM Punk, still a babyface, isn't even mad at Cena for cashing in because Punk did the same thing multiple times before and he is not a hypocrite.
However, he does demand a rematch, and the match is set for the main event of Summerslam.

Cena retains in a heelish manner. I'm thinking he accepts outside help from Vince, since he refused Vince's help the previous year and lost. This time Cena is more gung-ho about retaining the title and keeping his top spot. And even though Vince and Cena don't see eye to eye, they both agree that John Cena is the face of WWE and CM Punk isn't meant to be the champion.

(Note: I normally hate the constant rehashing of the Corporation storyline, but I think it would have worked here.)

CM Punk is out of luck and won't get another rematch anytime soon. However, he still feuds with Vince. They can even still have that street fight like they did on Raw.

Meanwhile, after Cena, now cemented as a heel, runs through a few babyface opponents on the post-Summerslam pay per views.
He then goes on to defend the title against The Rock at Royal Rumble.
Cena gets his win back from Rock and retains, but he cheats to win.

At the same event, Punk wins the Royal Rumble despite interference by a couple of Vince's heel minions(too lazy to think of actual names from the roster, just picture upper midcarders who weren't doing much at the time.)

This sets up Cena vs Punk at Wrestlemania 29, however The Rock is pissed because of Cena winning by cheating. He demands a title match at Wrestlemania.
Vince can't take Punk out of the main event due to contract stuff, but he adds The Rock to the main event.
His logic being that having two franchise players in the match works in his favor, plus it lessens the chance of the title going back to the rebellious CM Punk.

This creates some friction between Vince and Cena, but keep in mind that they're alliance is purely business and that they are not at all friends.

Punk wins at Wrestlemania 29 by finally pinning Cena again. This could set up Punk Vs The Rock at a later pay per view, since Rock lost without being pinned. This could get some buzz around one of the non-Wrestlemania events.

And then you could go on from there with Cena as a heel who betrayed all of the things he stood for because he was paranoid to lose his spot.
You cement CM Punk as the top babyface(he was entertaining as a heel, but I feel like it accomplished nothing and ruined his momentum.)

This also freshens up the Wrestlemania main event instead of just doing Rock vs Cena again. They'd still get huge business on account of Rock being there, plus more eyes getting showcased the current guy they're trying to push.

I'd keep Cena as a heel for at least a couple years, and when he eventually turns face again against a capable heel, it would be huge with the fans.

Plus, clearly a lot of my ideas mirror stuff that actually did happen, especially in 2012, so things wouldn't be too different.

[This Player Hating Mothman]

Feb 24, 2021 23:50:06 GMT -5 Captain Stud Muffin (BLM) said:

Feb 24, 2021 23:30:44 GMT -5 ChitownKnight said:

Only thing about Cena going heel is what about Punk? Would
He still go heel and hold the title till Royal Rumble? Would Cena beat him and then defend the title against the rock at mania and beat him?

Punk can remain a face and lose the title to Cena at like SvS

Punk held the title much longer then he needed to so he can drop it to Rock. It is why Ryback didn't even get the brief title run because they didn't want Punk to lose it 

He can still be a face and complain about the system being against him cause they wanted golden boy Cena vs Rock at Mania. Rock and Punk can square off at RR to see who challenges Cena. Do a draw and it is made a triple threat at WM

And honestly even if they wanted to run heel Punk, whether for Taker or for a triple threat, there'd be a lot more meat to him if his character had another anti-establishment run, but this time resentful over carrying the company while Cena went around being a dick, only for things to return to a 'status quo' with people praising Cena again. Punk spent all that time as the respectable champion on his best behavior and it soured him so thoroughly that he's ready to go full asshole because there's literally no point in trying in his mind. There's tons of character room for that, and you can get Cena re-establishing himself as a face in contrast to a now completely overblown heel Punk once the Rock program is up. This all does require a ibt more active, conscious "writing" than WWE really had during that period, but in a theoretical world of "how do you still tell these stories?" I think there becomes a lot more room and meaning for both if they go that route, give Cena his 'worst year' and yet Punk's slide into darkness come from him becoming disillusioned even deeper than he did when he walked out, and decide he's going to raise hell.

[Rican]

The Summerslam match against Bryan would be my pick. Have him go along with the Authority and do the delusional "I'm doing this for this business!" thing. Essentially turn up his real life company man persona to 11.

[Deleted]

He was turning heel in 2012 during the Rock feud. He recorded a new entrance theme and got new ring gear made but at the last minute Vince changed his mind.

Feb 25, 2021 7:45:13 GMT -5 Kay Faban said:

I’m glad they never did.

Yeah, so am I. I've seen first hand the impact he has on the young kids and giving that up so that some of the older fans can cheer/enjoy him for 6-12 months wouldn't be worth breaking that bond in the long run. With all due respect to Roman, he didn't have that same kind of connection, turning him heel wasn't as big a deal which is why I'm shocked they took so many years to do it.

[Captain Stud Muffin (BLM)]

Feb 25, 2021 13:36:14 GMT -5 justsomeguy said:

He was turning heel in 2012 during the Rock feud. He recorded a new entrance theme and got new ring gear made but at the last minute Vince changed his mind.

Feb 25, 2021 7:45:13 GMT -5 Kay Faban said:

I’m glad they never did.

Yeah, so am I. I've seen first hand the impact he has on the young kids and giving that up so that some of the older fans can cheer/enjoy him for 6-12 months wouldn't be worth breaking that bond in the long run. With all due respect to Roman, he didn't have that same kind of connection, turning him heel wasn't as big a deal which is why I'm shocked they took so many years to do it.

I wouldn’t say that about Roman tho. Roman has a special connection with kids with Cancer considering he is a cancer survivor himself and could easily said nah like Cena but he has separated his character and himself

[Deleted]

Feb 25, 2021 14:09:19 GMT -5 Captain Stud Muffin (BLM) said:

Feb 25, 2021 13:36:14 GMT -5 justsomeguy said:

He was turning heel in 2012 during the Rock feud. He recorded a new entrance theme and got new ring gear made but at the last minute Vince changed his mind.

Yeah, so am I. I've seen first hand the impact he has on the young kids and giving that up so that some of the older fans can cheer/enjoy him for 6-12 months wouldn't be worth breaking that bond in the long run. With all due respect to Roman, he didn't have that same kind of connection, turning him heel wasn't as big a deal which is why I'm shocked they took so many years to do it.

I wouldn’t say that about Roman tho. Roman has a special connection with kids with Cancer considering he is a cancer survivor himself and could easily said nah like Cena but he has separated his character and himself

Cena didn't say no. As mentioned above, he was all aboard the heel turn idea in 2012 and spent thousands of his own money no new gear/music only for Vince to pull the plug. And even going back to 2006 after he lost the title to Edge for the first time he wanted to turn heel.