Matt Hardy Looks Back On 'Experiment' That Was John Cena's WWE Heel Turn

With John Cena's villainous days now seemingly behind him, professional wrestling pundits now have the opportunity to process and analyze, in full, one of the most polarizing and shocking storylines in professional wrestling history. In-ring veteran and current TNA World Tag Team Champion Matt Hardy is one of those experts, as he recently took to his podcast to digest the "experiment" that was Cena's heel turn.

"It was an attempt to do something. I applaud him for trying it," Hardy began. "Who knows if something is going to catch on fire or not? You know, he'd been such a polarizing figure, where he was cheered and he was booed, but they attempted it, and I can't wrong them for attempting it. I can't wrong John for doing that."

While many in the professional wrestling world have heavily criticized Cena's heel turn in hindsight, Hardy noted Cena's sustained cultural relevancy, claiming that, despite it all, "people still love him." Hardy called Cena "the ultimate entity" that professional wrestling audiences and promoters alike care about, due to their deep connection to the John Cena character.

"You know, it's not the moves — I mean, if he was just judged on his moves and the way he wrestled, I don't know how over John would be, but he is over because they love that human being," Hardy elaborated. "They love that character of John Cena."

Hardy applauded Cena and WWE for taking risks with his heel character, but ultimately acknowledged that Cena's villain run did not pan out how they expected it to. Hardy did not linger on this point, however, and commended Cena and WWE's creative time for ultimately course-correcting to "[make] things right" in the final days of Cena's retirement tour.

A babyface Cena is currently scheduled to go against Logan Paul at Clash in Paris.