Eric Bischoff Grades John Cena's WWE Retirement Run, With And Without Heel Turn

John Cena's retirement run was initially met with a lot of excitement, considering the biggest name of his generation is scheduled to hang up his boots and call it a career. Unfortunately, things soured both through how he turned heel at Elimination Chamber 2025, and his sudden babyface change after Clash in Paris, with both fans and veterans criticizing each moment and how they've impacted his final run.

"I'd give it a C. Now, if you take the heel turn, whatever that was, take that out and just look at the rest of it? Probably a B or C — excuse me — a, maybe an A minus or a B," Eric Bischoff said during an episode of his "83 Weeks" podcast. "Just give everybody what they want, is to see the guy go... everybody would love to see Babe Ruth hit his last home run; nobody wants to see Babe Ruth strike out!"

"People want to see... It's the hero's journey! It's the easiest story, it's the story that's been told more often than any and the one that always works," Bischoff also said, lamenting on what Cena's final run should've been before criticizing his heel turn. "It's like, yeah, maybe the end of the movie ended up being pretty good but you got up and walked out — mentally or emotionally — during the first 15 minutes of the movie because it didn't make any sense and you kinda opted out."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "83 Weeks" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.