Why John Cena Has No Regrets About WWE Heel Turn, WrestleMania Match With Cody Rhodes

WWE fans got to see a side of the "Leader of the Cenation" they never had before on the road to his retirement in 2025: a heel John Cena. He turned heel on Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes after he won the Elimination Chamber, and the pair faced off at WrestleMania 41, where Cena won his record-setting 17th title. When speaking with Bill Simmons ahead of his retirement match, Cena said he doesn't have a single regret about his heel run.

"What is perfect?" Cena questioned. "Here's what I do know. Perfect is never achievable. I think that's a sucker's chase. When I look back on it, could I have given any more than I did? Not a bit. I overprepared. I tried to go to every corner of my emotional wellbeing and the cool thing is, when the audience began to turn, we turned. So, like, they helped it out and that dynamic was a little bit ahead of schedule for let's say, Cody and I, but it made for a great showing for the summer."

Cena said the heel turn didn't work, but that doesn't mean he didn't give it his all. The babyface turn he credits the fans with occurred shortly, and some would say unceremoniously, just ahead of their rematch at SummerSlam, where Rhodes recaptured the championship from the once-again good guy.

Cena also spoke more about their WrestleMania 41 match and called it the end of "act one" of their feud. He said he knew they needed to "peak" at SummerSlam, despite many performers getting it in their heads that WrestleMania is "the end." He said that they had a methodical match with a simple end, though it did feature rapper Travis Scott, by design. Cena also subtly alluded to the absence of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

"We thought we would have some parts and players, and those disappeared, but it didn't matter, because it was the end of act one, so we had act two and then act three," he explained. "If you compare what we did in April to what we did in August... That's the ride we're taking fans on, but it's as difficult to conceptualize as, 'You're not coming back. Everybody comes back. You had this match at WrestleMania. I wanted more.' Yeah. No kidding. You're going to get it."

The future Hall of Famer is now set to take on GUNTHER in his retirement match. The pair will go face-to-face at Saturday Night's Main Event in Washington, DC on December 13.

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