John Cena Confirms Triple H Came Up With Idea For WWE Heel Run

John Cena turning heel was an idea that many fans never thought was possible, but at the Elimination Chamber last year, WWE finally pulled the trigger and made its long-time hero the biggest villain in professional wrestling. Until Cena won his seventeenth world title, his heel run was looking promising, but after having a poor match with Cody Rhodes to become champion at WrestleMania 41 and returning to his role as a babyface just five months later, many felt that WWE wasted the opportunity. Cena himself has acknowledged that his heel run could've been better, but he doesn't regret the decision to be a villain in the final year of his career, revealing in an interview with "WrestleRant" that he instantly agreed to it when WWE CCO Triple H presented him with the idea.

"I'm glad to have done it. I never asked for it, so it wasn't my idea. Like it was Paul's idea. And he even says himself, like he asked me and in two seconds it was a yes. Just like facing Brock [Lesnar] or tapping out to GUNTHER, yes. That's how I do business," he explained. "If we never did it, I would have been fine ... in reflecting, I wouldn't change a thing. I'm glad we got to do it because it helps me now when I speak to younger talent and say like, yo, be bold, take chances, don't worry about failing or you got to fail. I come from a place of activity, not a place of privilege where I'm in some sort of protected bubble. A lot of folks will say the heel turn failed. Okay, I accept that as a failure, but I swung boldly."

Cena continued by sharing his thoughts on his heel run, explaining that the experiment was a major success from a revenue standpoint, but admitted that his original idea to "ruin wrestling" is not what fans wanted to watch.

"From a business side, we didn't have a seat left and people watched in numbers ... then there's the creative standpoint there. Sometimes blockbuster movies are poorly reviewed by critics. So I understand where critically people are like, man, that's just not what I wanted to see. Intrinsically, I would have loved to have a chance to literally ruin wrestling, to wrestle so poorly that people just wanted to see me go ... that would have made people stop coming to the shows and that would have made the numbers go down."

This coming December, "The John Cena Classic" will take place, a tournament that will feature "WWE NXT" stars pitted against main roster talent during a one-night only event. Similarly to his heel run, Cena feels that he's taking a massive risk by slapping his name on a tournament that's never been done before, knowing it might fail. However, he wants to show younger talent how to embrace taking chances, explaining that swinging boldly can also lead to learning from failure if things don't work out.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "WrestleRant" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.