John Cena’s heel turn at Elimination Chamber 2025 premium live event left the professional wrestling audience in a complete frenzy. Fans and veterans of the circuit are reacting to the event that not only changed the course for the road to Wrestlemania 41 but also brought a completely new dimension to this new era of the circuit.
The unthinkable happened after John Cena ended up winning the Men’s Elimination Chamber to earn a WWE Championship match in the main event of WrestleMania 41 against Cody Rhodes. By joining forces with The Rock, the former franchise player of the company donned a new TV character for the first time in two decades that will unfold in the coming months.
With this move, John Cena’s 21-year continuous run as a perfect natural babyface figure has ended. He originally began in the WWE as a heel in 2002 but then he turned babyface on October 19, 2003, and since then, the character remained the same until last night. In totality, the babyface persona remained intact for 7,803 days to be exact.
Also, this is the first time that John Cena has turned heel after he became a main event star. He is the only one among the company flagbearers (alongside The Rock, Stone Cold, and Hulk Hogan) who never turned heel in the past while carrying the load but that’s not the case, anymore from Elimination Chamber onward.
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Ric Flair doesn’t want John Cena to break his record
Upon winning the gimmick match, John Cena will now be vouching for the record 17th world championship win in the WWE, breaking the record of Ric Flair who’s declared his unwillingness on X/Twitter over Cena breaking his record,
“John Cena, I Love You And Respect You, But You Ain’t Taking Nothing From Cody Rhodes! If I Have To Fight My Way Through Security To Hit The Ring, I Will. I’ll Take The Day Off Of Blood Thinners. LFG! Let’s Do This!”
Flair was present on WWE television when John Cena tied his record of 16 world championship reigns back at Royal Rumble 2017 PLE. Back then, Flair also intended to be present in the ring to present his successor with the 17th title if/when that happens but that might not be happening in changed circumstances.
