Triple H has provided more details on the shock John Cena heel turn and how few people were aware of what was about to happen.
Cena shocked the world at Elimination Chamber by attacking Cody Rhodes and siding with The Rock, marking the first time that the Hollywood star had turned heel in 2 decades. Unlike previous historic events in WWE history such as Cody Rhodes’ return at WrestleMania 38 and The Rock’s return at Bad Blood, there was no indication ahead of time that the Cena angle would take place at the show.
Speaking with Peter Rosenberg on WWE’s YouTube Channel, Triple H stated that only 3 people from the writing staff knew along with those involved in the angle, adding how he had to keep the secret from staff moments before the turn:
“In that moment when John turns, we kept that so quiet that on our side three people on the exec team, from the writing staff, knew. That’s it, me and two others. Nobody else knew. Cena knew, obviously. Cena didn’t even tell his wife. Cena didn’t tell his manager. Cody knew. Cody told no one. Obviously, Rock knew. Travis [Scott] sort of knew, but he was just f*cking going along, just being along for the ride, doing exactly what they told him to do, which is at some point slap Cody. And he was f*cking slapping him whether Cena wanted it or not, because Cena didn’t know about that part.
So when we get to the end of the show, I have to tell everybody now as we’re coming into that last minute of Elimination Chamber or something, okay, there’s aftermath on this sh*t. Everybody lay out. I’m directing traffic. I will call all of this and Marty, here’s how it’s going to go. I rattle off all this sh*t to Marty, kind of like shot for shot.
But it’s fast, because we’re getting into the end of this match, and Marty’s like, holy sh*t. I’m like, I will walk you through it, because I’m still not saying on headset, ‘And then John’s going to turn on Cody.’ I’m leaving out details, so when we get there I’m trying to be a fan and just feel it and as it comes in, then technically put it out to the truck of where we need to go, and hopefully be just ahead of it where we can all get it down.”
Has John Cena’s Heel Turn Affected Merchandise Sales?
It was previously reported my numerous outlets and stated in multiple interviews that WWE never turned Cena heel as they were concerned about how it would affect his merchandise sales given that the Hollywood star is one of the biggest merch shifters in company history. However, now that John Cena has turned heel, how have the merchandise numbers been affected?
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