WWE legend addresses John Cena’s first heel promo.
Shocking the world, Cena turned heel for the first time in almost two decades at the 2025 Elimination Chamber PLE. In greed of his 17th World title, Cena joined forces with The Rock and stabbed Cody Rhodes in the back.
While absent from television appearances since then, Cena appeared on the 17th March episode of Raw in Bologna, Italy, and delivered his first heel promo. While John Cena’s promo on Raw affected a few other segments, it also attracted criticism from veteran Matt Hardy.
Ahead of Cena’s next appearance on the March 24th episode of Raw, Matt Hardy appeared on his The Extreme Life Of Matt Hardy podcast. and shared his thoughts on Cena’s March 17th, heel promo.
“I liked it. I think what I liked about it the most is the fact that he didn’t change and the explanation he gave for it is that people are asking what are we going to get that is new, what are we going to get that is new, what’s new, new, new, what are we going to get and he’s like, ‘You don’t get anything. You get this. Keep in mind, I don’t dress like you, you dress like me.’ I dug that.”
Despite praising the mic work, Hardy became critical of the 16-time World Champion leaving The Rock’s presence out of his promo.
“Probably the only thing I would be critical of is just maybe if they would have kind of delved into why he chose to side with Rock like that, that would have been the only thing I feel like I would’ve loved to heard from. I dug it man, I thought he did a real good job at just being a whiny, bitchy guy who just felt like he’d been wronged and he came off very unlikable while doing it, which is I think what you need out of John Cena.”
H/t FIghtful
The absence of The Final Boss’ name from Cena’s promo also attracted a lot of negative attention on the internet, as fans wondered why Cena sold his “soul” to the Moana 2 star.
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