Heel Cena!

KARACHI:

In professional wrestling, when a hero embraces the darkness within and becomes a bad guy (heel) or when the villain sees the light and becomes a good guy (face), if done right, it can be a special moment. Careers have been broken and made by switching sides. However, there are not too many as monumental as what happened this weekend at WWE Elimination Chamber.

The show featured a star-studded Elimination Chamber between CM Punk, Drew McIntyre, Damien Priest, Logan Paul, Seth Rollins and John Cena for the opportunity to face WWE Champion Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania. The former face of the company, Cena, who's set to retire from pro-wrestling in December, failed to win the Royal Rumble last month, and emerging victorious in the chamber was his last attempt at earning the opportunity to win a record-breaking 17th world championship.

In the end, it came down to two legends in Punk and Cena. And as it seemed like Punk might sneak one, his nemesis Rollins curb-stomped him on the steel platform and knocked him out. A surprised Cena took the chance and put Punk to sleep with this signature STF.

While the match displayed the promised brutality and excellent performances, people expected Cena to win. No one was disappointed. Kids should've gone home happy. But nope. This, thankfully, was not the night.

Rhodes came out to congratulate and face off with Cena. The Rock and rapper Travis Scott joined them soon after. As the Rock had demanded the champion's "soul" and needed an answer, Rhodes told him off as Cena cheered.

As Cena and Rhodes embraced, the Final Boss gave the former a signal and Cena's smile turned into a frown. He kicked Rhodes in the nether region and sent his soul to the Nether realm. The crowd was in utter disbelief. This is not supposed to happen. Together, the Hollywood stars beat the living hell out of Rhodes, leaving him a bloody pulp.

For the first time in 22 years, John Cena is a villain.

As the audience slowly began to trust their own eyes and realise that it wasn't a dream, Cena and Rock posed over the battered body of the champ… with the rapper Scott lurking in the background for some reason.

At the post-show press conference, Cena literally did a mic drop and left. In the coming weeks, his reasons for aligning with the Rock will be interesting. This is a page-turner.

In the time that has passed since then, the internet is still losing it over Cena's heel turn. An actor friend suggested this idea recently, and I had told him it'd be great, knowing that it'd never happen. He earned his smug "I told you so".

But while a heel turn was a possible idea in some minds, no one expected it to be at this moment and against Rhodes. What makes it even bigger is the sheer presence of Rock and Cena together. The two were bitter rivals in early 2010s and Cena poked fun at the Rock for leaving wrestling and selling out to go to Hollywood. Little did he know that he'd follow the footsteps years later, and the two would join forces.

There are not many 'heel' turns bigger than this. The moment is as historic as Stone Cold Steve Austin aligning himself with arch-rival Mr. McMahon at WrestleMania 17. It's almost as historic as Hulk Hogan turning heel and joining the NWO in WCW in 1996.

The difference between them Austin was at the peak of his career when he turned. Some do consider his turn a failure as fans found it hard to boo him, but the moment itself was shocking to say the least.

Hogan, on the other hand, was dying out. He had been the American hero for around a decade and had lost steam. Shedding his bright red and yellow, and becoming Hollywood Hulk Hogan breathed new life into his career. He stayed relevant for over a decade after his turn and officially retired from in-ring competition in 2012.

However, Cena is scheduled to retire at the end of the year. Everyone knows. So, whatever history needs to be made, it must be made in less than 10 months. It's a safe period to turn Cena heel. There are other stars who continue to make money for WWE, the new generation of kids aren't exposed to him like we were, so it doesn't affect their market. The generation who grew up watching the Doctor of Thuganomics lose the chains and become an advocate for 'Hustle, Loyalty and Respect' is in their 30s now. We remember, kids. We remember when we wore lock chains, did the 'Thug Life' gang sign and learned to diss and rap from the Bad Guy John Cena from 2002 to 2004.

We might see traces of the Doctor of Thuganomics but the new villainous Cena will not be the same. We are seeing a Hollywood Cena, as the late, great Bray Wyatt had imagined during their rivalry in 2020. No more hustle, loyalty or respect for the Cenation leader.

This Hollywood persona has been a recurring element in many great heel turns, from Hogan (90s) to Rock (2000s) and now Cena. And looking at the reactions, one can say it's a box office success and should help sell more tickets for the Show of Shows, WrestleMania, in April.

While only time will tell how much impact this so-called 'industry changing' heel turn will have, it's safe to say that the moment itself will live on in history. It's a turn that WWE pulled off with great precision and secrecy and gave the fans a memory that no one will ever forget. This is also guaranteed to give the fans a lot of exciting and unprecedented moments leading up to WrestleMania, where there's a chance Cena will once again make history and walk out the world champion.