Triple H Reveals John Cena’s Initial Reaction Over Heel Turn Pitch

John Cena’s heel turn at Elimination Chamber 2025 rocked the wrestling world—but according to Triple H, the move wasn’t hard to sell to the 16-time world champ.

In a new interview with The Daily Mail’s Alex McCarthy, WWE Chief Content Officer Triple H opened up about the decision to flip Cena to the dark side after nearly two decades of being the face of WWE. According to The Game, Cena embraced the idea immediately.

“It was a conversation that when it was brought up, everybody… I think in John’s mind he was like ‘wow, I didn’t think you were going to say that. I love it,’” Triple H revealed. “It’s a challenge to him. John’s not a complacent person.”

At Elimination Chamber, Cena stunned fans by aligning himself with The Rock and Travis Scott in a brutal beatdown of Cody Rhodes—making it clear this was a whole new era of Cena. Since then, he’s blamed the fans for his heel turn and has declared his mission to “ruin wrestling” by taking the WWE Championship home after WrestleMania 41.

Triple H likened the turn to an actor being offered a role completely out of their usual comfort zone. “At a certain point in time they come and they give you something way off something you’ve ever done and you’re like ‘Wow, alright, that’s a challenge I’ve never done before,’” he said. “That energises you and gets your creative juices going… This is going to be special because John is lit up about it. We’re lit up about it. It’s going to be incredible.”

Cena is set for what’s being billed as his final advertised appearance on the road to WrestleMania 41 on tonight’s Monday Night RAW, where he’ll go face-to-face with Cody Rhodes once again. Expect tensions to explode as the showdown inches closer.