Backstage news regarding the creative process for John Cena’s heel turn at WWE Elimination Chamber

As seen during the 2025 WWE Elimination Chamber PLE, John Cena officially turned heel against Cody Rhodes and “sold his soul” to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

According to Fightful Select, Cena’s heel turn was not a last-minute change of plans. Rock’s segment with Cody was intentionally listed on internal run sheets as taking place during the middle of Elimination Chamber to protect Cena’s heel turn. It was added that “much of Rock’s creative has been on a ‘need to know basis,’ and Cena’s involvement with WWE this year hasn’t required much creative briefing across the board.”

In regards to rapper Travis Scott’s involvement in the storyline, a poster of himself with Rock and Cena that was shared prior to the event was reportedly “100 percent intentional foreshadowing.” It’s believed that WWE had been working on securing Scott’s appearance for over a month.

People within WWE expect Rock to be at Wrestlemania 41 in some capacity but it hasn’t been confirmed. Cena’s next advertised appearances are the March 17th, 24th and 31st episodes of RAW in Brussels, Glasgow and London respectively. At Elimination Chamber’s post-show press conference, Rock stated that Cena flew in to Toronto from Budapest on Saturday morning and was then flying to Africa to finish filming his movie Matchbox.

Triple H publicly commented on Cena’s heel turn at the press conference.