WWE reportedly had a different idea for when John Cena’s heel turn was going to take place

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. Cena will now challenge Cody for the WWE Championship at WWE Wrestlemania 41.

Following the event, it was reported that 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. Dave Meltzer of F4WOnline.com was told that the segment was initially laid out for Cody to turn down Rock’s offer without involvement from Cena and Cena would’ve then gone on to win the Chamber match.

Meltzer stated the following…

“The plan was that the Cena turn with Rock would have been saved for Wrestlemania’s finish. The idea is that once the decision was made, during the day, to do it on this show, then obviously it had to go on last. Keep in mind that the top few people in WWE could be swerving their own people and it was always going last and the turn was always on this show, but after the show, many of the key people were told that it was a late change.”

Meltzer added that Drew McIntyre was never “a serious threat” to being in Cena’s role for Wrestlemania and Cena winning the Chamber was an idea that had been planned for several months.