"The Rock told him to do it" - Former WWE star makes interesting comments about John Cena's heel turn

Modified Mar 07, 2025 20:32 GMT

How much was The Rock involved in John Cena's heel turn? [Image credit: WWE.com]

John Cena's WWE heel turn reportedly had The Rock's creative all over it. However, that is not what a former World Champion had to talk about.

Nic Nemeth, fka Dolph Ziggler, is intrigued by the bold move the company made at Elimination Chamber in Toronto, Canada. On the latest episode of the Busted Open podcast, the former WWE Superstar explained the necessity of giving fans a breather following arguably the most shocking moment in World Wrestling Entertainment's history.

Nemeth was unsure if John Cena desires to become 17-time World Champion or whether he simply wants the money, or if The Final Boss has some sort of power over Cena to convince the latter to turn to the dark side. The TNA star explored all fronts:

"I don't know where this leads, and that makes me so intrigued to check it out; what goes on next. But yes, he finally sold out. And he couldn't even do it on his own. Didn't shake hands with Vince, or just go, scr*w you kids, stop hustling, and loyalty-ing, and respecting, and then now, it's just like, there's something that's not the same. Oh, he finally turned on everybody, he's been holding back, and now he just wants the championship, and break [Ric] Flair's record, get the money, and it's like, no, it just seems like The Rock told him to do it." [From 3:04 onwards]

John Cena's last PPV's name revealed by Kurt Angle? More details HERE

Check out Nemeth's comments in the podcast below:

WWE has successfully maintained intrigue throughout the week, and it seems clear John Cena and The Rock won't likely be on the show tonight on SmackDown. Meanwhile, other prominent bouts could also get some of the spotlight.

Will Cody Rhodes return to WWE SmackDown and address his WrestleMania 41 match with John Cena?

SmackDown emanates from Wells Fargo Centre in Philadelphia on March 8, and Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes has been announced for the show.

The American Nightmare will undoubtedly address John Cena's vicious attack on him at the recently concluded Elimination Chamber show.

Meanwhile, Cena's return is scheduled for the March 17 edition of RAW. It will be interesting to see what happens if they're together in the same building.

Please credit the Busted Open and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription, if you're using quotes from this article.

About the author

Joel has been a WWE news writer at Sportskeeda for the last 2 years. Always having a penchant for writing, he worked as an independent screenwriter and a copy/content writer for almost 2 years before joining Sportskeeda.

Joel’s pro-wrestling knowledge comes from hours of watching it from a young age. His favorite wrestler is Shawn Michaels, but if he could go back in time to The Attitude Era, he would like to manage Chris Jericho and advise him to cut his hair and portray a character similar to Javier Bardem in the movie “No Country for Old Men,” something which Jericho later pulled off in 2008.

Besides Michaels, Joel is also a fan of Eddie Guerrero, Randy Orton, Edge, CM Punk, and Brock Lesnar. His current favorites are Roman Reigns, Gunther, and Drew McIntyre.

Joel is a team man and works closely with his colleagues, conducts thorough research, and only relies on top pro-wrestling sources for information. His well-researched news reports have received close to 10 million reads till date.

When not following pro wrestling, Joel can be found designing built spaces, auditioning for films, working out, spending time with family and watching movies.

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Edited by Sayantan Niyogi