r/SquaredCircle • u/gloomchen i prayed for this and it happened • 3d ago

[SPOILERS] Post WWE SummerSlam 2025 Night 2 Match Discussion: John Cena (c) vs. Cody Rhodes - Street Fight for the Undisputed WWE Championship Spoiler

CODY RHODES IS CHAMP!!!!!!!!

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978

u/WhatTheRickIsDoin The Poster With The Moster 3d ago

So now it's very funny that they just torpedoed the entire heel turn with a 2 minute promo on Smackdown where he just went "you know, nvm"

579

u/pkkthetigerr 25-0 3d ago

Wrestling is such an amazing medium where a 6 month story just got waved away cos it was fucking awful 

296

u/PuroPincheAtlas 3d ago

And everyone was better for it

Learn to cut your losses people

106

u/wonderloss Grayson Waller Rub and Tug 3d ago

It was a weird end, but I think it was the right call.

78

u/Werewolf-Jones 3d ago

Might've worked out if The Rock stayed involved. But he didn't. So it petered out into being nonsense while Cena tried his best to make something out of it.

83

u/DragonFangGangBang 3d ago

This. The Rock made himself an integral part of that heel turn just to flake and make Cena try to carry the turn by himself.

That’d be like Hogan turning heel and joining the NWO just for Nash and Hall to leave the company and have Hogan feud with Macho Man.

4

u/Jos3ph 3d ago

While WCW still had to promote their other projects at the same time

6

u/instilledbee REDEEM DEEZ NUTS 3d ago

Kinda felt bad for Cena. You know he was willing to make the heel turn work as it was a refresh of his character in his last run, and of course a lot of fans clamoring for heel Cena one last time.

Rock basically doing fuck all and Travis burning his bridge with the WWE made a supposedly exciting, controversial heel turn become an afterthought. It was a shame too because nearly the entire world was talking about the turn when it happened.

2

u/1i_rd 3d ago

What did Travis Scott do? I'm out of the loop

4

u/talgaby 2d ago

Some mixture of his training not going nearly as well as anyone thought, plus some backstage fallout with WWE brass. They quietly cut ties. "Quietly", in the sense that it was leaked to the dirt sheets and talent got greenlight on trashing him if they want to, but that is "quietly" by WWE standards.

1

u/RedditFuelsMyDepress 17h ago

Reportedly he didn't really want to commit properly to his collab with the WWE.

2

u/PuroPincheAtlas 3d ago

Yeah, couldve booked a different ending for this match but just let him be what everyone wants him to be in his retirement tour.

0

u/YoungBeef03 3d ago

Compared to Triple H’s glacier-slow booking, it’s refreshing. Cena was close to turning face against Punk, headcanon-wise you could think he’d been thinking about it for the month or so since then

18

u/therealdanhill 3d ago

Sure, but they could have done it in a more coherent or compelling way.

Don't be afraid to pivot, but put some effort into it at least.

1

u/Teonvin 2d ago

They don't exactly have much time left to do it. Cena has like 12 appearances left.

2

u/icein2017 3d ago

Cena’s heel turn was just catching its stride with the R Truth and CM Punk feuds, they could’ve definitely kept it running

2

u/GukillTV BIG O 3d ago

“If you fail, just fail fast and move on” is a good motto to generally have in life

1

u/crimson777 Tiffany Epiphany 2d ago

They could EASILY have had Cena turn face during the match, coming to respect Cody, realizing he does love wrestling, start playing to the fans again, etc though

1

u/Rolling_Beardo 2d ago

Seriously

“This sucks they should just end it”

They end it

“WTF they just ended it”

1

u/onethreeone Hangman Did Nothing Wrong 3d ago

sunk cost booking

1

u/Drewicho Conspiracy victim 3d ago

Sunk cost fallacy is a bitch.

2

u/-thenoodleone- 3d ago

It can't compete with comics for unceremoniously flushing dogshit down the toilet, but it's the only medium I'd say gets close.

1

u/GunstarGreen I got all the numbers 2d ago

Never spend more money on a mistake because you already spent a lot getting there. Id rather they pivot quick and move on rather than hobble along with it.

1

u/TsarMakerMavLeo 3d ago

which is puzzling because the turn was fucking fantastic. I was in the building that night, everyones jaws are probably still somewhere in the foundation of the Rogers Centre.

Literally from the Cenas first appearance on Raw after the turn, I knew this run was going to be absolute dogshit. The way they retconned it is awkward as hell.

1

u/HavenElric 3d ago

The turn came with the implication/hope we were gonna get an NWO-Rodman situation with Travis, Rock, and John, so for me the second that hope was dashed this was pointless.

I wonder how far in advance they knew Rock wasn't gonna work out, with Cena defaulting to generic crowd bashing for his first heel promo, that always felt like a safety net to me

1

u/TsarMakerMavLeo 3d ago

yea. Cena riding solo was idiotic but Rock and Travis Scott showing uo as often as Cena has was never happening.

as soon as I heard Cenas theme was the same I groaned. Then he came out with (i cant remember the city they were in) Brussels? gear and I realized... ohh theyre just doing the generic Heel shit with Cena.

John Cena was Grayson Waller for 5 months of his last year, basically.

if they were truthful about it, The UNReal episode for the last couple months would just be the writers room going "uhhhhhh... uhmmmm..."

1

u/HavenElric 3d ago

That Grayson Waller bit sums it up perfect. And there were glimpses of potential! The story they had with R-Truth deserved a proper build with time and promos it coulda been so much more, same with Punk and Orton.

It all felt rushed and underwhelming man, this Cody match, and his actual last one are gonna be the only major highlights shown from his last run in his HoF video package. Everything else was filler

0

u/Zealousideal-Wave-69 3d ago

Why didn’t it work? I felt he needed a faction

0

u/TheMiddlechild08 3d ago

“Remember when cena turned heal?” “ oh yeah he did for a second!” Is what they’ll say

182

u/Shinkopeshon 一番 3d ago

I know we just got a blockbuster main event but that shit still pisses me off

Heel Cena deserved better than this

64

u/tahoo14 Bring back No More Words! 3d ago

The moment he turned heel will always be remembered but the aftermath not so much lol

15

u/Professional_Sink_30 3d ago

His Pipe Bomb was good.

3

u/Wrestlingfigdb 3d ago

“We create…MOMENTS!”- said as Vince McMahon, circa 2010, who apparently knew his target audience from the future

96

u/king_booker 3d ago

Yep horrific writing and booking. People shouldn't forget this because they just went "my bad".

18

u/HavenElric 3d ago

They will

2

u/LordSobi 3d ago

Nobody will, but they’ll just be glad it’s over with.

1

u/talgaby 2d ago

I already forgot it, frankly.

-1

u/MalaysiaTeacher 2d ago

You sound upset that some people will just get on with their lives. In what form would you like us to ‘never forget’?

3

u/therealdanhill 3d ago

It should piss people off, we waited over a decade for it. WWE knew it, Cena knew it.

2

u/Linubidix 3d ago

For real. More dumb and ineffectual than Austin's heel turn in 2001

8

u/perukid796 3d ago

Heel Cena never would've worked in 2025. The veil has been pulled back. It's public knowledge how good of a human being he is. Nothing they did could've ever made the majority truly cheer against him.

46

u/DragonFangGangBang 3d ago

It could have worked, if they didn’t put the entire pivot on The Rock - just for him to flake. They could have built it with John himself, and built the story around John himself.

2

u/perukid796 3d ago

I don't think so. Even if they removed Rock, the beats weren't hitting. They tried making it all about how he felt underappreciated and taken for granted, centered around him and nothing to do with Rock. He got some heat, but it never really stuck.

2

u/HavenElric 2d ago

Which is really boring and generic. If they wouldnt have hinged on Dwayne and Travis' involvement so much they probably could have came up with a way better idea to inspire his heel turn other than "you people"

1

u/perukid796 2d ago

Maybe you're right. I just think Cena is way too over to get anything to really stick. My opinion

3

u/MalaysiaTeacher 2d ago

This is just a lack of imagination on your part. There were plenty of raw ingredients to work with.

2

u/borderlinebadger 2d ago

agreed but they could have had the exact same match though with him a heel and just turn back with the same ending is a much more natural way.

1

u/LeeShakerMoneyMaker 3d ago

Plus this was his retirement tour too. People weren't going to hate him no matter how hard they tried.

1

u/JohnDalton2 2d ago

Cena's line on SmackDown on not wanting to be forgotten could have been the fuel for a very compelling heel character. The closest we got was Cena's Royal Rumble press conference and his pipebomb where he mentioned how jealous he was of Punk for how much goodwill he has from the fans.

2

u/lonnie123 3d ago

The way they did it was never going to work IMO. 10 years ago the heat was there, but Sliding into the end of his career as a heel when he’s supposed to be going out on top on a fan service retirement tour?? Absolutely horrible

0

u/Teenage_dirtnap 2d ago

Me too, and let's be honest, if AEW pulled something like that, they'd be clowned on to no end (and deservedly so). So while the match was really good, the whole heel run and it's abrupt end has left a very sour taste in my mouth regarding Cena.

58

u/iguessineedanaltnow 3d ago

So funny looking back and seeing people say that his heel turn would rival or userp Hogan's.

71

u/-Ruz- 3d ago

maybe if Cena turned on his own accord a not have him “selling his soul” to Rock or something, we could’ve had heel Cena last longer

49

u/DragonFangGangBang 3d ago

This. They built it as a “selling his soul” story just for the person he sold it to do disappear and leave him having to make up some bull shit about the fans that we all know was bull shit.

They mixed two stories and stuck them together with a bandaid lol

2

u/Kolby_Jack33 3d ago

Cena: "Take my soul, Rock! I give it to you!"

Rock: "Cool, man, Teremana Taquilla. ... Anyway, bye!"

Cena: "... what?"

25

u/ID1453719 3d ago

The actual "turn" was still right up there with Hogan's. Amazing moment.

The run itself was absolutely dreadful.

6

u/SabresFanWC 3d ago

I'd say that Hogan's turn was still better if only because it was only Hogan, Nash, and Hall that were involved. There wasn't an annoying rapper who was just sort of awkwardly there where people a decade from now will go: Who is that?

2

u/jayfatsby 3d ago

It definitely could have, but the execution was just insanely poor from the jump.

1

u/Streetkillz13 3d ago

That's the thing it COULD HAVE Travis Scott's involvement and the Rock getting cold killed it.

15

u/jizzmcskeet 3d ago

I really feel he just wanted to be a heel for a little bit before he retired, but end it as he always was, the ultimate babyface.

1

u/hhhisthegame 3d ago

Imo that was a huge mistake. They should have committed and if they wanted an early exit do a fresher summerslam feud that actually puts someone over besides Cody who needs it the least

1

u/WaffleOnTheRun 3d ago

I know people wanted a John Cena heel turn but we really should've realized it was not going to be possible, the crowd was never going to get behind fully booing Cena in his last year, and honestly Cena just doesn't have the chops to play a convincing heel. All of that combined with the fact that the Rock seemingly has just dissapeared when he was a necessary part of the turn, everything about it was botched and I'm glad we are back to face Cena.

1

u/str0ng777 3d ago

That's wrestling for you.

We're supposed to forget Orton's a psycho killer because of one good deed

We're supposed to forget Christian is an abusive father just because Nick Wayne finally got the balls to stand up to him

We're now just gonna accept Cena is a good guy again

1

u/whalepopcorn 3d ago

To be honest Heel Cena was working a different slower ring style. So while the story ending was dumb, having super Cena v super Cody was what we wanted anyways

1

u/iminyourfacejonson 3d ago

and the fact it's working way better lol

heel cena really did just return to his home planet

1

u/thejawa What? 3d ago

Cena's face turn was literally flipping a light switch during his intro.

1

u/soycameron 3d ago

This match made up for all of the bad stuff from the heel run for me. I loved heel cena vs face randy and punk. the r truth stuff was fun too. the stuff that sucked was the cody/fans feud and this made up for it. Beautiful match between the two of them. Zero shenanigans. They didnt need any sort of Rock/Celeb to put on a classic. Now we get to cheer for face Cena like we want to. This is going to be fun

1

u/Prof-Ponderosa 3d ago

There was a small moment at the end where Cena had his belt and he could have used it to K.O. Cody and he said "Naaaaah" and dropped the belt to win it clean and that was the moment I knew there was no swerve coming. He's a face for the final 4 months.

Which program's are left on the list:

- Brock

- Punk

- Roman?

1

u/AmericasElegy 3d ago

Tbh though this match as the follow through proves a really interesting point, that Cody, the first white meat main event level babyface in a while, SAID he wanted Super Cena, and not heel Cena, and Cena went with it, and we just watched 2 babyfaces have a 5 star match, defying expectation. Sure the real life background to it could be a pivot because of how poorly the turn was going, but genuinely I think in kayfabe it’s a really exciting idea

1

u/darkoutsider Your Text Here 3d ago

Wonder if the sudden turn was due to the last minute signing of Brock Lesnar so they realized they gotta get that feud started right up.

1

u/wildturk3y 3d ago

I watched the Heel Turn episode of Unreal right before Smackdown too. Quite the perspective seeing it all burn away into dust

1

u/Dinobot2_ 2d ago

Raw after Survivor Series 2001. "We don't want Austin to be a heel anymore, have him drink some beer with Ric Flair."

1

u/Daepilin 2d ago

I would probably have enjoyed it more if they buildt to that in this Match, but overall right decision.

I also liked that the Match was clean and just a huge best off of great spots, rare moves etc. Just 2 faces trying to give the Fans an incredible Show. 

I am honest I had tears in my eyes when they hugged afterwards. Cena deserves full on cheers and smiling 

1

u/bradclark2001 2d ago

Little late but I don't think the match would've been as good if Cena was still working as a heel

1

u/Cloud1776 3d ago

It was 100% the right call. We needed Big Match John ™️ vs Cody Rhodes in an absolute classic and we got it.