By Conor Amendola, Music Director
In 2014, I was 11 years old, when I watched Dolph Ziggler (with the help of Sting) win the 2014 Survivor Series match and save “Team Cena” from being fired by WWE. Obviously, they never would be fired for real, but I was at the age where those storylines were fully real to me. I rooted heavily for “The Authority” to be shown for the power-hungry businesspeople that they were. Like most kids my age, I was a fan of the underdogs, and I was a fan of the heroes.
That all changed tonight. I’m not a fan of the heroes anymore. I’m a fan of what’s “best for business,” and what’s best for business is what WWE just did with John Cena at the Elimination Chamber on March 1.
In his press conference after the Royal Rumble, Cena said, “What is best for business is I main event WrestleMania. And what is best for business, is…that I’m gonna win the 17th championship.” Tonight, at the Elimination Chamber premium live event, we saw what “best for business,” really means. This marks the first time in his entire career that he has ever “turned heel” in a storyline, and it wasn’t just a normal heel turn it was a diabolical one.
Cena rejected everything that his character, for the majority of his career, stood for and went full corporate, beating Cody Rhodes with his own championship belt, before letting The Rock and Travis Scott get in on the action to close out the event.
11-year-old me would have lost his mind seeing Cena turn from the hero of the story to the ultimate villain, but 21-year-old me loves it. I think a Cena heel run for his farewell-tour year is a phenomenal idea. We’re going to see a version of John Cena that we never have before and the storytelling with him, the face of the company from the past. and Cody Rhodes, the current face of the company, is going to be a storyline for the ages.
I never thought that I would cheer for a corporate Cena, but this was a move that was really best for business, and I can’t wait to see how the story unfolds from here.
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