Hulk Hogan opens up on John Cena’s heel turn
“It’s one of the best heel turns I’ve seen in a long, long time”
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The Week in Wrestling is published every week and provides beneath the surface coverage of the business of pro wrestling.
Contents for The Week in Wrestling:
Hulk Hogan details the John Cena heel turn
An inside look at the past week in wrestling
Why Travis Scott looked completely out of place
Tweet of the Week
Hulk Hogan on John Cena’s attack on Cody Rhodes: “It’s one of the best heel turns I’ve seen in a long, long time”
John Cena turned the wrestling world on its head this past Saturday, turning heel in shocking fashion when he laid out Cody Rhodes.
The turn, which adds a whole new fire to the Rhodes-Cena main event at WrestleMania, has been pro wrestling’s dominant talking point since the moment it happened.
And it even caught the attention of the man responsible for the most legendary heel turn in wrestling history–Hulk Hogan.
“Well, we definitely can see Cena now, can’t we?” said Hogan. “We know who he is now. He’s not signing autographs or doing what he’s been doing. That’s bigger than a wrestling angle.”
Once the most beloved babyface in all of pro wrestling, Hogan forever changed the wrestling industry when he turned heel at WCW’s Bash at the Beach in the summer of ’96. That still stands as a genuinely iconic moment, spurring one of wrestling’s hottest, most profitable stretches.
Unlike Cena, who is planning on retiring before the end of the year, Hogan got far more mileage out of his turn to the dark side. But Hogan sees only endless potential here. A long-time admirer of Cena’s work, he believes this is a monumental moment in pro wrestling.
“It’s one of the best heel turns I’ve seen in a long, long time,” said Hogan. “All the major players were involved. I can’t say enough about The Rock, too–he was incredible. They did it right, I’ll tell you that.”
Hogan’s affinity for the storyline extends deeper than the on-screen product. He was peers with Dusty Rhodes and Rocky Johnson, who, respectively, are the late fathers of Cody Rhodes and The Rock. Prior to that, Hogan was a passionate fan, one who was willing to go to any length to get involved in pro wrestling.
“I grew up watching Dusty Rhodes and Rocky Johnson,” said Hogan. “Before I started training, back when I was playing in a rock and roll band, I used to pick up Rocky Johnson and drive him to shows. I was such a fan–I’d borrow my girlfriend’s Torino and drive him all over. And when Rocky said, ‘You better get me to the Imperial Room before it closes’, I’d haul butt to get him there in time.”
Hogan is currently in a familiar spot–back on the road. This week, he has been promoting his Real American Beer throughout New York, continuing a grassroots campaign that has helped make the beverage very popular in its infancy.
“This is only the beginning,” said Hogan, whose beer signed a multi-year partnership with WWE. “We have a lot of big plans. It’s amazing, brother–it’s a great beer, and people are loving it.”
As WWE builds toward WrestleMania, Hogan will be keeping a close eye on the main event. He is well-versed in headlining the show as a babyface, especially against a friend who turned his back on him–yet he is also an expert at entering the biggest show of the year as the top villain.
With the chemistry between Cena and Rhodes, Hogan is optimistic that we could be on the verge of an extremely memorable angle.
“It’s going to work as long as John wants to stay plugged in,” said Hogan. “I don’t know his schedule or how many days he’ll work, but he definitely has everyone’s attention. Plus, The Rock is involved, too. This could heat up more than anyone is expecting. It could be so hot that it’s crazy, which will lead to a WrestleMania match you’ll never forget.”
This past week…
CM Punk cut a scorched-earth promo on Raw. He targeted John Cena and The Rock (though let’s be honest, Punk did carry a title belt when he wasn’t champion in AEW), and ultimately advanced his feud with Seth Rollins–who he will meet next week on Raw in a steel cage match.
Iyo Sky defeated Rhea Ripley on Raw, winning the Women’s World Championship. Does this mean Ripley will find a way to make the title match a three-way bout with Bianca Belair at WrestleMania?
Jon Stewart, who once prevented John Cena from winning gold, made mention of Cena’s heel turn a talking point on The Daily Show.
WWE now has a working relationship with the NWA, where we’ll see Natalya Neidhart wrestle in May.
To me, this Sunday’s AEW Revolution pay-per-view is built around Kenny Omega wrestling Konosuke Takeshita. Is there a way to get the world title on Omega? It doesn’t appear to be the plan, but he should wrestle the winner of Jon Moxley-Adam Copeland.
A highlight of the indie scene takes place this weekend with the 2025 Scenic City Rumble, which streams live on IWTV.
“Some of independent wrestling’s biggest stars are coming together to compete in this annual event,” said Scenic City promoter Scott Hensley. “We’ll raise money, they’ll raise their profile in independent wrestling–and raise their hopes of competing in our 10th Scenic City Invitational Tournament coming this summer on July 18th and 19.”
Can someone–anyone–explain why Travis Scott needed to be involved in the Cena heel turn?
In the understatement of the year, Travis Scott looked completely out of place at Elimination Chamber during the John Cena heel turn.
It all started the moment he walked to the ring beside The Rock. There was no purpose to having Scott anywhere near the ring, a realm where he is not trained. While he is a massive star that has the ability to cross over into the mainstream, this wasn’t Mike Tyson coming to Raw in 1998. Scott wasn’t even properly introduced by the broadcast team, who never fully explained why he was in the ring.
For a heel turn of that magnitude, it needed to be flawless. And… it nearly was. The glaring exception was Scott–who had no business in the ring–being so prominently involved. Maybe it would have worked later on had WWE introduced him at some point into this storyline, but including him in the Cena turn instead became an extremely forced moment in an otherwise spectacular scene.
WWE didn’t benefit from any widespread positive mainstream attention because of Scott. He was put in an awkward, unwinnable situation, and the result was exactly what you would have predicted.
Tweet of the Week
A.) No mention of Travis Scott. B.) How do we get Dustin Rhodes back to WWE? A storyline where he backs up Cody would be phenomenal.