• Matt Hardy Reveals Why John Cena Never Turned Heel After His 2003 Babyface Turn
John Cena made his WWE debut in 2002, answering Kurt Angle’s open challenge on SmackDown and then became an evil rapper towards the end of that year, which eventually made him a big star and turned him back into a babyface in late 2003.
Cena won his first World Title in 2005 when he defeated JBL in the co-main event of WrestleMania 21 to become the new WWE Champion … and the rest – so they say – is history.
On an episode of his weekly ‘The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy’ podcast, the former WWF Tag Team Champion revealed why WWE kept Cena a babyface from late 2003 until now, and never turned him back into a heel, despite a lot of fans booing him, especially between 2006 and 2012.
Here’s what Matt Hardy said about WWE needing Cena as a babyface:
”There’s some times in WWE where those decisions are made because the real person is just such a tremendous asset to the company in so many ways. That’s probably why they would never pull the trigger on it.
I mean, would it have helped him in the long run? I think so. I think it would have, but I just feel like all the Make-A-Wishes, all the appearances, all the charity stuff he did, they just they wanted to keep him in that role.
So that’s why they kept him in that same position, kind of like on cruise control.”
WATCH: Scarlett Bordeaux’s Bare Buns:
• ON THIS DAY IN NWA HISTORY (January 11, 1986) – NWA World Wide Wrestling
On this day in 1986, Jim Crockett Promotions aired an episode of their weekly TV show ‘NWA World Wide Wrestling’.
This episode featured pre-taped matches, interviews & storyline segments featuring the 1986 NWA Wrestling Superstars.
The card can be found below:
Ron Bass & Don Kernodle vs. George South & Mark Flemming
Ivan Koloff vs. Mac Jeffers
The Barbarian vs. Stoney Burke
Tully Blanchard vs. Rocky King
Arn Anderson vs. Tony Zane
Rock & Roll Express vs. Jobber & Mac Jeffers
