Below are a couple of top WWE news stories of the day, featuring John Cena and Jade Cargill.
• John Cena’s heel turn at Elimination Chamber, aligning with The Rock, was originally planned for WrestleMania 41’s finish but was moved up last minute, according to the Wrestling Observer.
While The Rock had originally wanted Cody Rhodes to turn heel instead, Rhodes declined. WWE officials believed a Rhodes heel turn would harm the company, given his current popularity.
WWE’s top decision-makers may have planned the move all along, but many key people were led to believe it was a late change.
• Jade Cargill’s WWE return has been intense, but behind the scenes, tensions with Shayna Baszler nearly escalated into a fight in 2024.
According to the Wrestling Observer, multiple sources confirmed a confrontation between Cargill and Baszler before Cargill’s injury in November 2024. Cargill had reportedly rubbed several members of the RAW women’s division the wrong way, leading Baszler to challenge her before WWE management intervened.
The issues stemmed from their feud involving Bianca Belair, Zoey Stark, and Baszler, with some problems arising in the ring and others outside of it. One source even suggested the tension was worse on the SmackDown side than on RAW.
“There was a confrontation that took place a few months ago before the Cargill injury involving Cargill and Baszler.
It’s been confirmed by a half dozen people that it happened, but nobody went into details past Cargill had rubbed enough people in the RAW women’s division the wrong way and Baszler was wanting to fight her until management found out and calmed the situation down.
I don’t know what in particular happened other than it wasn’t just one thing, and the belief is that some of this stemmed from inside the ring in those matches and some didn’t.
Although one woman star said they believed the tension within the SmackDown side was worse than the RAW side.”
