WWE Hall of Famer JBL has claimed that Vince McMahon repeatedly rejected suggestions to turn John Cena heel because of the lessons he learned from Steve Austin‘s controversial character change in 2001.
John Cena spent the majority of his WWE career as the company’s leading babyface, despite years of mixed reactions from audiences and calls for him to embrace a villainous character. On the Something to Wrestle podcast, JBL said the possibility of turning Cena heel was discussed extensively behind the scenes, but Vince McMahon consistently refused to entertain it.
According to JBL, McMahon’s reluctance stemmed from Austin’s heel turn at WrestleMania 17, where he aligned himself with his longtime rival McMahon to defeat The Rock for the WWF Championship.
“You wonder why they never turned Cena? Because they turned Austin, and you know, the guy’s selling. I mean, Austin was… the merch that Steve was selling was ridiculous,” JBL said.
“You know, and Vince learned his lesson. You know, I think that’s one of the reasons they never turned Cena. And I was in a lot of the meetings where people were arguing for it. And Vince, ‘No, absolutely not. Never going to happen.’ You know, he would tell you, ‘Never going to happen.’ But he learned his lesson.”
JBL Discusses Vince McMahon’s Thinking Behind WWE’s Invasion Angle
The discussion began when podcast host Conrad Thompson asked whether WWE’s Invasion storyline was introduced in response to Steve Austin’s unsuccessful heel turn. The storyline followed WWE’s 2001 acquisition of WCW and featured wrestlers from the former rival promotion invading WWE programming. JBL suggested that Vince McMahon believed he could turn the WCW talent available to him into major stars, despite the absence of several of the promotion’s biggest names.
“I think Vince thought he could make something out of anything. And you know, Vince didn’t watch a lot of the other television… They were good stars, just like those of us that fought them were good stars,” JBL explained.
“But like I say, they didn’t get our main event guys. We didn’t get their main event guys. You know, if it had been Sting that had come in, if it had been Kevin that had come in, Goldberg that came in… I think Vince thought he could make anything out of anything, and I think that was a mistake also.”
Despite McMahon’s longstanding opposition, Cena eventually turned heel at Elimination Chamber in March 2025. In the shocking moment, Cena attacked Cody Rhodes and aligned himself with The Rock, marking his first heel turn in more than two decades.
However, the decision came long after McMahon left WWE. The former chairman resigned from WWE and its parent company, TKO, in January 2024. Cena subsequently retired from in-ring competition in December 2025, ending a career in which his lengthy run as WWE’s leading babyface had become one of his defining characteristics.
