John Cena Makes a Shocking Villain Turn By Selling Out to The Rock: Everything to Know

WWE’s Elimination Chamber saw a shocking villain turn for everyone’s beloved wrestling hero John Cena, which surprised even those who don’t religiously follow WWE. However, for people who haven’t been paying close attention to the current in-ring situation but whose jaws still dropped at Cena’s stunning betrayal, we’re here to explain what’s happening.

For those unfamiliar, Cena is back competing in WWE as part of a previously announced farewell tour before he retires from the ring for good. As part of that string of matches, he competed in the 2025 Elimination Chamber over the weekend and, not surprisingly, won the whole thing. This guarantees him a shot at the title at this year’s WrestleMania, which is currently held by Cody Rhodes, who defeated Roman Reigns for it last year. At the time, Reigns had his cousin Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in his corner after the Final Boss made a bit of a villain turn of his own, which is pretty much where our story of Cena’s betrayal begins. 

Are The Rock and John Cena bad guys now? 

The Rock has been doing villainous stuff for more than a year now in WWE, the most recent being providing the current champion, Rhodes, with an ultimatum. The Rock, in his capacity as an executive at WWE and board member at TKO, offered him money, power, and more if he agreed to one simple thing: Sell his soul to The Rock and become his champion. Essentially, that would mean giving up his autonomy as a champion within WWE to answer to The Final Boss for whatever he needs. He wouldn't answer to the fans, he wouldn't answer to his conscience — he would answer to The Rock. 

Rhodes had until the Elimination Chamber to make his decision. Rhodes approached Cena after his epic win to shake hands ahead of their inevitable bout at WrestleMania 2025. The Rock then came out to get Cody’s final answer. As you can see below, Rhodes gave a pretty emphatic “no." 

John Cena turns on Cody Rhodes and sells out to The Rock

At first, it seemed Cena was very much on Rhodes’ side. He showed nothing but respect to the champion when he noted they’d be facing each other in Las Vegas later this year. When Rhodes told The Rock to “go f---” himself, no one seemed more excited than Cena. However, when the applause died down and the two embraced, Rock gave Cena the signal to start whaling on Rhodes with absolutely no mercy in a brutal attack that left the champ beaten and bloodied. 

It seems The Rock found his champion after all. As of this moment, John Cena has sold his soul to The Final Boss and will seemingly be his guy at WrestleMania when he inevitably fights Rhodes. As for why Cena, the notoriously good guy in WWE who is beloved by fans across the world, would align himself with The Rock and make a decidedly villainous turn? No one knows... yet. 

Backstage after the attack, Cena wouldn’t even speak to the press, leaving a total mystery as to what exactly The Rock said to entice him into the craven position. 

Fans will just have to tune into WWE between now and WrestleMania to figure out exactly what’s going on with the new bad boys of sports entertainment, The Rock and John Cena.