Future WWE Hall of Famer John Cena made a shocking heel turn at Elimination Chamber, turning on Cody Rhodes and aligning with The Rock in a move that not only surprised fans but a lot of people internally as well as the company went to great lengths to keep it a secret. In the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reported that the decision to turn Cena heel was originally planned for WrestleMania but that a last minute change moved it up to Elimination Chamber.
According to Meltzer, during the day WWE had slotted the Rhodes/Rock segment after the women's tag team match but then moved it to the end "just hours before the show" and that the segment was originally going to simply be Cody turning down the Rock with Cena not involved in any way other than winning the men's Elimination Chamber match. Meltzer added that the Cena heel turn was going to happen at WrestleMania and when the decision was made (during the day) to do it at Elimination Chamber, the segment was moved to the end of the show.
Fightfulselect.com released a report neither confirming or denying Meltzer's story but noting that at one point Cody Rhodes was pitched for a heel turn to align with The Rock before facing Cena at WrestleMania and that Rhodes declined turning heel. Their report says after Rhodes turned it down, WWE approached Cena, who agreed to turn heel and The Rock was "all in" on making the story happen.
Interestingly, former WWE writer Brian Gewirtiz - a close confidante and business partner of The Rock - seemingly denounced both reports on X by simply responding by with a "0/2" comment, presumably to indicate that neither story was correct.
