In one of the most shocking twists in the history of professional wrestling, WWE legend John Cena turned heel at the WWE Elimination Chamber event on Saturday, becoming one of the bad guys for the first time since he rose to his superstar status nearly two decades ago.
It was a legitimately shocking moment for fans, given Cena’s history as one of the biggest and most consistent protagonists in professional wrestling. And it turns out that nearly everyone else inside WWE was shocked by the move, too.
During his post-show press conference, WWE chief content officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque revealed that almost nobody knew that the move was coming as he desperately tried to prevent the news from leaking.
“People are pretty savvy, right? They’re tuned into a lot of the stuff we do. They sense things coming. And it’s why we get so upset when we see spoilers and things leak,” Levesque said via Ben Axelrod of Awful Announcing. “Believe me, half of the things that are spoilers and that leak are wrong. But like, when you do get the ones that are out there where you’re like, ‘arrgghh,’ it drives you nuts.”
Levesque did not want that to happen, so almost nobody knew about it.
“The one thing about tonight that I absolutely loved is that it was no where — no where. Because nobody knew,” Levesque said. “Like when I say nobody knew here — like nobody. Right before the finish of the Elimination Chamber [match], I had to say the truck, ‘everybody lay out, I have traffic of where we go next.’ Because nobody knew what was coming. It was a very, very tight circle of people. Because we’re just trying to entertain people and do it in a way that is amazing and next level and things they don’t see coming.”
Clearly, the tactic worked. The heel turn caught everyone by surprise – and it seems that included most of the people who even worked closely with WWE, as well.
We’ll have to see how the rest of the storyline takes shape for Cena as he continues his final season before retirement.
