Have I been too quick to write off the John Cena heel turn? Given how quickly things can move in professional wrestling, I wouldn't want to U-turn just yet. But there's no denying that, for at least 30 minutes Saturday night at WWE Backlash 2025, the whole "evil Cena" concept actually clicked in a way that it hasn’t done so far.
Cena vs. Orton wasn't the perfect match, admittedly — we could have done without stacking up refs like cannon fodder — but it was a massive improvement on Cena vs. Cody Rhodes. Between the near-falls, supersized finishers, and over-the-top RKO antics featuring Nick Aldis and R-Truth, there was a sense of drama that felt frustratingly absent in Las Vegas.