After winning the 2025 men’s Elimination Chamber battle, John Cena turned heel and teamed up with The Rock during Saturday night’s WWE Elimination Chamber: Toronto pay-per-view event.
When The American Nightmare refused to sell Cody Rhodes’ soul to The Final Boss, Cena and The Rock attacked him.
The Rock discussed Cena’s villain turn, the recently established heel alliance, and other topics during the post-2025 WWE Elimination Chamber media scrum.
Here are a few highlights from the media scrum that took place after the show:
Regarding the heel shift made by John Cena: “It was an incredible moment.” No one really knew what was going to happen before or after this moment, but as entertainers, whether in professional wrestling, movies, or television, we truly live for moments like that where we can hopefully create something that can be very compelling and moving for the audience. Imagine 38,000 people in Toronto, and what we have all thought about and discussed in the back. For the most part, I thought the moment was amazing, and I personally adore that. Maybe if you labelled it that. As far as being a professional wrestler goes, I’ve been around the block. I adore this company. I experienced some truly spectacular professional wrestling angles tonight, and I seen some incredible professional wrestling angles as a child. Tonight seems to stand next to all of the famous angles, in my opinion.
“What I felt tonight, and I’ve been a part of some really phenomenal pro-wrestling angles, and as a kid growing up, I’ve seen some amazing pro-wrestling angles,” the speaker said when asked if the angle is considered one of the most iconic angles in wrestling history. Tonight was truly amazing; I felt like I was standing next to all of the famous angles. Overall, I was quite pleased with the performances of all the individuals, both men and women. They gave it their all, and I am really proud of them.
Regarding whether the Final Boss is a babyface or a heel: “The Final Boss is a lot of things.” He is both a heel and a babyface, but he also deviates from the common pro-wrestling clichés of “oh, a heel talks like this, or a babyface talks like this.”
“I’m a long gamer, and I like long gaming, and I like creating with Paul, with Brian Gewirtz, and Maya Lasry, who is on my side of the team, and I like creating with Paul and his team as well,” he said on his love of long-term narrative. We play for a long time.
Regarding their discussion of being adaptable in the event that the audience steered them in a new direction: “This crowd tonight was exceptional.” Without getting too caught up in the details, we had talked about having a plan for how this crowd will behave because, when you go into something like this, this crowd is waiting and knows that something is going to happen. It’s getting closer. We have the Elimination Chamber and all of these matches that we have planned and promoted, but at the end, our top hero will sacrifice himself to the Final Boss. What will take place? Therefore, we all agreed that we should be ready, that we should not be rigid or stay on course, that we should be flexible, and that we should wait and watch if the mob moves in this direction. During our match, I had to do that with Hogan. For those who are unaware, we had a major match at WrestleMania 18 where I was the big babyface and Hogan was the big heel. The crowd turned as soon as we locked up, and I believe there were around 60,000 people present at the time. I believe the setup was different, and I became the heel within two minutes of the match, so Hogan and I had to adjust. We therefore entered tonight with an open mind and a willingness to change course. Tonight’s turnout was incredible.
“I told him as he left, by the way, he flew in today, this morning, from Budapest, he’s flying out right now to Africa to continue, so that’s a level of commitment,” he said to John Cena following the concert tonight. We say two things in our wrestling lingo, I informed him as he was leaving. I told him, “I’m proud of you,” after he responded, “Hey, thank you for the house.” It’s significant.
“A dozen eggs, but only 10 egg whites, two whole eggs, do the hash browns, I’ll do the waffle, scattered, smothered, covered,” he says of his Waffle House order.
Regarding his appearance in Bad Blood 2024: “It had significance.” I’m a long-term player. Long gaming is something I enjoy. Along with my teammate Maya Lasry, Paul [Levesque], and Brian Gewirtz, I enjoy inventing. Along with Paul and his team, I enjoy developing. We play for a long time. Many people said, “Oh, it didn’t mean anything,” in response to my modest, subtle action in Bad Blood. Yes, it did. It’s all right. We are considering this things and long gaming this, so don’t worry if you’re not thinking about it right now. Similarly, I greeted everyone at the Director of the Board when we launched Netflix in Los Angeles and congratulated Cody Rhodes for leading the firm. I hugged him tightly and gave him a dap. I anticipated this evening. We’re playing long games.
Regarding the possibility of Travis Scott joining him and John Cena: “Yes, without a doubt. That is the reason we are doing it. extended gaming. I adore Travis. That’s my man. Over the years, professional wrestling has, in my opinion, always found a special position in culture, which is where we have grown in the WWE. We recall the Attitude Era, Rock ‘n’ Wrestling, Cyndi Lauper, and Hulk Hogan. For a while now, professional wrestling has had a place in society. I believe we are entering a new period; I’m not sure what we’ll call it yet, but we’ll all figure it out. I’ll claim credit for whatever fantastic idea someone comes up with. Travis seems to appreciate both the industry and professional wrestling, in my opinion. He enjoys culture. Travis Scott is already among the best of all time. He adores the industry and is a legend, icon, and GOAT. Guys and girls like that are already influencing culture and upending it in their own unique ways, and they want to join. They want to enter and enjoy the performance. Perhaps they want to appear on camera or just sit and enjoy themselves. However, some wish to participate. Some people really want to get involved, like Travis. You witnessed that tonight. In addition to having the chance to bring Travis Scott in and begin forming a union and alliance with The Final Boss and Travis Scott, we also have the chance to create this moment in professional wrestling that is undoubtedly one of the biggest, if not the biggest. He desired to get his hands bloody, to use a slang expression. As we were leaving, I whispered to him, “Make it count if your hands get bloody.” Make it worthwhile. He gave Cody a severe beating. He was very excited. After Travis landed, we entered, chatted, discussed the plans for the evening, and I enjoyed the three hours or so I spent on a contact high. Every time I make an appearance, I need Travis. It’s game over when Travis smokes with Teremana.
