Jim Ross: John Cena Was Overexposed As A Babyface In WWE

One of the longest-running debates within professional wrestling has centred around if WWE should have turned John Cena heel while the 16-time world champion was a main event talent.

Cena did have a heel run in WWE while he was The Doctor Of Thuganomics but he has been a babyface since his turn in late 2003.

Speaking about Cena on Grilling JR, former WWE Commentator Jim Ross revealed he believes WWE "probably" missed an opportunity by not turning the Suicide Squad star heel.

"Probably, but Vince had the same strong babyface feelings for John Cena that he did for Hulk Hogan. The superhero, the epitome of a babyface and what he was supposed to be and how he was supposed to represent. Cena did that well beyond just the lens of the camera. He's granted more Make-a-Wish requests than anybody ever in history. A lot of stars and ballplayers do those, and so you try to make their life as comfortable as happy and provide these wishes. If they wanted to meet John Cena, more often than not, they got to meet John Cena if it worked out that way," JR said.

"[Vince] loved Cena’s gameplan and how he represented the company and all that. But certainly, if you have a personal issue, and let's say it was Cena and Rock and it was personal between the two of them, then all of a sudden it's a little different presentation than Cena turning full-blown heel and being an adversary of every babyface that he encounters. He can only have negative reactions and physicality and so forth with this person he has this issue with. It's a different turn. It's a different presentation than a normal babyface turning to a heel."

Ross continued: "He got overexposed. He was kind of force-fed. That's not John's fault. He was running the plays that were called. With a top babyface and a personal issue that's plausible and believable that's created for the two to interact, he would've had a nice heel run. No doubt about that. But I think part of the issue, he didn't heel, run, cower, lie, cheat, steal - he was just overexposed I thought. That was the thing."

WWE did consider turning Cena heel during his main event run and Big Match John even had new gear made. WWE ultimately opted to keep the 44-year-old as a babyface, though.

H/T to 411Mania