The 2025 WWE Elimination Chamber premium live event delivered a historic moment as John Cena turned heel for the first time in his career, betraying Cody Rhodes and aligning himself with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
During the post-show press conference, The Rock provided insight into how the moment was planned, comparing it to his legendary WrestleMania 18 match against Hulk Hogan. He noted that WWE took into account the Toronto crowd’s tendency to favor heels and ensured they remained flexible with their execution.
“We’ve been thinking about this all week long because Toronto is generally a heel town. It certainly was a heel town with me and Hogan at WrestleMania 18. That was a real psychological chess game we played that night. This crowd tonight was exceptional. We had discussed, ‘Let’s be prepared on how this crowd is going to be.’ When you go into something like this, the crowd is waiting, and they know something is going to happen. It’s building up, we have the Elimination Chamber and all these matches, but at the end is: Is our number one hero going to give his soul to The Final Boss? What’s going to happen?”
The Rock recalled how he and Hogan had to adjust mid-match at WrestleMania 18 when the crowd unexpectedly turned on him. He stressed that he took a similar approach to Elimination Chamber, allowing the moment to unfold organically.
“We went into tonight being flexible, amenable. The crowd tonight was unbelievable. They had given all of their energy, but they knew something else was coming. We come out, what’s going to happen? Are you going to give me your soul? Cody tells me, ‘I’m not,’ in his eloquent way, and in that moment, everything was relying on me to make a move, which would then spur the next movements by everyone else. I just waited and let it all cook once he told me no. Waited, waited, waited.”
The Rock described the intensity of the moment, emphasizing how the pacing and crowd anticipation made the turn even more powerful.
“In wrestling, there is a metabolism that happens as you’re watching the show. There is a rhythm to things. In this case, when Cody told me, ‘Go f* yourself,’ I paused and waited, and waited, and waited. I wasn’t going to move. Finally, when I did make a move, John came over, gave him his hug.”**
The Rock called the Elimination Chamber moment one of the most special in his career, even drawing comparisons to his match with Hogan.
“I’ve been part of a lot of really cool moments in pro wrestling. Toronto was one of them. That Hogan match was the greatest match of my career. What made it great was the crowd turned and kept us on our feet. Tonight, the crowd didn’t know what was going to happen, but they knew something was going to happen, and they were feeling it. The moment John hugged Cody and they looked at me, and I [did the throat slash], the whole place erupted. That moment is what we work for. It’s bigger than a promo or words or a storyline or a television show or broadcast numbers. It’s the feeling you get when the crowd comes unglued.”
With Cena’s heel turn confirmed and his allegiance to The Rock solidified, the road to WrestleMania 41 has become even more unpredictable. The biggest questions now are how Cody Rhodes will respond and whether The Rock will step into the ring himself.
WWE has successfully delivered a storyline twist that will go down as one of the most memorable moments in modern wrestling history.
