Bret Hart had an interview with Rob McNichol for The Sun's podcast One Sided Ring. He gave his predictions on the top four matches of Wrestlemania and had some interesting thoughts on Cena vs Rock, including him saying he wouldn't be surprised if Cena turned heel.
We've talked about Cena turning heel since 2007. If Cena was going to turn heel, this would be the best place to do so. The Rock being screwed in his hometown would start a possible riot. It would be nearly as crazy as when Hulk Hogan turned heel.
The WWE has been foreshadowing his heel turn a bit with his more edgy character and him sounding like Stone Cold Steve Austin's when he was telling the Rock "I will do ANYTHING to win" Lastly, it would explain why they're trying to make the match 50-50 and that is so Cena has fans to turn on.
If Cena turned heel, the product would become more interesting. The most complained about thing about the WWE is its by-the-book shows, and since Cena has been the top-dog of the company, he takes a good brunt of the frustration because of it. In other words, Cena as heel would make the product seem to the fans less cookie-cutter and more fresh.
On the other hand, a John Cena heel turn chances are would hurt WWE's merchandising sales. John Cena has been the cash cow of the WWE for about 7 years. They've had wrestlers that came close, but nobody has surpassed him. Plus, with the new "Cena sucks shirts", it's almost like he's heel already.
And with all due respect to CM Punk, he's not ready to be the cash cow of the WWE because he's not yet over enough and neither is Randy Orton. Thus, there's nobody right now who I could think of that could become the cash cow of the WWE, but that doesn't mean Cena cannot elevate a babyface to cash cow status After all, a great heel can always make a babyface more popular.
Whether it will work or not, mostly comes down to how well or poorly the turn's executed and then booked, though he's somewhat tweener right now so I personally don't see them turning him because they're getting money from the people who like him and dislike him. .
Thoughts?