We noted prior that Stephanie McMahon admitted in an interview that she ‘really wanted’ a John Cena heel turn a few years ago. According to a new report, this heel turn was a lot closer to happening than we might have originally thought.

According to former WWE writer Kevin Eck, Vince McMahon signed off on the idea back in 2012 and it was only scrapped at the last-minute.

What is the backstory?

Eck was recently interviewed by PWTorch‘s Wade Keller where he told the story of Vince signing off on the idea of turning Cena:

“We talked about turning John Cena heel while I was there and you may have heard stories before. We were very close [and] we even had Vince [McMahon] sign off on it at one point and Cena was on board to do it”

He continued, saying that the idea was scrapped at the very last minute:

“We started making plans for it and then Vince got cold feet and we had just signed a John Cena exclusive merchandise deal with WalMart and Vince came into a booking meeting one day and said ‘God, I know you guys really wanna do this but I just can’t do it’”

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As we have mentioned prior, Cena had some heel gear made during this time period and was excited for it, but it never came to fruition.

It is a shame for fans that this never happened but in the end, WWE probably made the smart decision to scrap the idea based on how successful Cena is with younger fans and merchandise sales. This will remain as a ‘What If’ in wrestling history.

Let us know what you think in the comment section below.