On a recent episode of 83 Weeks, former WCW President Eric Bischoff gave his creative assessment of John Cena’s ongoing retirement tour, assigning it a “C” grade. Bischoff argued that while the tour has had its moments, the entire storyline was undermined by a flawed and unbelievable heel turn at the very beginning.
Bischoff addressed Cena’s recent decisive loss to Brock Lesnar, stating that the creative only works if it’s part of a larger plan. “If this story going forward is a redemption story, I love redemption stories, they always work for me,” he said. “If it’s not the case, and it was just what they did that night [his loss to Brock Lesnar at Wrestlepalooza], that would be worrisome to me.”
When asked to grade the overall tour, Bischoff pointed to the initial heel turn as the main problem. “I’d give it a C,” he said. “Now, if you take the heel turn or whatever that was, take that out and just look at the rest of it, probably a B, maybe an A- or a B. It’s been pretty good, except for the way it started.”
He used a movie analogy to explain why the botched turn was so detrimental. “The heel turn attempt, it’s like the end of the movie ended up being pretty good, but you got up and walked out mentally or emotionally during the first 15 minutes of the movie, because it just didn’t make any sense,” he explained. “It’s hard to get it back.” Ultimately, Bischoff believes fans want to see their heroes go out on a high note. “Give everybody what they want is to see the guy go out on top. Everybody would love to see Babe Ruth hit his last home run. Nobody wants to see Babe Ruth strike out.”
John Cena’s retirement tour began after a heel turn at Elimination Chamber by aligning with The Rock and had been met with mixed reviews from fans. He turned back into a babyface before losing the WWE Title to Cody Rhodes at SummerSlam. His final match is currently scheduled for a Saturday Night’s Main Event special in December 2025.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article, please credit 83 Weeks with an h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
