JBL says Vince McMahon refused to turn John Cena heel because he learned his lesson from Steve Austin’s heel turn in 2001.
On Something to Wrestle, Conrad Thompson asked whether McMahon launched the Invasion angle in response to the failed Austin turn, which came at WrestleMania 17 in April 2001, when Austin aligned with McMahon to beat The Rock for the WWF Championship. JBL brought up Cena.
“You wonder why they never turned Cena? Because they turned Austin, and you know, the guy’s selling. I mean, Austin was… the merch that Steve was selling was ridiculous. You know, and Vince learned his lesson. You know, I think that’s one of the reasons they never turned Cena. And I was in a lot of the meetings where people were arguing for it. And Vince, ‘No, absolutely not. Never going to happen.’ You know, he would tell you, ‘Never going to happen.’ But he learned his lesson.”
JBL said McMahon also believed he could turn the WCW wrestlers he had bought into stars on his own.
“I think Vince thought he could make something out of anything. And you know, Vince didn’t watch a lot of the other television… They were good stars, just like those of us that fought them were good stars. But like I say, they didn’t get our main event guys. We didn’t get their main event guys. You know, if it had been Sting that had come in, if it had been Kevin that had come in, Goldberg that came in… I think Vince thought he could make anything out of anything, and I think that was a mistake also.”
Cena did not turn heel again until March 2025 at Elimination Chamber, when he attacked Cody Rhodes and aligned with The Rock. That was more than a year after McMahon resigned from WWE and TKO in January 2024. Cena retired from in-ring competition in December 2025.
