Cope finally breaks silence on his legendary rival John Cena's heel turn in WWE

John Cena recently turned heel for the first time in 20 years. Cope has now given his thoughts on this.

At Elimination Chamber 2025, John Cena shocked the world when he turned heel for the first time in 20 years and ambushed Cody Rhodes. Cena then blamed the fans for his heel turn and threatened to ruin professional wrestling. He went on to defeat Cody for the Undisputed WWE Championship at WrestleMania 41.

During a recent interview on First Up with Korolnek & Colaiacovo, Cope was asked about John Cena's heel turn. The former WWE star said that he doesn't like to watch wrestling during his downtime since he prefers to spend that time with his family.

“I generally don’t watch wrestling just because I’m burned out in terms…I think it’s one of those deals when you’re doing it, watching it can be all consuming and I told myself in coming back this time that I wasn’t going to let it do that to me. I have a family and two kids. My downtime is spent with them or watching hockey as opposed to critiquing and pulling apart of wrestling shows. I get my clips from Instagram and I’ll watch them there. I don’t watch the full story, the follow throughs, and all the little beats here and there."

He also compared Cena's heel turn to when Hulk Hogan finally turned heel and joined the nWo.

“I don’t really know how it went, but a lot of people were talking about it. When you get a character that has been around for that long as a babyface, to turn, it’s like when Hogan turned and joined the NWO. It’s always a good shot in the arm for the business, for sure.” [H/T Fightful]

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Cope had to be talked into the Money in the Bank ladder match

Cope was involved in several major matches during his time in WWE. He was also part of the first-ever Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania 21. The Rated R-Superstar won the match and then successfully cashed in on John Cena to win his first WWE Championship.

During a recent interview with Kenny McIntosh of Inside The Ropes magazine, the AEW star said that he had to be talked into the match because he had taken a lot of ladder bumps in his career.

“I didn’t realise that Money in the Bank would be the springboard to that. So I had to be talked into it. I’m glad I was [laughs]. And truth be told I just got sick of bumping off of ladders too, because it hurts. [laughs] There’s no good way to do it.” [H/T: Inside the Ropes]

The Money in the Bank ladder match catapulted Cope into the main event scene in WWE.