When is John Cena returning to WWE after shock heel turn?

JOHN CENA won the Elimination Chamber match to book his place at WrestleMania, but will miss some TV time in the lead up.

The 16-time world champion shocked the world at the end of Elimination Chamber 2025.

John Cena joined forced with the Rock in one of the most shocking WWE moments of all timeGetty

John Cena will face Cody Rhodes for the WWE Undisputed championship at WrestleManiaGetty

In one of WWE’s most viewed moments ever, Cena gave a look of approval to Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson before kicking Cody Rhodes low to turn heel.

John Cena had spent all of his career to date as the companies good guy, also known as a babyface.

Now heel, Cena will face current WWE Undisputed champion Rhodes at WrestleMania in the main event after winning the Elimination Chamber match.

The leader of the Cenation almost booked his ticket to WrestleMania in the Royal Rumble, but was eliminated last by eventual winner Jey Uso.

In a move that shocked the world, Cena entered the press conference following the event and simply dropped the microphone.

When is John Cena returning?

Following his shock heel turn at Elimination Chamber, The Rock confirmed that John Cena had immediately travelled to Africa to continue filming a movie.

The 16-time champ has these dates officially booked in for his retirement tour, but of course may return sooner in similar surprising fashion to his turn.

• March 17, 2025: WWE Raw in Brussels, Belgium
• March 24, 2025: WWE Raw in Glasgow, Scotland
• March 31, 2025: WWE Raw in London, England

What is a heel in wrestling?

In wrestling and WWE there are two types of characters:

• Babyface
• Heel

A babyface, more commonly known as a “face,” is typically a good guy, Cena had been one of these his entire career.

Rumours from WWE revealed that there were plans for Cena to turn heel in a previous encounter with the Rock, having lost to him at WrestleMania 28.

However, his Make-A-Wish work steered WWE away from turning him as the main face of the company.

A heel is a bad guy, who typically receives negative reactions from the crowd, and talks and acts in ways that would annoy members of the audience.

When is WrestleMania and how to watch

WrestleMania 41 will take place on Saturday, April 19 and Sunday, April 20.

WWE have adopted a two night approach to their main show of the year, as previous years had up to EIGHT hours of action, a little bit too much for even the most die hard fan to enjoy.

In the US, WWE WrestleMania will come live from Peacock, with Peacock Premium members able to enjoy the show at no extra cost.

In the UK, WWE WrestleMania comes live from Netflix as part of their new deal with WWE, again no extra cost will incur for fans if they wish to tune in.