WWE Hall Of Famer Eric Bischoff On How He Would Handle John Cena Heel Turn

Although Eric Bischoff has dipped his toes back into the waters of professional wrestling with appearances on "WWE NXT" and in MLW, the former WCW executive mostly keeps up with the industry for his various podcasts. Bischoff has already discussed his appreciation for John Cena's heel turn last week, and on a recent episode of "83 Weeks," the former producer elaborated by revealing how he would handle this new iteration of Cena's character.

"What could be the most different ... narrative and tone that this version of John Cena has?" Bischoff asked. "I'd lean into less is more, at least initially. I'd weigh in heavily on kind of mysterious. Don't be definitive. Don't come out and tell me week one why. You've already left me hanging. You've kind of planted that hook. Leave it in as long as you can."

Since recording the podcast, Cena's first promo as a villain has come and gone, and it didn't go down quite as Bischoff envisioned. Instead of being mysterious, Cena acted in the opposite manner from his standard character. He was whiny, abrasive, and blamed everyone else for his failures, leading to Cody Rhodes confronting Cena and demanding a return to his old persona.

Cena's heel turn marked the first time the WWE veteran has been a villain in more than 20 years, since the early days of his wrestling career. The wrestler/actor aligned himself with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, with whom Cena shares both a conflicted past as well as numerous similarities.

Cena and Rhodes will face off for the Undisputed WWE Championship next month at WWE WrestleMania 41, and Cena will likely have The Rock in his corner. Many of Rhodes' allies will be busy with rivalries of their own, and it remains to be seen if anyone steps in to help Rhodes fend off The Final Boss.