At this past March's Elimination Chamber, John Cena shocked the world by turning heel and brutally attacking Cody Rhodes with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and rapper Travis Scott by his side.
Despite seemingly being the mastermind behind Cena's heel turn, The Rock vanished from TV, and Scott made a widely criticised return in the WrestleMania main event. The plan from there had been for him to team with Cena in a tag team match, but something went wrong, and Logan Paul took his place at Money in the Bank.
Scott has since vanished, and it's been widely reported that WWE was extremely unhappy with his conduct. Appearing on The Ariel Helwani Show, WWE Hall of Famer Paul Heyman weighed in on what the deal is with The Rock and Scott.
"It fell apart, and we moved forward without it," Heyman said of the rapper. "I don’t know what happened with Dwayne. That’s something you should have Dwayne come into these beautiful Yahoo studios and answer for himself. I really don’t know."
Asked if he thought Cena's heel turn (which, while initially shocking, quickly turned off many fans) was a mistake, Heyman added, "No...it opened my eyes to the fact that this is an audience that is here to see stars and performances as much as they are rooted into the storylines. They are there to appreciate the twisted performance art known as professional wrestling in WWE."
"The moment they saw the red light go off, and they knew the show was over...they all gave him a standing ovation, because it’s his last time as an in ring performer in that city, and they’re all chanting, 'Thank you, Cena,'" Heyman recalled. "So the audience knew their role, and that’s fascinating to watch, that the audience now understands their role in all of this."
He added, "[Cena] took a risk in doing it. Number one, that man sells a lot of merchandise. Number two, you never know who you’re gonna piss off. John Cena has much bigger deals in Hollywood than I do. You don’t know what studio head you’re gonna piss off."
"I hate what ifs as long as it’s about the past. 'What if John Cena had ever turned heel?' Well now we know. I thought he took it as far as he could possibly take it. He even took it places I didn’t think he was going to. And he put his heart and soul and his passion into it."
Heyman later confirmed that original plans for WrestleMania called for CM Punk vs. World Heavyweight Champion Gunther and Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins. A Triple Threat match was ultimately deemed a bigger draw, though Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes III was also considered.
You can hear more from Heyman in the player below.