I was certainly not expecting an abrupt babyface turn by John Cena tonight, and definitely not in the opening segment of “SmackDown,” but after mulling it over for awhile, I actually think I really liked it. In part, because I didn’t expect it, and usually, WWE’s go-home shows before its premium live events are nothing to write home about. And, to be quite honest, I liked it because it means the terrible experiment of Cena’s heel turn (and all the absolutely terrible booking, or lack thereof that went with it) is finally over. 

The fact that Cena mentioned The Rock, subtly, when he said he made a mistake five months ago when “he bought into someone’s idea of making shocking TV” was a nice touch. He didn’t outwardly mention The Rock, which I think could possibly come in to play this weekend. I’ve seen more talk about Dwayne Johnson this week, thanks to “WWE Unreal,” which highlighted Cena’s heel turn back in March, than I have in quite some time. I don’t know if the powers that be in WWE would be smart enough, Rock himself included, to reintroduce him to the story at SummerSlam, since it was apparently his idea to want to turn Rhodes heel in the first place. 

I also don’t know if Rhodes is turning at SummerSlam, but after tonight, I believe that more than I ever did. Since we’re not getting the shock of a double turn, maybe getting The Rock back out there to end SummerSlam is a possibility. Rhodes grabbed some beers and toasted with Cena tonight without saying much, and by doing so, he left things a bit more open going into the weekend, because we didn’t get to hear what he was thinking after Cena abruptly decided to be a good guy once again, and he even thanked Rhodes for what he had done for him. I love the fact I have more questions than answers after this all tonight, and I like that it makes SummerSlam just a bit more interesting.

Cena also took a shot at Travis Scott, which was also a highlight of this promo, when he told Rhodes that he would be the “only platinum rapper coming to kick his a** this weekend.” I didn’t find myself liking a lot of Cena’s heel promos, but tonight, he had some fire to him, and I liked it. And again, to be quite frank, I’m glad Cena basically confirmed that Scott won’t be there.

I would have flipped around tonight’s opening and closing segments, because in my opinion, it would have been better to go off the air with Cena celebrating with fans after his surprising turn rather than with the Drew McIntyre, Logan Paul, Jelly Roll, and Randy Orton pull apart brawl, but other than that, I really liked Cena’s segment because of the questions I’m left with going in to SummerSlam this weekend.

Written by Daisy Ruth