āDuring the 2025 WWE Elimination Chamber Premium Live Event, John Cena shocked fans by turning heel against Cody Rhodes and aligning with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. This move drew parallels to Hulk Hogan's 1996 heel turn in WCW. On his 83 Weeks podcast, Eric Bischoff discussed these comparisons, stating, "Different time, different, everything was different."
āDifferent time, different, everything was different. Hereās the thing, though, structurally, letās reverse engineer this. If we go back and watch the turn, the moment, the kick to the balls. Before that, if you go back, The Rock did the slit-throat thing, the whole thing. If you watch it play out, and when itās all over, watch the people standing around the ring. Got a great reaction, donāt get me wrong, it wasnāt the reaction that Hogan got.ā
āIf you go back, put those two finishes side by side, forget about whatās going on inside of the ring, just watch the crowd. Oh yeah, and then thereās all the garbage that came with the crowd [in WCW]. The reaction to Hoganās turn on an emotional scale of 1 to 10 was probably a nine. I think on an emotional scale, the Cena turn was probably around an eight, maybe seven and a half.ā
āWhat it comes down to, Conrad, is shocking, no one expected it. I donāt think I heard any chatter. Now, granted, Iāve been busy the last few weeks, busier than usual, and I havenāt stayed close to whatās going on in wrestling⦠But I just donāt think this will get the kind of reaction that the Hogan turn did.ā
āI donāt think itās as big as the Hogan turn in terms of overall impact. I agree with whoever made the comment. But itās not because it wasnāt extremely well done, itās just because of the timing. The audienceās taste is different. Itās bigger, for sure, but itās different. Just like it is for movies and television.āĀ
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