'Ninja Turtles' Reboot Casts John Cena As a Villain
In the WWE, John Cena is a living superhero to millions of kids. But in the world of the Ninja Turtles, John Cena is going to be a big bad villain.
On Wednesday, Nickelodeon shared a video selfie of John Cena announcing a professional partnership between himself and the kids’ cable channel. In addition to returning to host this year’s Kids’ Choice Awards and executive producing a new game show, the wrestler-turned-actor will play a new, unknown villain named “Baron Draxom” in Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a new animated reboot of the classic ‘80s franchise.
The video is just 21 seconds long and Cena has to announce three projects, so the former WWE Champion didn’t have time to drop any additional information about Baron Draxom. Though it’s a bummer Cena isn’t going to voice Rocksteady, it does sound like Baron Draxom could be just as big and important as Shredder.
In recent years, Cena has made the slow transition out of the world of pro wrestling. Though he built a sizable fanbase and celebrity brand through wrestling, his stardom has become shinier than championship gold. He’s also a human meme who has granted more than 500 wishes for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
You can't see him, but he sees you.
After playing small but not insignificant roles in the 2015 comedies Trainwreck with Amy Schumer and Sisters with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, Cena has proved he’s far more interesting as an energetic comedic performer than an action star — the usual route for wrestlers transitioning into Hollywood. Though Cena was a popular candidate by fans to play the DC superhero Shazam, which would have put him opposite against his rival, Dwayne Johnson, playing Black Adam.
Cena’s Ninja Turtles role also won’t be his first cartoon. Besides playing himself in the WWE/Scooby-Doo and WWE/The Flintstones crossovers (yes, those are real things), Cena recently starred as Ferdinand the Bull in Ferdinand, which is on its way to the Oscars as a nominee for Best Animated Film.
Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will air September 2018 on Nickelodeon.
See Cena’s announcement video below.
