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John Cena’s Shocking Heel Turn Really Pissed Off People In South Dakota

John Cena‘s heel turn continues to have an effect on the the world.

Cena shocked the world on Saturday night at WWE Elimination Chamber when he “sold his soul” to The Rock and turned heel. Cena has been a hot topic ever since then, and his actions have had quite the profound effect on the United States. First Take’s Shannon Sharpe said Cena should be ashamed of himself, while The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart used the incident to break down the “feud” between Donald Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

VegasInsider used social media data* to track which states reacted negatively or angrily to Cena joining The Rock. All 50 states were tracked, with South Dakota of all places ranking first with 94% of posts about Cena from the state being negative. Vegas Insider noted that no other state had a negative sentiment score of over 90%. 

WWE rarely runs shows in South Dakota, so it doesn’t look like Cena will have to deal with the Sioux Falls mob any time soon. However, WrestleMania 41 is taking place in Nevada, which came in with 79% negative posts. Wyoming was the lowest total on the list, coming in with 60% of posts about John Cena being negative.

The table below shows the negative sentiment towards John Cena in each state from March 1 to March 3 in each state. Check out the full chart below:

StateNegative Sentiment towards John Cena
South Dakota94%
Rhode Island89%
Louisiana87%
Alaska86%
Idaho85%
South Carolina84%
Nebraska84%
Texas82%
Kansas82%
California82%
Georgia81%
North Carolina81%
Kentucky81%
Missouri81%
Maryland81%
Washington80%
New York80%
Minnesota80%
Virginia80%
Nevada79%
Ohio79%
New Mexico79%
Arizona79%
Illinois79%
Florida79%
Oklahoma79%
Vermont78%
Maine78%
New Jersey78%
Oregon77%
New Hampshire77%
Tennessee77%
West Virginia77%
Massachusetts77%
Alabama77%
Michigan77%
Hawaii76%
Colorado76%
Indiana76%
Pennsylvania76%
Delaware75%
Montana75%
Wisconsin75%
Mississippi74%
Connecticut74%
Utah73%
Iowa72%
North Dakota71%
Arkansas70%
Wyoming60%

Triple H: John Cena’s Heel Turn Was A ‘Holy Sh*t’ Moment

John Cena turned on Cody Rhodes after winning the 2025 Men’s Elimination Chamber match. After the show, Triple H called it one of the most powerful moments he’d ever witnessed in the pro wrestling business. Triple also said that Cena could’ve come in and coasted on nostalgia, but he wanted a new challenge instead.

“There was a moment when Cody was down in the ring and Pat and Cole and Wade were out there trying to help him to his feet, and Rock, Travis Scott, and John Cena were standing in the aisle that I thought to myself, ‘Holy sh*t,’” he said. “‘It’ll never get any bigger than that. That is just an epic moment.’ I feel like this is one of those nights where, 20 years from now, ‘Holy shit, that night in Toronto, and it was incredible.’

“That’s the way I feel about tonight. This was one of those nights where I think people thought, ‘This will be a good PLE, and we just blew that expectation out of the water. “I do feel, tonight though, watching it and having seen these kind of things the majority of my life and 30 years in my career here and like I said, being fortunate enough and privileged enough to be around some of the biggest moments in this business, that felt like one of the biggest things I’ve ever seen happen and be a part of….The look on people’s faces, people were stunned. I gotta tell you, it felt like one of the biggest things I’ve ever been a part of.”

RELATED: WWE Elimination Chamber Results: Review, Grades, Card For March 1

*Vegas Insider did not share the metrics for how they tracked its data.

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