Photo images for Headline Surfer courtesy of WWE / ABOVE: 'U Can't See Me' hand gesture from John Cena. Matt Morgan, the 7-foot giant, stands tall against Cena in the squared circle during the few minutes they tangoed in a 4-on-2 handicap match in 2004 on SmackDown. Morgan, along with Brock Lesnar, the Big Show, and Rhyno, were bigger, but not necessarily stronger, and definitely not faster than Cena and 'The Crippler' Chris Benoit, and the latter prevailed. Morgan said this was the match where Cena went from Heel to Face. And Cena would carry that face persona until turning on WWE champion Cody Rhodes immediately after the 2025 Elimination Chamber PPV at the behest of the Final Boss (The Rock) and setting up the main event for Wrestlemania - John Cena (Heel), the 16-time WWE champion, vs. Cody Rhodes (Face), the reigning undisputed WWE champion for the title.
By HENRY FREDERICK / Headline Surfer
LONGWOOD, Fla. -- So, did Matt Morgan ever wrestle John Cena? You betcha!
Yes, Morgan wrestled Cena in a losing effort on the Jan. 22, 2004, episode of SmackDown! Morgan was part of a 4-on-2 handicap team that included Lesnar, Big Show, and Rhyno. Cena and "The Canadian Crippler" Chris Benoit were on the other team.
Cena pinned Rhyno after delivering an F5 for the win.
Matt Morgan said Cena has come full circle in his wrestling evolution from bad guy to face and back to bad guy again. Looking back, John Cena was still new in his rapper-punk persona," Morgan recalled.
This led to a match between the two in the 4-on-2 handicapped match, in which Cena and Chris Benoit prevailed.
Here is how Morgan sees the evolution of John Cena - from Heel to Face and back to Heel again after all these years: "That 4-against-2 handicap match was the first time that John Cena became what we call a baby-face (good guy) character in pro wrestling," Morgan said. "This means that up until then, he was considered a heel (bad guy) for the entirety of his early career."
Here is how Morgan sees the evolution of John Cena - from Heel to Face and back to Heel again after all these years: "That 4-against-2 handicap match was the first time that John Cena became what we call a baby-face (good guy) character in pro wrestling," the 7-footer Morgan said (shown here towering over Cena). "This means that up until then, he was considered a heel (bad guy) for the entirety of his early career."
But just beforehand, in that match, Cena "rejected being a part of our upcoming Survivor Series team, which originally was to feature Brock Lesnar as team captain, The Big Show (7 feet 2 inches, 555 pounds), Nathan Jones (7 feet tall, 350 pounds), myself (7 feet tall and, at the time, 340 pounds), and Cena," the brash heel with his Thug-anomic gimmick.
But in a promo leading up to that match, Cena turned Paul Heyman down.
The 4-on-2 handicap match "itself was a great learning experience for me because I was surrounded by wall-to-wall main eventers to learn from," Morgan said.
"During that match, Brock Lesnar taught me how to work like a Big Man, meaning I need to make my opponent work harder to eventually get me off my feet, so it means more."
Morgan continued: "There is a psychology to professional wrestling that the non-watcher will never understand. We tell stories in that rank. And if I'm always gonna be Goliath, and my opponent's pretty much gonna be David. Would it really be that exciting if David took Goliath off his feet in the first 10 seconds of the match?"
Morgan's rhetorical answer: "No, it would not be. Instead, you learn that when the good guy punches you or kicks you, you act like you'll come off your feet, but you don't just yet. You wait until the match is at its peak, then let the babyface take you off your feet."
For the record, that 4-on-2 handicap match was Matt Morgan's first on Smackdown.
Morgan wrestled in WWE from 2002 until 2005. He was saddled with a stuttering gimmick by then-WWE boss Vince MacMahon, which led to Morgan leaving the top promotion and joining the upstart Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) from 2007 to 2017. While in TNA, Morgan was a two-time TNA World Tag Team Champion, once with Crimson and once by himself.
As for Cena, the face turn in 2004 would prove enduring for more than 20 years. That is until the shocking heel turn at the 2025 Elimination Chamber that saw Cena eliminate CM Punk to win his final Chamber Match. This came after Seth "Freakin" Rollins, who had already been eliminated, attacked Punk with a Stomp. Cena made history by eliminating Punk to win his final Elimination Chamber Match.
WWE courtesy screenshot image for Headline Surfer / John Cena turns heel on WWE champion Cody Rhodes at the end of the Elimination Chamber.
Two decades after the face turn, John Cena showed the WWE Universe his true colors after the Elimination Chamber match when the 16-time world champion left Cody Rhodes in a bloody heap, shockingly siding with The Rock.
March 2, 2025, will be remembered as a day in infamy in the world of professional wrestling when John Cena came full circle in his shocking return to a heel.
Multimedia videos
Here is a trip down memory lane to that 4-on-2 handicap match in three video segments, courtesy of a YouTube search.
Highlights 1st video: John Cena is introduced and bashes Paul Heyman with rhyme insults. 2:45: Chris Benoit enters. 3:10: Brock Lesnar & Paul Heyman enter. 4:00: Rhyno enters. 4:15: Matt Morgan enters. 4:35: Big Show is introduced but is trapped in his dressing room by a forklift against the door.
Highlights 2nd video: The match is finally underway with Lesnar vs. Benoit. 1:28: Benoit is chopping Morgan against a turnbuckle. 2:02: Cena vs. Morgan in the middle of the ring. 7:10: Lesnar is pummelling Cena. 9:24: Benoit delivering German suplexes on Morgan.
Highlights 3rd video: 3:07: Rhyno & Morgan double team Benoit. 6:20: Cena pins Rhyno. 7:30: Big Show finally shows up when it's too late. John Cena & Chris Benoit are winners of the 4-on-2 handicap match over Paul Heyman's team of Brock Lesnar, Matt Morgan, Rhyno & the Big Show.
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'WWE pulled off the Cena heel turn to perfection' Run Date: Fri, 03/07/2025
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