John Cena might be lying to us 

Last night on SmackDown, John Cena turned babyface. That's right. While people expected Cena would finally come to his senses during or after SummerSlam, he seemingly did so just two nights before defending the Undisputed WWE Championship against the man he cheated to become a 17-time World Champion at WrestleMania 41, the man who succeeded him as the top face of the company, and the man he had turned heel on a few weeks prior at Elimination Chamber, Cody Rhodes.

Yes, perfect timing to finally come to his senses! In his first appearance since Cody made Cena forcibly sign the Street Fight contract and made it crystal clear that he wasn't falling for The Cenation Leader's tactics anymore. And just a week after Rhodes again demanded the "Real John Cena" to show up at SummerSlam, the one we supposedly got last night.

Oh, come on! Who's falling for this? What if the "Real John Cena" that Cody Rhodes continues to demand is gone? What if we can't see him anymore? What if the Cena we have been seeing since March is the new "Real John Cena?" What if last night was a farce? A desperate attempt at once again manipulating a smartened and toughened up Cody Rhodes.

Cena may have said he was tired of pretending to be a bad guy, but he seemed to have been having quite a bit of fun cutting pipebombs on CM Punk and teaching relationship science and playing Randy Orton, Seth Rollins, and R-Truth like a fiddle. Okay, let's say that he was initially uncomfortable being a heel; that he was manipulated into embracing the dark side to create a shocking TV moment. Well, if one pretends to be something or someone long enough, psychological evidence suggests one ends up becoming it anyway. That rings true for a shoot in professional wrestling.

Last night was shock TV. No one expected John Cena to turn babyface before SummerSlam. Well, now, The Biggest Party of the Summer is another chance to create more shocking moments. It's a Street Fight, so there isn't any cheating possible per se. But despite Cena's promises, Travis Scott may show up again. The Rock may make his presence felt. They may pretend it is because they are now there to get revenge on Cena, but the events that follow may reveal that the SmackDown segment was another massive charade.

So yes, what if Cena "goes back" to being a heel tomorrow night at the summer spectacle, and at least fulfills Cody's wish of facing the "Real John Cena," because, ladies and gentlemen, what if the man we have seen until last night is the "Real John Cena?" What if he had laid the perfect trap for Cody Rhodes at SummerSlam with his "babyface turn" on SmackDown?

Think about it: last night, the crowd was behind Cody Rhodes, just like on the Road to WrestleMania. The script began to flip on the SmackDown before The Show of Shows. Cena, who was once again received by a partisan crowd, finally won back 100% of it ahead of facing the biggest babyface in the company. Cody cannot turn into a "bad guy" before the 17-time WWE Champion or betray him in any fashion tomorrow, because even if he is skeptical as to his opponent's true nature, if Rhodes turns, the crowd does too, and this time, they'll do so irrevocably, not just for one night.

Cody Rhodes' dilemma: He cannot trust John Cena, but he can't turn on him first either

Cody Rhodes is clearly not stupid. He can be too nice at times or be too hopeful. He can also be too emotional, and perhaps that is what kept him from smashing his belt on John Cena's skull before he was low-blowed and belt-shotted in the head and then robbed of the Undisputed WWE Championship at WrestleMania.

In that moment, Cody Rhodes might have hoped that Cena hadn't really devolved into what he had, and showing him that he was willing to fight with honor and integrity, as The Franchise Player had always done, would bring him back and initiate a fair fight based on those ideals. Well, whatever his inner dialogue may have been, the undisputed fact of the matter is that despite not being one, he looked like the most gullible man on planet Earth at WrestleMania 41.

In a time and world of ever-shifting ethical awareness where people deem that morality is no longer binary, but a complex web of context, intent, and consequence, Cody Rhodes, yes, looked clueless. And if he has fallen for Cena's tactics and ends up losing at SummerSlam, he may accomplish the impossible, looking even more gullible than he did at WrestleMania.

Cody Rhodes must consider that John Cena may be playing him once again and needs to be ready if that indeed turns out to be the case. Even if not, Cody will still have to be very careful in how he approaches the match, lest fans turn on him once more, in which case, he will once again find himself at a crossroads, and he may have to embrace the very thing he despises the most because the fans forced him to.

75 year old legend has challenged Cody Rhodes HERE

Edited by Kebin Edwin Antony