John Cena to shockingly take over as the leader of a top heel faction in WWE? Exploring the possibility

John Cena only has four appearances left before he bids farewell to in-ring competition. The veteran is set to wrestle his final match at Saturday Night's Main Event XLII on December 13. Cena's retirement tour has been a mixed bag thus far.

From a lackluster heel run to a questionable choice of opponents, fans have criticized the Triple H-led creative team's booking of The GOAT's final year as an in-ring performer. With only four dates left in Cena's farewell tour, the creative team may look to redeem itself by pulling off a shocking twist.

In an interesting possibility, The Franchise Player could embrace the dark side once again and take over as the leader of DarkState, the faction consisting of Osiris Griffin, Cutler James, Dion Lennox, and Saquon Shugars.

The villainous group has been a dominant force in NXT. Griffin and Lennox are currently on their second reign as NXT Tag Team Champions, having defeated The Hardy Boyz in a Broken Rules Match at Halloween Havoc to regain the titles.

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Interestingly, John Cena recently visited the WWE Performance Center and met with several talents, including Osiris Griffin and Dion Lennox, who uploaded pictures with The Last Real Champion on social media. While Cena is certainly an ideal individual to learn from in WWE, what if The Franchise Player were to mentor DarkState on-screen as well?

The heel faction has four young, uber-athletic superstars who have the potential to be major players in the global juggernaut and are hungry to reach the next level. Their NXT run has been successful thus far, but it may pale in comparison to their potential main roster run if Cena takes them under his wing and becomes the leader of DarkState.

While the idea sounds promising, it is only based on speculation. John Cena only has four more appearances before he hangs up his boots. Therefore, this potential storyline wouldn't be able to live up to the initial hype or have a satisfying conclusion unless Cena continues to appear in a non-wrestling role, which is unlikely.

John Cena could win the Intercontinental Championship at Survivor Series: WarGames

In his illustrious career, one accolade that has eluded John Cena is the Intercontinental Championship. Cena only needs the IC Title to become a Grand Slam Champion in WWE. Interestingly, the reigning champion, Dominik Mysterio, is open to defending the prestigious championship against The Cenation Leader before his retirement.

Survivor Series: WarGames is set to take place in Mysterio's hometown of San Diego, California, and it could be the perfect stage for "Dirty" Dom vs. The Franchise Player for the IC Championship. John Cena could go on to win the title and complete his Grand Slam quest before hanging up his boots. That said, this is only speculation and nothing has been confirmed as of now.

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Edited by Parth Pujara