2025 was the year of John Cena in WWE. 2026 was supposed to be the year of the first-ever John Cena Classic. The only problem is, WWE is running out of dates to put it on.
John Cena announced the John Cena Classic earlier this year at WWE Backlash in the aftermath of WrestleMania. Cena was the special guest host of WrestleMania this year. It was his first as a retired member of the WWE roster.
Cena went on a retirement tour in WWE throughout 2025. He became the world champion for a record-setting 17th time and also worked as a heel for the first time in over 20 years. By the end of the run, Cena found a familiar spot as a lovable babyface in WWE and had memorable final matches against CM Punk, Logan Paul, Cody Rhodes, Dominik Mysterio, and others. His final match was at Saturday Night's Main Event in December, where he lost to Gunther by submission.
Throughout the retirement tour, Cena maintained that he would not wrestle again but would still be part of the company to give back. He announced the John Cena Classic as a means to do that.
Cena described the John Cena Classic as a way for fans to truly choose the next stars of WWE, while the business's future stars get a chance to shine on a major stage and make an impact on the crowd. Much like Cena did.
Dates for the John Cena Classic uncertain
Reports earlier this year indicated that the John Cena Classic would take place this December, though that is now reportedly uncertain. According to WrestleVotes, WWE still can't confirm when the event will be. Wrestlepalooza is taking place on December 12, and WWE is running a AAA event the following weekend on December 19. December 19 also happens to be the AEW Worlds End event.
That leaves December 26, which is off the table because of the holiday season. WWE has a house show tour scheduled for that exact time. The other possibility would be December 5, but the report indicates that WWE doesn't want to run three major events on consecutive weekends. WrestleVotes attempted to find out whether or not WWE would be open to running the John Cena Classic on the 12th stateside since WrestlePalooza is in Australia, but WWE did not provide confirmation.
The next WWE PPV is Crown Jewel from Saudi Arabia on November 7. Right now, two matches are official for that event and they are world champion vs. world champion matches. Roman Reigns will take on Sami Zayn and Liv Morgan will face Chelsea Green. Both of those matches will be for the Crown Jewel Championship.
Like the John Cena Classic, Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia remains in flux as well. The country has seen intense violence throughout this month, including a missile strike on the airport in Riyadh, which left 13 people dead.
As of now, WWE is still moving forward with the event as scheduled, but the U.S. Embassy has ordered all non-essential personnel and their families to leave.
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