on On the November 2 episode of WWE Raw,“John Cena has finally announced to the world his plans for the highly anticipated John Cena Classic match. The all-new format will air with a special episode of “Raw” from Disney World in Orlando, Florida on December 14th, where the stars of today will meet the stars of tomorrow.
Cena recently spoke The Takedown on Sports Illustrated about the event and how it will work, revealing that both the men’s and women’s champions on the night will be decided by fan vote at Club WWE in the same way reality television works. “Hopefully, if we have the technological prowess to do it as soon as the last match is over, it’s like ‘American Idol’…voting is now open for club WWE members.” And when we come back from commercial break, we’ll award the Women’s Champion of the night and we’ll award the Men’s Champion of the night.”
As for how Cena came up with the idea, it was simply a case of him wanting to figure out where his future lies in the WWE landscape now that he’s retired. The 17-time WWE Champion has always wanted to give back to the business that made him who he is, and by producing something that can not only provide opportunities for young talent but also entertain fans, the John Cena Classic is his way of giving back.
“This is where I hopefully see my future in WWE as a beacon of opportunity,” Cena said. “I want to try to make (something) out of the Arnold Classic. I took a lot from the Arnold Classic. I took a lot from fan appreciation nights. I’ve taken a lot from the All-Star games, but I want to create a situation where fans can come to an event every year that they know, they know what the situation is, and we’re experimenting.”
John Cena is very happy to bring back the future
When it comes to who will be part of the John Cena Classic, both Cody Rhodes and Zilla Fatu has already been invited. and more main roster and “WWE NXT” stars will be invited in the coming weeks. Cena had so much fun highlighting the NXT roster at WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event on December 13, where he retired, that he wanted to keep the date and the idea of highlighting young talent.
“They will all be current (main stars) vs. NXT. It’s very similar to the Saturday Night Main Event, and I love that it’s December 14th because it’s been a year and a day since my last match. And as soon as I retired, on the way home, I wondered how I could (remain) able to not include children for years. Some of the people we invited there are in the NXT system and they ended up crying.
Cena has previously wanted to give NXT performers a chance, starting with the 2015 WWE United States Championship Open Challenge, which marked the main roster debut of both Sami Zayn and Sami Zayn. Kevin Owens. However, Cena had to thank the authorities for allowing him to hold such an event, knowing that if it didn’t go well, he probably wouldn’t be back next year. “I’m going to thank Paul Levesque and I’m going to thank Nick Khan for saying, “Yeah man, we’ll try it.” Saturday night’s main event seems to have worked. We got Sol (Ruka), we got Jevon (Evans) and we got Oba (Femi) and those three are thriving right now. So what do we have to lose if we ever try it? We don’t have to do it again next year.”
Please credit “The Takedown on Sports Illustrated” when using quotes from this article, and give H/T to the source for the transcription.
