John Cena shares new ideas for WWE John Cena Classic
John Cena could be around WWE more often toward the end of 2026.
In a new interview with US Weekly, Cena discussed some of the ideas he has for WWE’s John Cena Classic, which he described as still being a work in progress. There is no date or location for the event yet, but it’s reportedly being targeted for late 2026. Cena said one thing he would like to do is personally extend invitations to the wrestlers who will be competing. That would require him to make trips to Raw, SmackDown, and NXT.
“I envision a world … where it’s exhibition matches, WWE superstars competing with NXT superstars,” Cena said. “Maybe they’re on the same team, maybe they face off at each other. … I think the bracketology is interesting. I love a world where I personally invite the talent to participate so they know how much it means to me. That means more trips to Raw, more trips to SmackDown, more trips to NXT. We have reveals of all this stuff. We tell everybody where it is when it is. We’re going to debut a new championship. So I’d love the audience to see that. I’d love the participants to see that before. I’d love to do a card reveal where you realize the event, and these are the matchups.”
There will be a fan vote to determine the John Cena Classic Champion, with both winners and losers of their matches eligible to be voted the overall winner. Making sure the voting cannot be messed with is important to Cena.
“We’ve got to figure out the fan vote. I do not want it sabotaged. I do not want it hijacked,” he said. “I know there’s a lot of burner accounts out there and there’s a lot of bots out there. Audience participation is what I want, like fair audience participation.”
Cena reiterated that he sees the John Cena Classic as WWE’s version of an All-Star Game. He thinks of it as being similar to the Arnold Classic bodybuilding competition, where Arnold Schwarzenegger was the main attraction at the start and still stays involved as the focus shifts more toward the event itself and the competitors.
Netflix is rumored to be interested in broadcasting the John Cena Classic when it takes place, though there has been no confirmation on broadcast plans.
John Cena on whether he’d return for one more match —
When US Weekly asked about the possibility of Cena having one more match, he actually did not completely rule it out, instead saying that it would be “financial suicide” for anyone to offer the amount of money it would take.
“I hate speaking in absolutes … ‘Never’ is a strong word,” Cena said. “It would be financial suicide for someone to court me in a position where I would have another match, and I truly mean that. So if you’re in the business of torching currency, that’s the only way to get me back in the ring.”
Cena retired from the ring in December 2025 and is now under WWE contract as an ambassador.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.