John Cena outlines concept for The John Cena Classic exhibition matches

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NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 11: John Cena is seen on the set of 'Little Brother' on August 11, 2025 in New York, New York. (Photo by MEGA/GC Images) Sure, he sold it as news that would “shock the very foundation of WWE”. But it quickly became clear that John Cena’s Backlash announcement — The John Cena Classic — was still in the workshopping phase of its development. That still seems to be the case, based on Cena’s latest interview with US Weekly. “It’s still a work in progress. What I want to see is a night of exhibition matches. I always try to say to young talent, ‘Tell me who you are in one sentence.’ The John Cena Classic is WWE’s All Star game. That’s the sentence, and then we branch out from that. “I envision a world … where it’s exhibition matches, WWE superstars competing with NXT superstars. … 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.” But one thing the Never Seen 17 is sure of? It won’t be hijacked by bad internet actors: “We’ve got to figure out the fan vote. I do not want it sabotaged. I do not want it hijacked. 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, because I’m the success story. I’m trying to encompass my journey in an evening. I was the WWE last pick. I was going to be fired. I was given a second chance, and not a main-event second chance. I started on the minor league shows. I started on the weekend shows, live events, winning over one fan at a time. “This is a night where you can put down your business card and say you’re going to remember this name, and if you’re already a champ and you participate in the event, you can say that’s why I am. It’s truly just an exhibition of our best and brightest of today and tomorrow, and you never know what’s going to happen.” How do you think the live, public development of The John Cena Classic is going?