John Cena believes the new John Cena Classic could be a version of WWE’s All-Star Game.
At WWE Backlash 2026 in Tampa, Florida, Cena announced the brand new concept of the John Cena Classic, where both NXT and main-roster superstars will compete against each other for a championship. However, Cena also announced that, despite losing, a superstar could still win a title if the fans decide to vote for them and reward their hustle.
However, the concept also attracted a fair bit of criticism online, which Cena recently responded to. Speaking to CBS Sports and SHAK Wrestling, Cena said, “In a business where everybody says every story’s been told before, I want to swing for something new. Of course, I believe in sports entertainment meritocracy, and I believe that WWE is an excellent meritocracy.”
“Now, every statement I say, there’s gonna be multiple sides to that. People will have an opinion that agrees, people will have an opinion that disagrees, there might be apathy, and there might be some in the middle. So when I come up with an event that I’m like, ‘Okay, I wanna do what we did on Saturday Night’s Main Event,’ because I loved the environment around my retirement match.
“I was a small piece of that night. The larger scope, and in the media going into it, was, ‘Oh man, this is kind of a cool thing. Yes, the night could be all about John, but in essence, we’re getting to see John do his thing, but somebody’s gotta earn the right to face John, so that’s cool, you’ve gotta earn the respect to do it. And at the same time, we’re gonna get to see some new faces go against our familiar Superstars,'” Cena said.
He further opened up and shared his belief on seeing the John Cena Classic become WWE’s version of the All-Star Game. “I was there in the arena, the night rocked. It was great. The crowd was fantastic. Sure, the retirement match had a lot of buzz behind it, but they were on their feet for all the matches. So my brain started working, I’m like, ‘We should do something like this.’ I guess to sum it up in a sentence, I know I dropped a lot of information at Backlash, I think to sum it up in a sentence, it could be a version of WWE’s All-Star game.“
John Cena opens up further on the concept of the upcoming tournament
Despite no confirmed date or timeline for the John Cena Classic, the 17-time World Champion shared further insights on the tournament.
“It’s a night of exhibition, so we don’t really have to build any long lead stories into it. It is the current (stars) competing with – and that means they might be paired with, who knows, the bracketology is endless, they could be paired with, they could be up against – the future of the company, Superstars from NXT. This takes me back to 2002 when we had this young class in OVW. Brock was on a path of his own for sure, but I was sitting in OVW going, ‘How am I ever gonna get a chance?’ Because the roster was stacked,” said.
“You had guys like Kane, Triple H, The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Steve Austin, and The Rock. And it’s like, ‘Man, I’m never gonna get a chance.’ I felt like that. Sometimes I know how these NXT talents might feel. They’ve been down there for a year, two years, three years – ‘When am I gonna get my chance?’ Well for one night, if you can come up, drop your business card, see what happens, show the world what you have. And on top of it, if you steal the show, and maybe you’re not lucky enough to get the 1-2-3 and get your hand raised, every participant qualifies for kind of fan All-Star vote. So you could be recognized as the night’s champion.”
Responding to the criticism of the lack of the win-loss concept, Cena said, “Now, I’ve heard the perspective of, ‘Wins and losses don’t matter.’ That’s a very valid point. I love listening to feedback. We’ve gotta figure out the fan votes; there’s still a lot to be done. But you can vote for the winners. You just can also vote for everybody. And that’s a first-time.”
The veteran believes this is history being made and wants to give a chance to the NXT wrestlers against the WWE wrestlers in exhibition matches that are just a standalone part of the event.
“And that’s gonna come with praise, it’s also gonna come with critique. And as one of the most polarizing figures in WWE over the past 23 years, it wouldn’t be normal if there wasn’t folks that were cheering and folks that weren’t.”
