John Cena On The WWE John Cena Classic: "If It Stinks We Don't Have To Do It Again Next Year"

The John Cena Classic may not become an annual tradition, with the man himself noting that the event doesn't have to return if the first edition of the show stinks.

"I gotta thank Paul Levesque, and I gotta thank Nick Khan for being like, 'Yeah, man, we'll try it.' Saturday Night's Main Event seemed to work. We got Sol [Ruca], we got Je'Von [Evans], and we got Oba [Femi], and those three are thriving right now. So, what do we got to lose? We'll try it, and if it stinks, like, whatever. We don't have to do it again next year," Cena told The Takedown on SI.

John Cena first announced the John Cena Classic at Backlash 2026, with the event set to be centred around main roster vs. NXT wrestlers. The event will be held on Monday, December 14, as a special episode of Raw from the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

Wrestlers announced for the John Cena Classic so far are Cody Rhodes and Zilla Fatu, with Cena set to reveal further entrants during appearances on the November 13 episode of SmackDown, the November 16 edition of Raw, and at Survivor Series on November 28. Club WWE members will vote to determine who ends the night as the men's and women's WWE John Cena Classic champions.

Cena noted to Uncrowned that he wants the event to be like Bruce Lee's "Enter the Dragon," just without any wrestlers dying.

"Sometimes all people need is just to get out there. Honestly, that's the motivation behind the John Cena Classic. I want to create an annual event where we showcase the best and brightest from NXT against the best and brightest from WWE. Kind of like 'Enter the Dragon' without all the death. I want to put together a heck of a card and I want to let the future of the business run," Cena added.