After months of speculation and hype, John Cena finally confirmed last week on Raw that the first ever John Cena Classic will air live from the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex on December 14th.
While speaking to The Takedown on SI about the John Cena Classic, the 17 time champion noted that it will not be a bracket style tournament, but rather it will feature a series of exhibition matches between main roster stars and NXT stars, similar to the show that was presented at Saturday Night’s Main Event last year when he retired.
John Cena also praised Triple H and Nick Khan for moving forward with the idea, but indicated that the event could potentially be a one off if it doesn’t go well.
“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 confirmed during the interview that the invitations for the rest of the NXT stars who will be competing in the John Cena Classic were filmed last week when he was in Orlando. The identities of the competitors are expected to be announced in the weeks to come.
“I love giving NXT kids a chance to debut on Raw after years of being down there. Some of the folks we invited are three, four years in the NXT system, and they’re finally getting a shot. They were crying [Wednesday night], dude. It was great.”
Stay tuned for more updates on the John Cena Classic as they become available.