Zilla Fatu is the latest wrestler to be confirmed for the John Cena Classic. John Cena made the announcement on Wednesday night during a special episode of NXT that aired on The CW from the Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.
As soon as Cena got into the ring to a big pop from the crowd, he grabbed the mic and reflected on his history with the Anoa’i family. He brought up his battles with Rikishi, The Rock, Roman Reigns, The Usos, and Solo Sikoa.
Cena then talked about Umaga, Zilla’s father, and said he loved him. At that point, the crowd started chanting the name of Umaga, who passed away in 2009.
A very emotional Zilla thanked Cena for his relationship with the family and for the opportunity. He promised to get everyone to say his catchphrase “Hello!” on December 14.
HELLO 👏 @ZillaFatu is READY for the John Cena Classic!! https://t.co/otCf94CnEQ
— WWE (@WWE) November 5, 2026
Back in January 2007, Cena handed Umaga his first loss since his return to WWE when they met at New Year’s Revolution. Three weeks later, the two had a rematch at the Royal Rumble in a Last Man Standing match for the WWE Championship. Cena beat him again.
The first entrant in the tournament was Cody Rhodes, who was announced by Cena on Monday’s Raw at the Barclays Center in New York. That makes Zilla the second entrant in the tournament and the first to come from NXT, just 85 days after he debuted on WWE’s developmental brand on August 11.
Since then, Zilla challenged for the NXT Championship at Heatwave in a Fatal 4-Way match won by Grayson Waller. He is coming off a win over Charlie Dempsey at Halloween Havoc.