John Cena has revealed that his John Cena Classic on December 14 will have a more unusual format than originally expected. For example, all of the matches on the show will pit main roster stars against WWE NXT wrestlers. At the end of the show, a men’s champion and a women’s champion will be crowned.
Cena recently told Sports Illustrated’s The Takedown that the format will be similar to Saturday Night’s Main Event on December 13, 2025, the night he retired.
“They’re all gonna be current [main roster wrestlers] versus NXT,” Cena said. “It’s very much like Saturday Night’s Main Event, and I love that December 14 is the date, because that’s one year and one day from my last match.”
Cena also revealed that Club WWE members will vote to determine the two champions, American Idol-style. The idea is to start the voting as soon as the last match ends and announce the winners before the end of the show.
“Hopefully, if we have the technological acumen to do this, as soon as the last match is over, it’s kinda like American Idol… voting’s open now to Club WWE members,” Cena said. “And when we come back from commercial break, we’re gonna award the women’s champion of the night, and we’re gonna award the men’s champion of the night.”
The John Cena Classic will take place on Monday, December 14, at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, and will air on Netflix as a special episode of Raw. It will be the second Raw of the day, since WWE is also running an episode in Perth, Australia, hours earlier.
So far, Cody Rhodes and Zilla Fatu have been confirmed for the show. Rhodes was announced by Cena himself on the November 2 Raw at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, while NXT’s Fatu was invited two days later when Cena went to the Performance Center.
Cena will return to WWE programming on Friday’s SmackDown, Monday’s Raw, and Survivor Series: WarGames on November 28 in Houston, Texas, to reveal more participants.