Published: 20 minutes ago by Jamie Toolan | Last Updated: 2 seconds ago by Jamie Toolan
Jamie has been covering the world of wrestling for four years and currently holds the position of Assistant Editor of WrestleTalk.com. During his time working for WrestleTalk.com he has written and published over 4,000 news and feature articles covering events and happenings from WWE, AEW, TNA and a variety of international and independent wrestling promotions.
WWE
The planned date for the inaugural WWE John Cena Classic event has potentially been revealed.
At WWE Backlash on May 9, 17-time world champion John Cena officially announced the first-ever John Cena Classic – a one night NXT vs. main roster event where fans will vote on who will be crowned the John Cena Classic Champion.
Months of uncertainty has followed the announcement, with questions remaining regarding the unconventional format of the event – specifically the fan vote, with even Cena himself admitting that that aspect of the event still needed to be figured out.
As well as these questions however, there has also been no clear answer as to when the event will be taking place, with Cena only stating that it should be coming towards the end of the calendar year.
While WWE is yet to confirm their plans, False Finish is now reporting that December 12 is the currently planned date for the John Cena Classic, however, a location has yet to be determined.
If true, then the John Cena Classic will land almost exactly a year after Cena’s WWE in-ring retirement date of December 13, 2025.
The Saturday Night’s Main Event which hosted Cena’s last match was held at the Capitol One Arena in Washington, D.C.
We will provide updates on the potential location for the John Cena Classic, as well as any official announcements from WWE once they become available.
A Lot Of Questions Needing Answered About The John Cena Classic
On paper, the John Cena Classic is a win-win idea from ‘The Never Seen 17.’
The NXT vs. main roster matches provided at the December 13 Saturday Night’s Main Event put well-earned spotlights on some of WWE’s brightest stars of 2026: Oba Femi, Je’Von Evans and Sol Ruca, as well as TNA’s Leon Slater who can forever boast about his spot on that show’s card, regardless whether he joins WWE eventually or not.
So, when it comes to elevating the stars of tomorrow, the John Cena Classic should be highly effective. But it’s everything else to do with the event that causes excitement to be sucked down the drain.
The prospect of watching an entire event where, effectively wins and losses don’t matter whatsoever is hardly an appealing proposition and giving a championship out to someone who may very well lose every match they take part in is beyond silly.
Perhaps the fan voting aspect should be restricted to the participants and/or match pairings themselves, with WWE’s creative team then doing the rest?
Whatever the case, WWE and Cena not yet announcing much of anything points towards them being as dumfounded as we are regarding the event, so hopefully they can bash their heads together and find some way to make it all make sense come December 12.
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