John Cena appeared at Backlash 2026 to make the announcement about the John Cena Classic. He only offered preliminary details about the tournament, and has now opened up about the way it came together.
The 17-time world champion recently spoke to Zack Heydorn of Sports Illustrated and revealed that it was a pitch he made that was eventually developed in coordination with the higher-ups in the company. Cena also revealed that the retirement tour was also his idea, which was pitched to Triple H and Nick Khan.
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“Keep in mind, I approached them about the retirement tour. That was my idea. And so was the John Cena Classic. Now, the retirement tour took a year and a half for me to develop. It took a year and a half after I pitched and they accepted it for the WWE to curate and develop. That was a very long lead. The John Cena Classic took took four or five months for me to get a a proper situation where I could talk to Triple H and Nick Khan. And they digested the information. We’ve been working out the details for about two months now. And we’re we’re going forward. We’re going to give it a shot,” he said.
John Cena reveals the reason he retired from WWE
The Never Seen 17 bid an emotional farewell to his in-ring career at Saturday Night’s Main Event last year, losing to Gunther in his last match. In the same conversation, he revealed why he chose to retire:
“This new crop of extra talented superstars come up that are performing at a speed like the game just looks too fast for me… because it is. You’re right. I could change my style, but at the risk of ruining that energy that WWE invested in me. And that’s tough because from an ego standpoint, you got to step away from the audience. I love the audience. It’s great. But man, that’s not respectful to the fans and it’s not respectful to the company. It’s also not respectful to new talent trying to get an opportunity. Step aside. Let the young superstars come up.”
The John Cena Classic is in line with the legend’s vision of bringing forth new talent and leaving the business better than he found it, and it now remains to be seen how the tournament shapes up.
If you use the quotes from this article, please give an H/T to Sportskeeda for the transcription and credit Sports Illustrated.
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Edited by Arsh Das
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