In a little more than a month, we’ll finally get to stop talking about The John Cena Classic and watch one. Until Dec. 14 though, Cena and WWE would like us to keep talking about it. Buzz is good, even if it’s skeptical, confused buzz.
At this point, I assume that’s why WWE’s promotional strategy for its first John Cena Classic continues to rely on a bit of mystery. Cena is back in the fold for a bit with at least three more WWE appearances lined up before The Classic, and we have a date, location,
general format and one participant each from the main and NXT rosters. We still have a lot of questions about how Dec. 14’s special from the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida is going to work.
Cena answered one of those in a new chat with SI.com’s The Takedown, and kinda answered another. The Classic is not a tournament, so don’t expect talent to wrestle again after their initial main roster vs. NXT match. Cena’s main comparison was to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s annual Sports Festival or Classic, an event which features bodybuilding, strongman, and other fitness competitions.
“I wanna try to create an Arnold Classic. I took a lot from the Arnold Classic. I took a lot from fan appreciation nights. I took a lot from All-Star games, but I wanna create that situation where fans can come to an event they know every year, they know what the situation is, and we’re in the pilot.”
Next month’s show being “the pilot” means we’re not guaranteed a second Cena Classic. John revealed that while praising WWE president Nick Khan and chief content officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque for giving him the go ahead to do this year’s version.
“I gotta thank Paul Levesque, and I gotta thank Nick Khan for being like, ‘Yeah, man, we’ll try it. [Last Decemeber’s Cena-booked retirement edition of] 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.”
So if it’s not a tournament, how do we figure out who gets that belt Cena showed us on Raw last week? Sounds like Club WWE members will get a commercial break to log their choices, and they’ll choose two champions.
“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. 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.”
This does make me more interested to learn how many matches will be on The Cena Classic card, because that will determine how many choices fans paying subscribers will have for those belts. The norm for single-day WWE events in the Triple H/TKO era hasn’t been more than five or so, which likely would two women’s matches tops. Will some Cena Classic matches be tags or multi-person affairs?
Let us know in the comments below what, if anything, these newest tidbits of information have done for your interest in The John Cena Classic.
