WWE Backlash in Tampa, Florida, featured the return of John Cena, several weeks after his big return to host WrestleMania 42 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
However, this time Cena wasn’t there for hosting duties, but instead to share a big announcement, which most fans thought would involve the new Club WWE. Instead, it was a completely different announcement.
Cena spoke about how he previously encouraged WWE to showcase more NXT talent during his retirement run, including several who participated in the tournament to decide his final opponent, and several NXT stars who appeared on the card at his final match.
He reminded everyone that this helped bring new talents to the main roster, including Sol Ruca, Je’Von Evans, and Oba Femi, who recently defeated Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 42.
Cena then said he wanted to have something special for the fans that had his name on it, and he introduced a new championship tournament: The John Cena Classic.
From the way Cena described it, this will again feature NXT stars competing against main-roster stars for the championship.
During his in-ring announcement, Cena also said that fans would be able to participate in this tournament, making it an interactive experience that is already drawing comparisons to former WWE events like Cyber Sunday or Taboo Tuesday.
An X account posted “WELCOME BACK CYBER SUNDAY,” suggesting this, and many fans reacted on Twitter, also calling attention to how it felt similar.
“So….. Basically the Cyber Sunday PPV all over again for a meaningless title,” a fan wrote in an X comment.
“The voting thing is just dumb, Cyber Sunday be better pick the matches and stipulations,” another fan suggested.
“It’s basically Taboo Tuesday and Cyber Sunday combined,” a fan wrote on X.
“It’s basically their response to the Owen Hart tourney except its 100 times worse and doesnt make a lick of sense,” someone commented.
WWE’s rival, All Elite Wrestling (AEW), features The Owen Hart Cup, a tournament named after the late wrestler, in which the men’s and women’s winners now receive trophies and world championship matches.
A key difference between the Taboo Tuesday and Cyber Sunday events seems to be that fans will vote for who becomes the champion from The John Cena Classic, which, if true, strangely seems to defeat the point of having a tournament.
In the previously mentioned WWE events, fans mostly voted on who participated in matches, the match types, or the stipulations. Fans often accused it all of being predetermined and rigged, suggesting their votes didn’t matter.
However, this new event seems to flip that idea on its head, making it sound as if the matches are meaningless and that fan voting determines who wins, even if that individual lost in the tournament.
Cena’s lengthy explanation of his supposedly new concept seemed to confuse a lot of people, most likely meaning they’ll have a further breakdown video or segments on WWE Raw and SmackDown to help people out.