John Cena Classic Details Formally Announced On WWE Raw, Cody Rhodes Is First Invitee
At WWE Backlash 2026 in May, John Cena made a special appearance to formerly announce a new tournament would be taking place, the John Cena Classic. It would be a showcase of current stars taking on the stars of tomorrow, but since Backlash, no information had been provided on what to expect. That all changed on the November 2 episode of "WWE Raw" when Cena returned to the company to dish out all the details on the John Cena Classic will be.
After getting a very warm welcome from the fans in Brooklyn, New York, Cena split his announcement into three parts, with the first being when and where the John Cena Classic will take place. The event will be a special episode of "WWE Raw" on December 14, meaning that two episodes of "Raw" will air on the same day as there will be another show earlier in the day airing from Perth, Australia. As for where it will take place, WWE is literally going to Disneyworld as the special event will take place at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, though no official venue was confirmed by Cena.
The second announcement was what the winner of the John Cena Classic will receive. Whoever wins the competition will be gifted the WWE John Cena Championship, a brand new title belt which was unveiled by Cena, and though it didn't spin, it did have the same structure as Cena's signature spinner belt from years gone by. While he didn't go into detail on the night, Cena did briefly mention that those subscribed to Club WWE would have a say in who wins, something that was also mentioned in his initial appearance at Backlash where fans could vote on who wins the competition.
The final announcement was who would be involved. It was already established that the event would see main roster stars taking on members of the "WWE NXT" roster, and Cena will appear on "NXT" this week to reveal which future stars will be taking part. However, the first official entrant into the John Cena Classic will be none other than Cody Rhodes, with more main roster stars being announced in the coming weeks, including at Survivor Series in Houston, Texas. Before Rhodes could express his pleasure about being involved in such a competition, Randy Orton interrupted proceedings to warn Rhodes that their Last Man Standing match at WWE Crown Jewel this Saturday could get very ugly indeed.