John Cena makes groundbreaking announcement that will change WWE forever
John Cena rocked up to WWE Backlash to make an announcement that will forever change wrestling.
Despite retiring from in-ring WWE competition in December, it appears that Cena still plans to be a major part of the wrestling organisation.
The 49-year-old is undoubtedly one of the biggest names in the history of the WWE and is widely considered to be the greatest of all time.
Therefore, when Cena revealed on social media that he would be making a 'historic announcement' during the WWE Backlash event in Tampa, Florida, he raised a lot of questions.
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But not many would have expected that Cena would be revealing a brand new event that will introduce a new championship belt decided by a surprising method.
Dubbed the 'John Cena Classic', the new wrestling event will feature feature established talent from the main roster competing against performers from the NXT brand.
The winner of the main event will then be awarded with a new championship that bears Cena’s name in a sign of respect to the WWE legend.
However, the biggest surprise of the announcement came as Cena revealed that, unlike traditional professional wrestling matches, the title will not necessarily be given to the winner, with the audience instead voting on who deserves to become champion.
Cena went on to explain that a wrestler could lose their match, but still be named champion if their performance won over the support of the audience.
.@JohnCena just announced the John Cena Classic! 👏
— WWE (@WWE) May 10, 2026
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It has not yet been announced when or where the inaugural John Cena Classic event will be held, but Cena confirmed that it was his intention that it would become an annual tradition.
He highlighted recent performances from the likes of Sol Ruca, Je’Von Evans, and Oba Femi as examples of NXT talent that have impressed in recent weeks, with the latter picking up an impressive win over Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 42 in April.
Ben McCrum