2025 was the year of John Cena in WWE. 2026 was supposed to be the year of the first-ever John Cena Classic. The only problem is, WWE is running out of dates to put it on.

John Cena announced the John Cena Classic earlier this year at WWE Backlash in the aftermath of WrestleMania . Cena was the special guest host of WrestleMania this year. It was his first as a retired member of the WWE roster.

Cena went on a retirement tour in WWE throughout 2025. He became the world champion for a record-setting 17th time and also worked as a heel for the first time in over 20 years. By the end of the run, Cena found a familiar spot as a lovable babyface in WWE and had memorable final matches against CM Punk, Logan Paul, Cody Rhodes, Dominik Mysterio, and others. His final match was at Saturday Night's Main Event in December, where he lost to Gunther by submission.

Throughout the retirement tour, Cena maintained that he would not wrestle again but would still be part of the company to give back.…