As confirmed during last night’s Raw in Fresno, CA, 17-time world champion John Cena will be making his return to WWE’s flagship show next week in Brooklyn, NY for the November 2 episode.
The appearance will be Cena’s first WWE Raw appearance since November 17, 2025, and his first time back on WWE programming since this year’s Backlash premium live event on May 9.
It was at Backlash that we saw Cena announce the first ever ‘John Cena Classic’ – an event that will pit main roster WWE stars against members of the NXT roster, with fans voting on the overall winner and who will walk out the first-ever John Cena Classic Champion.
The concept raised a lot of questions from fans – with Cena himself admitting that he’s unsure if it will work – but it appears as if we will get some firm answers as to what it will all entail during Cena’s appearance on Raw next week at the Barclays Center.
Taking to Twitter, Cena promoted his appearance and all but confirmed that he will be announcing more details regarding the John Cena Classic on Raw.
Cena wrote:
Make sure not to miss #WWERaw next week. SPECIAL START TIME OF 6PM EST!
The wait is over, the speculation ends 11/2. Let’s build this “Never Seen” CLASSIC! OUR time is NOW!
As well as details regarding the event’s format, we should also get confirmation of where and when it will be taking place.
Cena has previously stated that it will be hosted in December – which would be fitting given that Cena retired from in-ring competition that same month last year – but again, no confirmation of this has come from WWE as of yet.
We will share more details regarding Cena’s WWE Raw appearance if more information becomes available between now and next Monday.
Time for the WWE NXT roster to shine
While there is some very understandable reservations about the whole fan vote aspect of the John Cena Classic, the concept of pitting WWE NXT and main roster talents against each other is a winning idea on many levels.
It is not that often that we see NXT’s roster crossover to main roster programming, so for the likes of Shiloh Hill and Kendal Grey, the John Cena Classic will provide a major opportunity to familiarize the wider WWE audience with they’re capable of before they eventually get called up.
It could also even potentially build storylines for when these younger names make it onto Raw and SmackDown, especially with those that already have ties to major stars on the roster like Zilla Fatu.
With John Cena’s WWE retirement show last December giving fans a glimpse of Oba Femi, Sol Ruca and Je’Von Evans – three stars that have emerged as top babyface stars in 2026 – we could see some of the current NXT roster have similar breakout performances at the John Cena Classic.
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