John Cena has announced a new tournament that will add another championship to WWE. The inaugural John Cena Classic is set for December 14 at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, and will feature main-roster Superstars along with emerging NXT talent. But the announcement has already drawn criticism.
Former WWE Superstar Stevie Richards was particularly unimpressed with how it was presented. He questioned the tournament’s purpose, the championship’s design, and WWE’s decision to schedule back-to-back RAW episodes. Speaking on “The Stevie Richards Show,” Richards said:
“Man, Cena’s had such a roller coaster ride that you have a theory we’re going to get to that based on the heel turn that turned into a babyface turn, which turned into losing the retirement match to Gunther at Saturday Night’s Main Event, only to then, out of nowhere, announce that this John Cena Classic is happening. Even if you win the match, you didn’t necessarily win the match because the fans vote on it. They decide. We’ll get to how they vote in just a minute because they got the biggest boo of the whole segment. But it’s been very, very confusing.”
“And now, after all this time, they’ve decided that the John Cena Classic is going to compete directly with Monday Night Raw by having another Monday Night Raw on the exact same day. What we need is longer Raws on Monday, don’t we?”
“Well, at least the intrigue is there because, as of November 3, when we’re recording this, we still don’t know what this thing even is. We only know that one person has been announced for it. So congratulations to the people who bought tickets in Perth, Australia, for Raw because you’re about to get a much, much lighter show.”
Richards also questioned WWE’s decision to schedule the John Cena Classic against Monday Night Raw, pointing out the potential impact on fans attending the Perth show. The former Superstar also found the announcement confusing, feeling WWE had revealed very little about the tournament despite promoting it as a major event. The lack of clarity only added to his frustration. Richards added:
“Is it okay, by the way, if I assume in my own mind, in my own reality, that it was that writer in Unreal who was talking about the Gunther-Pat McAfee match? He was the one who said Club WWE is a terrible idea, and he would be right. You know why? That got the biggest boo of anything Cena said during this Raw segment. Cena was almost taken aback by it for half a second.”
“Well, I’m probably going to be as nice and measured as you, but I would say it’s very ugly. It’s not something.”
“And the funny thing is, going back, everything… This is something I don’t understand how you do it, but I know for a fact, and this was in Brooklyn, New York. You’re announcing everything that these fans in the audience are not going to be able to participate in. Like, you’re saying, ‘I’m going to tell you right now, there’s going to be a big match, and I want to wrestle you for the title next week.’ And sometimes the fans cheer. Again, we don’t want to see that.”
Richards also highlighted the audience’s reaction to Cena’s announcement, noting that the Club WWE concept received the loudest boos of the segment. According to Richards, Cena appeared surprised by the response. He further questioned why WWE continued promoting matches and developments that the live audience could not immediately experience, believing the presentation struggled to generate genuine excitement. He continued:
“These fans didn’t do that when he was saying those things. Each time, Cena was trying to get even more enthusiastic. Boy, did you notice how he was trying to get them to react? It just felt like they were flatlined. And then, of course, Club WWE was just like, ‘Oh my God!’ The only thing they cheered for was when he asked, ‘Do you want to see the belt right here, right now?’ They wanted to see him. And then they saw it, and it was Cena saluting in silver. The belt is like a spinner belt, right? Or it looks like the old spinner belt.”
“How can a WWE billion-dollar company, a multi-billion-dollar company, not at least have a belt that has its own identity? So, I mean, dude, this whole John Cena Classic… I feel like this is WWE’s attempt to sell another replica belt. That’s all it feels like.”
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