John Cena Explains His Goal With John Cena Classic, Talks Pitching It

John Cena recently talked about his goal with the forthcoming John Cena Classic in WWE and how he pitched it. Cena announced the tournament, which will pit NXT talent against main roster talent, at WWE Backlash earlier this month. Details on the tournament are still coming together, but Cena has been busy promoting the idea and he showed up on The Takedown On SI to discuss the concept.

Cena said that the goal from his standpoint is to give back some of the investment that has been built up in him over the years to the company and its talent. He noted that he is looking for some other way to be involved in WWE post-retirement beyond the nostalgia appearances. You can see the highlights below:

On Staying Involved In WWE:

“I mean, anyone who knows me knows how passionate I am about not only the sports entertainment business, but WWE as a brand. So, it was simply a matter of like, ‘Well, where do I fit in now? And we’re still trying to find out those pieces, but I think we got a clear path.”

On Pitching the John Cena Classic:

“I really want to certainly give respect to Nick Khan and Triple H. They’re very open-minded and their philosophy has been like, ‘Hey man, if you’d like to be involved, we’d like you to be involved.’ And I think that speaks to years of trust and passion and investment when I go out there, and there’s not a night where I don’t get my all. I’m not saying sometimes I don’t bomb, sometimes we do well, but the effort is always 100%. And I think that’s built day after day. And they at least lend an ear to ideas. And they’ll tell me when something sucks, they’ll tell me when something needs some tweaking, they’ll tell me when something is good.

“Keep in mind, I approached them about the retirement tour. That was my idea. And so is the John Cena Classic. Now, the retirement tour took a year and a half for me to develop. It took a year and a half after I pitched and they accepted it, for the WWE to curate and develop. That was a very long lead. And the John Cena Classic took four or five months for me to get a proper situation where I could talk to Triple H and they’ve digested the information. We’ve been working out the details for about two months now, and we’re going forward. We’re going to give it a shot.”

On His Goal With the John Cena Classic:

“In terms of the Classic, it’s more of like, ‘Hey, you, WWE have invested so much time. Lest you forget the years of Super Cena, where if Cena wins, we riot. I’m just saying they’ve invested so much time into this intellectual property. For it to end after the last match, I think, is what another return on investment? What about all the talent that worked with me and put me over through the years? How can we continue to give this energy away? And in normal terms, it’s — you bring Hulk Hogan back. You play ‘Real American,’ he comes out. You bring Steve Austin back, the glass crashes, he announces WrestleMania attendance.

“All that’s great. It’s nostalgia. You see the character, you see the IP. You get a one shot off of like, as an added attraction, ‘John Cena is gonna announce the WrestleMania attendance. He’s gonna be the host of WrestleMania.’ That doesn’t sell WrestleMania. I appreciate it. I got to be there as a fan, I loved it. But if we could take the energy we built at the IP and create an event based off of opportunity — which is what I stand for. Hustle, loyalty, and respect, the things I stand for. Perseverance, never giving up, the fans. All the things that I’ve been preaching over 25 years, and create an event that hopefully can stand alone. Heck, 20 years from now, if they just refer to it as a ‘Classic,’ that’s fine. But it’s a chance for the business to continue to get energy from me, because they’ve given me so much energy.

“And will it work? Who knows? But it’s one of those things where it’s like, ‘I think this is worth a try.’ And we might try it and then tweak it and try it again and tweak it. But I want to continue to try to help give away that energy.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit The Takedown on SI with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.