John Cena Defends His WWE Tournament: “Wins And Losses Do Matter”

John Cena addresses the criticism of whether wins and losses matter in his recently announced tournament.

After his retirement tour throughout the year 2025 and the eventual retirement at the end of the year, John Cena has abolished his ring gear completely. He appeared at WrestleMania 42 and Backlash 2026 in a suit when interacting with fans in the arena. At Backlash, Cena announced ‘The John Cena Classic’ tournament, in which WWE stars from NXT and the main roster will compete.

The winner of the tournament will be decided by fan voting. Many fans have been skeptical about the tournament, as they believe that wins and losses don’t matter in the tournament if fans will vote for the eventual winner.

John Cena says wins and losses do matter in his tournament

Speaking on The Takedown of Sports Illustrated, John Cena addressed the skepticism regarding his upcoming tournament, saying a wrestler winning a match could make fans vote for them, so wins matter in that sense:

Let’s lean into your question that wins and losses don’t matter—that’s a great perspective. I hear you. People can vote for the winner, and a lot of times, if you win a match, there’s a loud crowd moment and a reaction. So winning could sway your odds of winning the vote. Winning does matter because it can help.”

Cena continued with some examples from the past, like Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels, or his matches with Nexus, Cesaro, and CM Punk, when fans wanted his opponent to win:

There have been matches in wrestling like The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels. Shawn Michaels didn’t win that, but God, he was great. John Cena vs. Nexus—there was a lot of crowd sentiment for the other guys there. Me vs. Cesaro, me and Dolph Ziggler, some of the square-offs I had with CM Punk—where the sentiment from the audience was like, ‘That guy did great.’”

Cena concluded that wins and losses do matter in his tournament despite fan voting, and it would just be a standalone exhibition rather than a long build:

So if you have a vote and you feel that strongly about it—Taker won, but HBK tore it up—you can vote for HBK. That’s all I’m saying. Wins and losses do matter. The structure of storytelling does matter. But this one night is an exhibition. It doesn’t need a long build. We don’t have to get all this involvement. I’m going to personally invite these people into the event, and we’re going to have the event. It’s literally a standalone thing.” [H/T Ringside News]

It remains to be seen when ‘The John Cena Classic’ will commence.

Also read: John Cena Drops Major Surprise About Retirement Tour & New WWE Tournament