John Cena Has Great Reason For WWE Doing “Last Time Is Now” Tournament

John Cena wants to give opportunities to WWE superstars.

When John Cena made his WWE main roster debut in June 2002, he was an unknown who got in former WWE Champion Kurt Angle’s face and told Angle that he was full of “ruthless aggression.”

While the road to success wasn’t easy, and led to Cena becoming a success because he could rap in his promos, John Cena would go on to be a WWE Champion within three years. As the years went on, Cena won a record 17 WWE World Heavyweight Titles, and many people think of him as the Greatest of All Time.

As part of John Cena’s 2025 WWE retirement tour, there’s a 16-man tournament called the Last Time Is Now Tournament featuring superstars from Raw, SmackDown, NXT, and even people who don’t work for WWE right now. Whoever wins that tournament will face Cena in his final WWE match at Saturday Night’s Main Event on December 13th.

John Cena Says The Last Time Is Now Tournament Is About Giving Chances To Others

In an interview with ESPN’s First Take, John Cena spoke about the motivation behind the tournament.

“A lot of folks are like, who do you want to face? And the way I got my start in WWE was from a random opportunity. I got my first match because The Undertaker was sick. So I love the theory of opportunity and I believe in the meritocracy of the WWE. So I don’t want to face anyone – I don’t want to hand pick anyone, I want people to have a chance to showcase their skills and earn the right for opportunity.

So we’re doing this with the Time Is Now tournament where it’s a bunch of the top superstars and some random entrants – even some against all odds opponents – have a chance to see if they can make it to get a chance to see if they can retire John Cena, which is a real special thing.

And on the actual retirement on December 13th in DC, it isn’t just a show about me. I’m using the time that eyeballs are on me to give some of the NXT superstars a showcase. I basically want this tour to be about opportunity for the future and paving the way for the future because that’s what the class before me did for me.”

During John Cena’s ESPN interview, he also explained the origins of his legendary “You Can’t See Me” hand gesture as well.

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