Ex-World Champion Compares John Cena’s WWE Retirement Tournament To WrestleMania

A former WWE World Champion thinks that facing John Cena in his retirement is as big as competing at WrestleMania.

The John Cena “Last Time Is Now” tournament begins on the November 10th edition of WWE Raw in Boston. It’s a 16-man tournament, with WWE claiming the participants will be randomly drawn, while matches will take place on Raw and SmackDown over the next month.

Whoever wins the Last Time Is Now Tournament will face John Cena in his final match at Saturday Night’s Main Event on December 13th in Washington, DC.

In the first two Last Time Is Now Tournament matches, Sheamus will face Shinsuke Nakamura, while Rusev will be in action against Damian Priest. Sheamus and Priest are former WWE World Champions, while Nakamura and Rusev have held numerous secondary titles, like the US Title, in their careers.

Typically, when a tournament takes place in WWE, it is done to win a title or compete for a title, but in this case, it’s the honor of being Cena’s final opponent in a WWE match.

Facing John Cena In His Final Match Is Like WrestleMania

To get fans ready for the Last Time Is Now Tournament, WWE posted videos of Sheamus, Nakamura, Rusev, and Priest talking about potentially facing Cena in the finals of the tournament.

Sheamus and Rusev spoke about their past with Cena since both guys faced the WWE legend in some memorable matches earlier in their careers. Nakamura had a history with Cena as well, and Nakamura said it would be a gift to face Cena again.

As for Damian Priest, he said facing Cena would be a career-defining moment and even compared it to competing at WrestleMania.

“For me personally, it would mean the world. It’s career defining moment. You remember his first, right? Like when he came out with the Kurt Angle thing, how could you not remember his last? So there’s a reason why there’s a tournament for that privilege. There’s a reason why the company itself calls him the greatest of all time while he’s still doing it. That’s reserved for when you retire.

So the fact that the company believes in him so much, tell you how much this should mean to all of us. This is our WrestleMania, that’s the moment. So for anybody who gets that honor, it’s gonna be a huge deal.” (H/T Fightful)

John Cena will be on WWE Raw in Boston on November 10th, and it’s been reported that he’ll be in a championship match too.

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