Among the biggest stories coming out of WWE Backlash this weekend was John Cena’s appearance to announce the first ever John Cena Classic, a competition between main roster and “NXT” talent. Unfortunately for Cena and WWE, much of the discussion was related to how confusing the announcement was. While Cena indicated that the Classic would be some sort of tournament, he also indicated that wrestlers would be able to move on even in losses, thanks to fans having the power to vote on each match.
On Sunday night, Dave Meltzer attempted to provide some clarity to the Cena Classic in F4WON’s “Daily Update” post, saying that the competition was a work in progress that WWE wanted to announce quickly, despite not being sure how the concept would play out. As such, it left open the door to wins and losses not mattering in this tournament, something that left Meltzer’s co-host Bryan Alvarez aghast during “Wrestling Observer Radio” hours earlier. Meltzer wasn’t that surprised though, as that is a concept WWE has tried to implement before.
“This isn’t the first time I’ve heard this one,” Meltzer said. “There’ve been people talking about this kind of a thing for, god, fifteen years. It’s just no one ever actually went with it, you know?”
Meltzer couldn’t offer an explanation as to why WWE finally decided to implement this idea into the Cena Classic. He remained firm, however, that this was an idea that was ultimately inevitable given WWE’s mindset that wins and losses weren’t that significant.
“They’ve been going in that direction for years anyway,” Meltzer said. “But this is…yeah. This is the ultimate [example] that the finish means nothing.”
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “Wrestling Observer Radio” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription
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