Why WWE Is Keeping John Cena Tournament Plans Under Wraps (WWE News)

Why WWE hasn't revealed the full brackets for The Last Time Is Now.

by Andrew Pollard
WWE SmackDown John Cena
WWE

With WWE recently announcing a The Last Time Is Now tournament to decide who'll face John Cena in his retirement match, some fans were a little disappointed that WWE only announced two matches and four wrestlers for that tourney on this week's Raw.

In a video narrated by Cena himself, the announcement of that tournament stated that talents from Raw, SmackDown, and NXT will be involved, and also teased some wrestlers who don't work for the company. On Monday night, Rusev vs. Damian Priest and Sheamus vs. Shinsuke Nakamura were confirmed to kick off the tournament on next week's Raw, with another two matches expected to be announced on this week's SmackDown.

Discussing this tournament on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer said the reason WWE hasn't announced the full brackets for The Last Time Is Now is because there are some surprises planned that the company doesn't want to reveal yet.

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With the mention of wrestlers from outside of WWE, that immediately had fans speculating about Chris Jericho or Adam Copeland - two of Cena's greatest rivals - being a part of this tournament, and there have even been some people who think this could pave the way for Hiroshi Tanahashi - himself on the cusp of retirement - to line up a match against John Cena.

In reality, it would be far more realistic to expect a Matt Cardona, a Nic Nemeth, or a Joe Hendry to be some of the surprises lined up for this tournament, though that's purely the thoughts of your writer. Unless something's changed dramatically and it's been kept incredibly hush-hush, Adam Copeland is still under contract with AEW, Chris Jericho's AEW deal isn't up until later in the year, and Tanahashi is another who seems extremely unlikely. Still, that doesn't mean that WWE can't have some fun with whatever surprises they have up their sleeve as we head towards John Cena's final match at the 13 December edition of Saturday Night's Main Event.

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Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.