WWE Announces 'The Last Time Is Now' Tournament (WWE News)

16-man tournament to decide John Cena's final ever opponent.

by Andrew Pollard
WWE Crown Jewel 2025 John Cena
WWE.com

As John Cena enters the final few months of his wrestling career, it's now been announced how WWE will determine Big Match John's final opponent.

In addition to featuring four title matches, last night's edition of WWE Saturday Night's Main Event saw the announcement of a 16-man tournament, where the winner will face Cena in his retirement match at next month's SNME on 13 December.

Dubbed 'The Last Time Is Now', this tournament will feature talent from Raw, SmackDown, and NXT, with the announcement video - narrated by John Cena himself - also teasing non-WWE talents being a part of this. Already, that has seen fans speculating about the likes of Adam Copeland, Matt Cardona, Joe Hendry, or even Hiroshi Tanahashi being involved in this tourney. Of course, some of those names are a little more realistic than others...

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Even before this announcement, there had been plenty of online rumblings that Gunther was being lined up as John Cena's final ever opponent, and the Ring General was indeed shown in that announcement video. As, too, were a host of names who have storied histories with the record-setting 17-time World Champion, as well as a bunch of fresh faces whom the veteran has never faced.

The Last Time Is Now tournament starts on the 10 November episode of Raw, which emanates from John Cena's hometown of Boston, Massachusetts.

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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.