WWE: John Cena on What He Wants The John Cena Classic To Become, Crown Jewel 2026 Plans & Status Reportedly “Big Topic Of Conversation” In WWE, Seth Rollins Advertised For Dark Match At 10/9 WWE SmackDown Show, Kevin Owens Set for 10/17 NXT Live Event

Oct 9, 2026

John Cena Comments on What He Wants The John Cena Classic To Become

A recent episode of the What Now? with Trevor Noah podcast featured John Cena as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Cena’s thoughts about his vision for the upcoming John Cena Classic tournament in WWE and what he wants his tournament to become.

“I’m putting on an event this winter with them called the John Cena Classic because I want to still be involved. So what’s the pivot, right? The pivot is event promotion. Take the IP that everybody knows and the core values that this IP, this human being, stands for and build an event around that with a goal to be like the Arnold Schwarzenegger Classic.
That way those young, able-bodied performers can do the falling down and I can be like, ‘These people are awesome,’ and we have our event, and I show up, and I’m still part of it. That’s the pivot. So I can still have the passion. I’m a fan first. I can still be a fan. Don’t walk away from the business, but walk away from, again, goals change too. I want to be a WWE superstar. That’s what I want the most.”

Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com

Crown Jewel 2026 Plans & Status Reportedly “Big Topic Of Conversation” In WWE

WWE is currently scheduled to be holding this year’s Crown Jewel event on November 7 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This upcoming event’s status in Saudi Arabia is currently uncertain following the United States Department of State issuing an official update this past September to their existing Level 3 travel advisory in regards to Saudi Arabia over issues involving the Iran war. The U.S. Embassy in Riyadh issued a new security alert this past Wednesday for their citizens in the country over issues involving the current conflict between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis.

The Wrestling Observer’s Bryan Alvarez reported that his sources stated that the status of whether or not WWE runs their Crown Jewel event this November in Saudi Arabia was a big topic of conversation in the company on Thursday.

Seth Rollins Advertised For Dark Match At 10/9 WWE SmackDown Show

WWE is currently adverting that Seth Rollins will be competing in a dark match at Friday’s WWE SmackDown show in Lafayette, Louisiana.

Rollins is advertised to be teaming up with LA Knight and Solo Sikoa in a Six-Man Tag Team match against 946 (Royce Keys, Bronco Nima, & Lucien Price).

This will be Rollins’ first match since the September 12th WWE South American Live Tour event in Santiago, Chile.

6 Man Tag featuring Seth Rollins, Solo Sikoa, and LA Knight VS The 946 has been advertised for this Friday in a dark match 👀 https://t.co/fTmcXCf3yi
— FADE (@FadeAwayMedia) October 7, 2026

Kevin Owens Set for Oct. 17th WWE NXT Live Event

WWE recently announced that Kevin Owens will be making an appearance at their upcoming NXT Live Event on October 17 at the Slush Puppie Centre in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada.

This will be Owens’ first match for WWE’s NXT brand since 2019.