Summary

John Cena's newly announced John Cena Classic is already drawing questions about how the format would work in practice.

During WWE Backlash, Cena introduced the concept as a competition built around the best of today facing the best of tomorrow. He also said the event will feature a new championship and that fans will help determine the winner through a voting process. That announcement has already led to follow-up discussion, including Cena explaining why he is willing to risk failure with the John Cena Classic.

Lance Storm said the fan-vote element could create a problem for established main roster wrestlers who would be asked to help elevate NXT talent without knowing how the final outcome will affect their own standing.

Quote from Lance Storm

"If I’m a $500,000 main roster talent and I’m in there with a $75,000 a year NXT guy, why would I use my skill and my experience to make him look good? If he wins the popularity contest and wins and gets the push to the championship, I could lose my job. Because there is going top be a TKO executive saying, ‘well why are we paying this guy that lost the fan vote and is less over than this NXT guy that works for way less money?’"

Storm later went on to say:

"If I know ahead of time, ‘Hey, you’re getting a push, we wanna protect this guy,’ I’ll make him look good. But if I don’t know who’s winning or losing the actual fan vote, it’s no longer in my interest to make the guy look good."

What Lance Storm's concern could mean for the John Cena Classic

Storm's point puts the spotlight on whether WWE will lock down the rules of the John Cena Classic before talent are asked to buy into it. If the finish is tied to a fan vote and wrestlers do not know how protected each participant will be, the format could work against Cena's stated idea of showcasing current stars against rising names.

It also suggests WWE may need to define the championship stakes and voting process early. Without that clarity, the tournament risks becoming a talking point about incentives behind the scenes instead of a clean vehicle for building new names.

Sources

Lance Storm while speaking on Wrestling Observer Live