I must admit, I love what WWE is doing with the John Cena Last Time is Now Tournament. It’s the epitome of squeezing every last drop of value from a once-in-a-lifetime Superstar leading up to his final match.
For the uninitiated, the tournament is a 16-man field featuring a variety of performers. There’s at least one NXT superstar, someone who wasn’t previously on the roster and one we still haven’t seen.
We started at 16 and are now down to 12 with four matches complete. Here’s a look at who’s in and out and the four first-round matches scheduled for next week’s episodes of Raw and Smackdown.
John Cena’s Last Time is Now – First Round
- Rusev def. Damian Priest (Raw, Nov. 10)
- Sheamus def. Shinsuke Nakamura (Raw, Nov. 10)
- Jey Uso def. The Miz vs. (Smackdown, Nov. 14)
- LA Knight def. Zack Ryder (Smackdown, Nov. 14)
- Je’Von Evans vs. Gunther (Raw, Nov. 17)
- Solo Sikoa vs. surprise opponent (Raw, Nov. 17)
- Carmelo Hayes vs. Bronson Reed (Smackdown, Nov. 21)
- Penta vs. Finn Balor (Smackdown, Nov. 21)
John Cena’s Last Time is Now – Quarterfinals
- Rusev vs. TBD
- Sheamus vs. TBD
- Jey Uso vs. TBD
- LA Knight vs. TBD
It’s unclear if the winners from Raw will face each other with the same formula cooked up on Smackdown. If that’s the case, Rusev will face Smackdown, likely on November 24 and Jey Uso will take on LA Knight on November 28.
WWE could push this all the way up to Saturday Night’s Main Event on December 13 in Washington D.C. where Cena is set to have his final match.
If the dates line up as expected, the final match to determine who faces Cena could be on the December 8 episode of Raw or December 12 run of Smackdown. Considering the December 8 episode comes from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, that feels like the logical location.
This is all speculation, but the Smackdown on December 12 is at the Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania. Comparatively, you can see where I’m going with the thought.
As for the mystery opponent, you have to figure its going to be a face considering the person is facing Solo Sikoa. I wonder if it’ll be Uncle Howdy as WWE has been teasing a feud between the Wyatt Sicks and MFT for about a month.
I’m not sure how far they’d attempt to ride Howdy at this point, but it could be an interesting match.
There is also the chance that WWE settles the quarterfinals or semifinals in a Fatal Four-Way match. There’s some credence to this thought because WWE has not once shown a bracket on screen during programming. That could suggest a surprise or wrinkle is on the way. We’ll see, but I am enjoying this entire farewell tour for the GOAT.
