John Cena Responds To Criticism Of Fan Voting Aspect Of WWE John Cena Classic, ‘We’ve Gotta Figure Out The Fan Votes, There’s Still A Lot To Be Done’

WWE

John Cena has issued a response to fan criticism of the fan voting aspect of the newly announced WWE John Cena Classic event.

Announced by Cena at Backlash, the 17-time WWE World Champion stated that regardless of who is booked to win on the night, fans would be able to vote for the John Cena Classic Champion, with the winners and losers all eligible for votes.

This drew some criticism from a logic aspect, with former WWE star Lance Storm even saying the talent might be less willing to work together to make each other look good because they’d just be helping their opponents get votes, which could have a knock-on effect of people falling down the pecking order and getting released.

In a new interview with CBS Sports, Cena was asked about the fan voting aspect, saying that he loves listening to feedback, ultimately pointing out that if that’s really a concern for fans, they could always just vote for the winners if they wanted to.

He said:

“In a business where everybody says every story’s been told before, I want to swing for something new. Of course, I believe in sports entertainment meritocracy, and I believe that WWE is an excellent meritocracy.

“Now, every statement I say, there’s gonna be multiple sides to that. People will have an opinion that agrees, people will have an opinion that disagrees, there might be apathy, and there might be some in the middle.

“So when I come up with an event that I’m like, ‘Okay, I wanna do what we did on Saturday Night’s Main Event,’ because I loved the environment around my retirement match.

“I was a small piece of that night. The larger scope, and in the media going into it, was, ‘Oh man, this is kind of a cool thing. Yes, the night could be all about John, but in essence, we’re getting to see John do his thing, but somebody’s gotta earn the right to face John, so that’s cool, you’ve gotta earn the respect to do it. And at the same time, we’re gonna get to see some new faces go against our familiar Superstars.’

“I was there in the arena, the night rocked. It was great. The crowd was fantastic. Sure, the retirement match had a lot of buzz behind it, but they were on their feet for all the matches. So my brain started working, I’m like, ‘We should do something like this.’

“I guess to sum it up in a sentence, I know I dropped a lot of information at Backlash, I think to sum it up in a sentence, it could be a version of WWE’s All Star game.

“It’s a night of exhibition, so we don’t really have to build any long lead stories into it. It is the current (stars) competing with – and that means they might be paired with, who knows, the bracketology is endless, they could be paired with, they could be up against – the future of the company, Superstars from NXT.

“This takes me back to 2002 when we had this young class in OVW. Brock was on a path of his own for sure, but I was sitting in OVW going, ‘How am I ever gonna get a chance?’ Because the roster was stacked.

“You had guys like Kane, Triple H, The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Steve Austin, The Rock. And it’s like, ‘Man, I’m never gonna get a chance.’ I felt like that. Sometimes I know how these NXT talent might feel. They’ve been down there for a year, two years, three years – ‘When am I gonna get my chance?’

“Well for one night, if you can come up, drop your business card, see what happens, show the world what you have. And on top of it, if you steal the show, and maybe you’re not lucky enough to get the 1-2-3 and get your hand raised, every participant qualifies for kind of a fan All Star vote. So you could be recognized as the night’s champion.

“Now, I’ve heard the perspective of, ‘Wins and losses don’t matter.’ That’s a very valid point. I love listening to feedback. We’ve gotta figure out the fan votes, there’s still a lot to be done. But you can vote for the winners. You just can also vote for everybody. And that’s a first-time.

“So in an announcement this big, there is a lot of history being made. We’re coming up with a new event. We’re coming up with a new championship. We’re gonna give NXT people a chance to face WWE people in exhibition matches that are just a standalone part of the event. And the fans are gonna be able to vote, and everybody qualifies.

“That’s a lot of information to do in one five-minute interview. So I expected questions. It’s really exciting. I’m trying to do something new. WWE, we’re trying to do something new.

“And that’s gonna come with praise, it’s also gonna come with critique. And as one of the most polarizing figures in WWE over the past 23 years, it wouldn’t be normal if there wasn’t folks that were cheering and folks that weren’t.”

If you use this transcription or any portion of it, please credit WrestleTalk.com and link to this page.

To make sure you stay up to date with all the biggest wrestling and WrestleTalk news, follow us on Threads by clicking this link!

• wwe
• John Cena
• John Cena Classic

Share this article with friends