John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar Historic WWE Match to Kick Off Wrestlepalooza 2025

The highly anticipated match between John Cena and Brock Lesnar will open the WWE Wrestlepalooza premium live event on Saturday.

WWE commentator and former NFL punt Pat McAfee announced the news Thursday on his Pat McAfee Show:

Wrestlepalooza will be held in McAfee's adopted hometown of Indianapolis, and it will mark the first WWE PLE to stream exclusively on the ESPN Unlimited direct-to-consumer platform.

In addition to Saturday representing the first one-on-one match between Lesnar and Cena since 2014, it is also Lesnar's first match of any kind in over two years, and one of the final bouts of Cena's career.

At SummerSlam last month, Cena dropped the WWE Championship to Cody Rhodes in the main event. Afterward, Lesnar made his surprise return after a lengthy absence and hit Cena with an F-5.

Cena is in the midst of his farewell tour, as he will retire from active in-ring competition at the end of 2025.

After Wrestlepalooza, there are only five advertised appearances remaining in Cena's wrestling career, meaning there are only a handful of matches left for him to have.

Lesnar and Cena have faced off many times over the years with both of them scoring some big wins. Their encounter at Wrestlepalooza may be the most unpredictable one yet.

Cena could use the win since it would propel him toward his final matches with some positive momentum, while The Beast Incarnate would undoubtedly benefit from winning his first match back as well.

Wrestlepalooza could prove to be the last-ever meeting between two of the all-time greats, although a rematch isn't outside the realm of possibility since Crown Jewel and Survivor Series are part of Cena's remaining schedule.

It was widely expected that Cena vs. Lesnar would be the main event of Wrestlepalooza, but putting them in the opening spot opens the door for WWE champion Cody Rhodes vs. Drew McIntyre or CM Punk and AJ Lee vs. Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch to close the show.

Given the importance of beginning the ESPN era of WWE PLEs on the right foot, WWE is choosing to start Wrestlepalooza with a bang in the form of two future Hall of Famers locking horns.