Cena Talks Retirement Match Tourney, WWE Rumors on Survivor Series WarGames, Ventura

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe.

Cena Hypes 'Last Time Is Now' Tournament

John Cena took to X on Friday to give his thoughts on the "Last Time Is Now" tournament, which will determine the final opponent of his illustrious career.

In a post on X, Cena expressed his excitement over the tourney, particularly when it comes to seeing which matchups are drawn and what surprises may be part of it:

During the Nov. 1 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event, a video package was played, featuring Cena announcing the tournament to find out who will face him in his retirement match.

Cena noted that it will be a 16-man tournament featuring wrestlers from Raw, SmackDown, NXT and potentially ever wrestlers who aren't under a WWE contract.

The matchups will be randomly chosen, and the first four participants were drawn during Monday night's episode of Raw with Rusev facing Damian Priest and Sheamus facing Shinsuke Nakamura in the first round.

Those matches will take place on Monday's episode of Raw in Boston, and Cena will be in attendance for the show.

Cena figures to observe the matches, while potentially also setting up what he will do at Survivor Series later this month.

Monday's Raw is one of only four advertised WWE appearances remaining in Cena's career as an active wrestler, and it will be the last time he appears in Boston, which is close to his hometown of West Newbury, Massachusetts.

Cena's retirement match is set for the Dec. 13 Saturday Night's Main Event, which will be held at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.

Rumored Survivor Series Men's WarGames Match

Survivor Series is only a few weeks away, but there has reportedly been no internal update given on the men's WarGames match planned for the event.

According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t WrestlePurists), original plans called for a babyface team of Roman Reigns, CM Punk, Jey Uso, Jacob Fatu and either LA Knight or Jimmy Uso to face a heel team of Seth Rollins, Bron Breakker, Bronson Reed, Brock Lesnar and Austin Theory.

Rollins is currently out of action due to a shoulder injury, though, and it was reported by PWInsider Elite's Mike Johnson (h/t WrestlePurists) that Fatu is currently out after undergoing a dental procedure.

Meltzer noted that Logan Paul has replaced Rollins on the heel team based on what occurred on this past Monday's episode of Raw.

At the start of that show, Paul interrupted Punk to announce his desire to challenge for the World Heavyweight Championship. Breakker and Reed ended up attacking both of them.

Paul resurfaced at the end of the show and appeared poised to fight alongside Punk against Breakker and Reed, but he hit Punk with brass knuckles instead and handed them to Paul Heyman.

That would seem to lock Paul in with Breakker and Reed on one WarGames team, but there hasn't been any indication yet that Lesnar or Theory could join.

Lesnar has interacted with Heyman since returning at SummerSlam, though, and Heyman even introduced Lesnar prior to his match against Cena at Wrestlepalooza.

However, Theory has been out of action for months, and if he is part of the team, it will be a case of him making a surprise return and aligning with The Vision.

It remains to be seen if that will happen, but there are still a few weeks of programming left before Survivor Series to make it happen.

Ventura Reportedly No Longer Appearing on SNME

WWE Hall of Famer Jesse "The Body" Ventura's time as a contributor on Saturday Night's Main Event is reportedly believed to have come to an end.

According to Meltzer (h/t WrestleTalk), it is thought that Ventura signed a one-year contract with WWE to appear on SNME, and the most recent SNME on Nov. 1 marked the end of that deal.

When the Saturday Night's Main Event revival began on Dec. 14, 2024, Ventura was featured heavily. On that SNME, as well as the next two after it, Ventura was given time to speak on a panel with Joe Tessitore, and he was also put on commentary for one match on each show.

He was not on the SNME that took place earlier this month, and his most recent appearance occurred on the July 12 SNME, but he did not call any matches on that show.

On the May 24 SNME, Ventura went viral for his commentary during the steel cage match between Priest and Drew McIntyre.

Ventura was highly critical of Priest for winning the match by exiting through the cage door, and per Meltzer, "the die was cast as far as using him going forward," and the decision was made to phase Ventura out.

It is unclear if Ventura is still with WWE in some other capacity, either as an ambassador or under a legends contract, but it appears as though his Saturday Night's Main Event stint is over.

The next SNME is scheduled for Dec. 13, and it will be headlined by Cena competing in the final match of his career.