It was more than two decades ago that two of the rookies in WWE locked up for the first time, and now they’re set to collide at Wrestlepalooza 2025 in the headliner bout. Next weekend, the “Never Seen 17” John Cena and “The Beast Incarnate” Brock Lesnar will be dueling in a last-time-ever match in the first-ever WWE-ESPN joint venture premium live event, with the match now being promoted as the main event.
WWE’s play-by-play commentator, Joe Tessitore, broke the news of the Wrestlepalooza 2025 main event on ESPN, the new home for WWE PLEs. It was in June 2002 that the two athletes coming out of WWE’s then-OVW bunch, locked up for the first time with one goal in mind, and that’s to become the next major name in WWE’s Ruthless Aggression era. They’d eventually go on to become future champions and box office attractions for the WWE.
Wrestlepalooza 2025 is going to be the seventh match between Lesnar and Cena in the WWE. Lesnar holds the most victories in this rivalry with four wins to Cena’s two. Cena won the 2012 Extreme Rules match, which was the first time those two locked horns after Lesnar’s comeback to the WWE upon an eight-year hiatus, followed by the win at Night of Champions in 2014, via a disqualification finish due to Seth Rollins’ interference.
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As for Lesnar, he definitely remains the favorite heading into Wrestlepalooza 2025 as he claimed more victories over Cena. During their contest at SummerSlam 2014, Lesnar hit 16 suplexes on the Cenation leader, bringing the Suplex City catchphrase to a reality.
John Cena will have only six dates remaining to work with WWE after Wrestlepalooza 2025 in his retirement tour, which concludes on Saturday, December 13, on Saturday Night’s Main Event in Washington, DC. He has only experienced two losses in this tour in a tag team match with Logan Paul at Money in the Bank, and then by dropping the Undisputed WWE Championship to Cody Rhodes at SummerSlam, the same night Lesnar returned to the company to renew his feud with Cena.
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WWE Wrestlepalooza 2025 PLE Match Card
Heavily promoted as the first WWE premium live event on ESPN, Wrestlepalooza 2025 will be airing on the newly launched ESPN direct-to-consumer streaming service at 7 PM Eastern Time from the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana, on Saturday, September 20. The currently announced match card for the returning ECW show goes as follows,
– John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar
– WWE Championship Match: Cody Rhodes (c) vs. Drew McIntyre (TBA)
– Vacant Women’s World Championship Match: IYO SKY vs. Stephanie Vaquer
– Mixed Tag Team Match: WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins & WWE Women’s Intercontinental Champion Becky Lynch vs. CM Punk & AJ Lee
– The Usos (Jimmy & Jey Uso) vs. The Vision (Bron Breakker & Bronson Reed)