NEW YORK, NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 17: Intercontinental Champion John Cena during Monday Night RAW at Madison Square Garden on November 17, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Rich Freeda/WWE via Getty Images)
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The race to be the guy who takes on John Cena in his final match is on. The historic match will take place on the December 13 edition of Saturday Night’s Main Event in Washington, D.C.
The Last Time is Now Tournament began with 16 WWE Superstars, and the field has been trimmed to 10 heading into Friday Night Smackdown.
Here’s who’s left with all of the mystery spots filled.
This field will be trimmed to eight on Smackdown, and we’ll move into the quarterfinals. On Friday, Hayes takes on Reed and Balor battles Penta in the last of the first-round matches..
The winner of Hayes-Reed and Balor-Penta will presumably move on to take on Sikoa or Gunther, both of whom won their first-round matches over Dolph Ziggler and Je’Von Evans, respectively.
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Some expect that portion to take place on the next episode of Raw. There’s also a chance the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds could be settled in a pair of Fatal Four Way matches.
Most of the details have yet to be confirmed. What’s also not confirmed is whether the winner of the tournament will be facing Cena as the Intercontinental champion. Cena dethroned Dominik Mysterio on Raw in Boston on November 10.
Mysterio will challenge Cena in a rematch at Survivor Series in San Diego on November 29. If Cena successfully defends, the winner of the Last Time is Now Tournament will get a shot at the title. That would add even higher stakes to the matchup.
If Cena drops the title to Dom at Survivor Series — a feasible outcome considering San Diego is Mysterio’s hometown — it’ll be interesting to see how the match at SNME is sold. It’s an excellent opportunity for someone to get a significant push, but quite honestly, the only people remaining in the tournament who stand to gain from that elevation are: Penta (would be his first title in WWE), Reed (same), Hayes (same), Balor (rebirth), Knight (rebirth), Sheamus (the only title he hasn’t held), and Rusev (a new push upon returning to WWE).
Gunther and Uso don’t need this title at all. You could make the argument that Sikoa doesn’t need it either.
As it is, we’re waiting on the next developments, and I’ll follow up with updates to the bracket after Smackdown.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianmazique/2025/11/20/john-cenas-last-time-is-now-updated-bracket-who-are-the-final-10/
