The event will feature John Cena's final match in his 26-year wrestling career, and his opponent was determined by a tournament, which was ultimately won by Gunther. It will also feature matches between NXT wrestlers and members of WWE’s main roster.
In December 2024, WWE revived its Saturday Night's Main Event series of specials on NBC as part of USA Network's acquisition of rights to SmackDown. In August 2025, after NBC's streaming service Peacock lost the rights to WWE's main roster supercards in the United States to ESPN, it was revealed that Saturday Night's Main Event would move exclusively to Peacock under a multi-year deal beginning in November 2025, with the December 13, 2025, edition featuring Cena's retirement match.[1][2][3] During the September 29 episode of Raw, it was confirmed that the event would take place at the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.[4]
Storylines
The event will include matches that result from scripted storylines. Results will be predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands,[5][6] while storylines are produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown.[7]
At Money in the Bank on July 2024, John Cena announced that he would retire from in-ring competion at the end of 2025.[8] During the Raw premiere on Netflix on January 6, 2025, Cena officially kicked off his retirement tour by announcing he would compete in the Royal Rumble match at the eponymous event on February 1 to try and earn an opportunity to win his 17th world championship at WrestleMania 41.[9] He lost the Royal Rumble match,[10] however, he won the Elimination Chamber match at the namesake event on March 1, earning an Undisputed WWE Championship match at WrestleMania 41.[11] He would go on to win the title by defeating Cody Rhodes on Night 2 of the event on April 20,[12] holding it until August 3 at Night 2 of SummerSlam where he lost it back to Rhodes in a Street Fight.[13] Later that same month, it was officially announced that Cena's last match would take place at Saturday Night's Main Event XLII, and on November 1 at Saturday Night's Main Event XLI, it was announced that Cena's final opponent would be decided in the Last Time Is Now Tournament, beginning on the November 10 episode of Raw in Boston, Massachusetts, near Cena's hometown.[14] On that same episode, Cena defeated Dominik Mysterio for the WWE Intercontinental Championship, winning the title for the first time in his career and becoming a Triple Crown and Grand Slam champion in the process.[15] However, at Survivor Series: WarGames on November 29, Cena lost the title back to Mysterio, thus entering his final match without a championship.[16] The finals of the Last Time Is Now Tournament took place on the December 5 episode of SmackDown, where Raw's Gunther defeated LA Knight, also from Raw, to become Cena's final opponent at the event.[17]
Also on the November 10 episode of Raw, John Cena announced a series of exhibition matches that would feature NXT talents against main roster wrestlers.[15] On the December 5 episode of SmackDown, Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes announced to NXT ChampionRicky Saints and Oba Femi, that the winner of their title match the following night at NXT Deadline would face him at Saturday Night's Main Event.[17] Femi subsequently defeated Saints to win the NXT Championship and face Rhodes at Saturday Night's Main Event.[18] Also on the December 5 episode of SmackDown, it was announced that Raw's Bayley would face NXT's Sol Ruca at the event.[17] Three nights later on Raw, it was announced that Raw's World Tag Team ChampionsAJ Styles and Dragon Lee would face NXT's Je'Von Evans and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's (TNA) X-Division ChampionLeon Slater in a non-title tag team match at the event.[19]
The Last Time Is Now Tournament was held to determine John Cena's opponent in Cena's retirement match at Saturday Night's Main Event XLII on December 13, 2025. The tournament began on the November 10 episode of Raw in Cena's hometown of Boston, Massachusetts and concluded on the December 5 episode of SmackDown in Austin, Texas.
1st Round Raw November 10–17, 2025 SmackDown November 14–21, 2025
Quarterfinals Raw November 24, 2025 SmackDown November 21, 2025 (Aired: November 28)
↑On November 21, WWE announced that quarterfinalist Sheamus suffered a shoulder injury and was no longer medically cleared to compete in the tournament. The Miz won a lottery to replace him.[27]
↑During their match, Penta injured his shoulder, resulting in Sikoa winning via referee stoppage.[29]
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