WWE Wrestlepalooza preview: Cena-Lesnar to kick off ESPN's first Premium Live Event

As a service to fans who have a general interest in WWE but might not have watched a match in months, we're happy to provide this FAQ as a guide to Wrestlepalooza, scheduled for Saturday at 7 p.m. ET from Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. ESPN's first Premium Live Event with WWE, Wrestlepalooza, is streaming exclusively in the U.S. for fans with a subscription to the ESPN Unlimited plan -- either directly or through a traditional pay TV package -- on the ESPN App.

What is a Wrestlepalooza?

Back in 1995, the late, great Extreme Championship Wrestling had an idea: What if there was an event that took its name from Lollapalooza, but instead of a music festival featuring the Red Hot Chili Peppers, it was a wrestling show that featured The Public Enemy and The Gangstas, in a tag team stretcher match?

WWE, which acquired ECW and its trademarks in 2003, wanted to kick off its new ESPN rights deal with a special Premium Live Event (PLE) that needed a memorable name. So WWE dipped into its deep bag of wrestling intellectual properties and decided on Wrestlepalooza. (Apologies to those who were hoping for "Barbed Wire, Hoodies & Chokeslams," another ECW pay-per-view classic.)

Despite its roots, there aren't a lot of extreme wrestling matches on this weekend's Wrestlepalooza. Just extremely interesting ones, such as John Cena continuing his retirement tour against the formidable Brock Lesnar.

What has the John Cena retirement tour been like?

Here's a summary of why "the last time is now" for Cena: Cena announced at Money in the Bank in July 2024 that he will retire as an in-ring performer at the end of 2025. His goal was gold: Cena was tied with Ric Flair for the most WWE world championships (16), and now the clock was ticking on breaking that record.

He was eliminated by Jey Uso in the 2025 Royal Rumble in February, costing him a title shot, but won the subsequent Elimination Chamber match in March to earn a match against undisputed WWE champion Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 41.

Here's where things get a little weird. The Rock had finally come back to WWE to ask Rhodes to hand over his "soul." He appeared at the end of Elimination Chamber with his henchman, rapper Travis Scott (told you it got weird), to collect said soul from Rhodes, who was in the ring with Cena. Rhodes, being rather fond of his soul, declined The Rock's offer. But in his desperation to break the record, Cena turned heel again after two decades as a babyface and joined an attack on Rhodes with The Rock and Scott. Thanks to interference from Scott, Cena beat Rhodes for the title at WrestleMania. Scott and The Rock wouldn't play a role during Cena's title reign.

The angle gave us one of the most shocking heel turns in wrestling history ... and a slew of moments where Cena tried on an ill-fitting heel persona, cutting promos about his disdain for the fans that he had consistently praised during the rest of his retirement tour.

Luckily, Cena and WWE pumped the brakes on this persona in August on the SmackDown before SummerSlam, telling fans he realized that his reputation had been "flushed down the toilet" in pursuit of "shocking TV."

"The people that were supposed to be on my team? They left. And they left me alone, trying to pretend that I'm something I'm not," Cena said.

Cena entered SummerSlam at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey to cheers, but Rhodes left with the championship. And that's where Brock Lesnar reentered the picture. Fans were stunned when his music hit during Cena's farewell to SummerSlam. But Cena probably wasn't all that shocked when Lesnar delivered an F-5 to him, given their history.

Why does Brock Lesnar want to fight John Cena again?

There are a few ways to answer that question.

The first answer is that Lesnar, who hadn't been seen in WWE since 2023, just likes to beat people up. He attacked Cena and Sami Zayn during their U.S. title match on SmackDown recently. He attacked R-Truth (a.k.a. "Ron Cena") when he touted up Cena. He's the Beast Incarnate. It's his nature.

Now what did @RonKillings do to deserve that? 😡 pic.twitter.com/ypDWVs1T40

According to WWE chief content officer Paul "Triple H" Levesque on the SummerSlam postgame show, Lesnar was on Cena's "wish list" of opponents who would help him write "the last chapter of his book."

Lesnar and Cena have wrestled only six times in one-on-one matches, with Lesnar holding a 4-2 advantage. The last match was at Night of Champions in 2014, which Cena won via disqualification against then-world-champion Lesnar. Saturday's match will kick off Wrestlepalooza, as announced Thursday on "The Pat McAfee Show."

Their legacies are intertwined: They got their starts in the developmental Ohio Valley Wrestling scene, rising up to WWE superstar and champion status. Lesnar isn't as essential to the Cena story as, say, Randy Orton was, but he's a significant plot thread to tie up before Cena says goodbye.

But the ultimate factor might be the Cena face turn. Our wrestling heroes need the odds stacked against them. They need seemingly insurmountable opponents to stare down in the ring.

Cena admitted on Raw this week that he's "afraid" of Lesnar. But he said that "The Last Real Champion" will "take the fight to the Beast" in a "final showdown between two generational titans."

Man, that guy can hype a match, can't he?

What about WWE champion Cody Rhodes?

Cody is facing Drew McIntyre for the undisputed WWE championship. These two had a feud just over a year ago that culminated in a street fight on SmackDown.

After Rhodes captured the title at SummerSlam, McIntyre attacked him on SmackDown with a Claymore Kick through the side of the announcers' table, which was inventive. McIntyre would later argue that Rhodes attacked him first that night -- a claim with a modicum of validity -- even though McIntyre's escalation of violence could hardly be called self-defense.

McIntyre fancied that kick through the table so much that he was going to deliver one to Orton a few weeks later on SmackDown when Rhodes returned from injury for the save and to challenge McIntyre to a title match at Wrestlepalooza.

The announcers might want to sit in the skybox for this one, as there is zero chance their ringside table isn't going to be obliterated into sawdust.

As Rhodes has noted, McIntyre is one of only four wrestlers -- along with Cena, Lesnar and Roman Reigns -- to have defeated him in a singles match since he returned to WWE in 2022.

Since you mentioned Roman Reigns, does Wrestlepalooza have any Bloodline action?

Why, yes! For the first time on a PLE since 2023, Jey and Jimmy Uso are wrestling as a tag team as the Usos compete against Bronson Reed and Bron Breakker, who are members of world heavyweight champion Seth Rollins' faction, The Vision.

Reigns had been feuding with this Paul Heyman-backed group, suffering an attack that led to a singles match against Reed earlier this month at Clash in Paris. After Reigns was victorious, Reed and Breakker left him so beaten up that he'll be out several weeks while starring as Akuma in the new "Street Fighter" reboot ... I mean, rehabbing that injury.

On the next Raw, Reed and Breakker were beating on LA Knight when Jimmy Uso made an ill-advised save. Jey Uso rushed the ring to save his brother, furthering the feud that has led to this tag match against The Vision.

Important sidebar here: Knight and Jey Uso have a building beef that started with some miscommunication during a brawl with The Vision that left Jey getting flattened by Reed. Jey responded by delivering a spear to Knight, leaving Jimmy dumbfounded. After the two shook hands and seemingly made up a week later, Knight gave him the ol' Stone Cold "kick-boom-stunner" combo and claimed the score was now even.

Something tells me this animosity might just carry over to Wrestlepalooza. Who will win the immortal struggle of "YEET!" vs. "YEAH!"?

Is there a women's title match on the card?

Yes, and it's for a championship that's currently vacant for a rather joyous reason: Reigning world champion Naomi announced that she and husband Jimmy Uso are expecting a child.

She relinquished the title on Aug. 18 and told the women's division they had nine months before she returns to reclaim it. No word if her newborn will be worked into subsequent angles, with Naomi choking out opponents with a Baby Bjorn.

The new holder of that title will be determined at Wrestlepalooza between Iyo Sky and Stephanie Vaquer, who both have a claim to the championship. Sky was scheduled to challenge for the championship before Naomi announced her pregnancy. Vaquer won a 20-woman Battle Royal at WWE Evolution in July to earn a title shot.

Keep in mind, Sky dropped the title to Naomi in a triple-threat match at Evolution that also featured Rhea Ripley. Those three ran it back at SummerSlam, where Sky again couldn't win back her title. Vaquer, meanwhile, is chasing her first WWE championship after reigning as NXT women's champion earlier this year.

Exciting times in the women's division. And that's not even mentioning the former champion who dressed like a ninja and attacked CM Punk. Or AJ Lee, who's wrestling at Wrestlepalooza in her first match since 2015.

AJ Lee is back in WWE?!

In the words of Kurt Angle: Oh, it's true. It's damn true.

For about five years, the sight of AJ Lee skipping out from the back with a mischievous grin meant something eventful was about to go down. She was an essential part of the "Divas Revolution" just over a decade ago, not only as one of the longest-reigning titleholders but as the opposing force to the "Total Divas" reality television era. Please recall Lee calling out the Bella Twins and others as "ungrateful, stiff, plastic mannequins" during a "pipe bomb" promo that no doubt endeared her to her husband and pipe-bomb originator CM Punk, whom she married in 2014.

Ever since Punk returned to WWE in November 2023, there's been speculation that Lee might also make her long-awaited wrestling comeback. Becky Lynch finally gave her a reason.

At Clash in Paris, Punk faced Seth Rollins, who cashed in his Money in the Bank contract to win Punk's title at SummerSlam. Punk had Rollins hoisted up for a final GTS when a mysterious assailant emerged and decided it was clobberin' time with Punk's lower extremities. Off came the black mask to reveal Lynch, marking the first time she aligned herself in the ring with Rollins since he gave her a wedding ring in 2021.

Lynch explained in a face-off with Punk that she and Rollins run WWE and that Punk doesn't fit "the vision," punctuating it with a slap to Punk's head. During that promo, fans started an "AJ Lee!" chant, to which Lynch venomously snapped back, "She doesn't work here!"

Cut to SmackDown in Chicago a few days later. The fans are still chanting "AJ Lee!" Lynch is telling them to "shut up." Punk informs her that he'd never put his hands on a lady, but "thankfully, I've got someone who will."

And then out skipped AJ Lee.

The mixed tag team match between these four stars could be the showstopper and main event at Wrestlepalooza. Punk and Rollins hate each other. Lynch and Lee are icons from different generations of the women's division -- and now AJ has a receipt from Becky slapping her husband.

It's got nastiness and drama and, let's not forget, a former women's champion competing in her first match since March 2015. One prediction we're comfortable making about Wrestlepalooza: There will be a "you still got it!" chant during this match.