John Cena is a good guy

[Roy H.]

The pro wrestling superstar [John Cena] granted his 300th Make-A-Wish request to a 7-year-old Pennsylvania boy named Jonny Littman earlier this week. That's far and away tops among sports celebrities. ...

Cena never says no. Even though his schedule is tougher than most stars – there are no home games and there's no off-season – he unfailingly builds in time for Wish kids. WWE rep Kevin Hennessey even says Cena's 300th wish was so important that his bosses rearranged his entire schedule for it. ...

"He has been a big supporter of us forever," said Make-A-Wish national communications manager Mark Hiegel. "By this time next year, he'll have 400."

And while some heroes do a simple meet-and-greet, Cena turns the Wish into an experience. He usually invites the child to Monday Night Raw, where he takes the entire family backstage, gives them all signed memorabilia and introduces them to other WWE stars. That's what he did for Jonny Littman on Monday in New York. But then Cena followed up with a surprise visit the next day on Good Morning America.

That's by far the best part of the Make-A-Wish day – the surprise. Kids sometimes get shy and sometimes beam for hours, but they all forget for a while about the next hospital visit or the next round of chemo.

"He gets the kids out of their shells," Reeser said of Cena. "He's every good at asking questions, pulling information out of them. There's always a huge smile and their eyes light up. The more outgoing kids will say Cena's phrase, which is 'You can't see me.' "

Stuff like this really impresses me.  If all professional athletes dedicated their time like this, the world would be a better place.

[Redz]

Nice to hear.

[pearljammer10]

In my younger days I was a huge WWE fan. I havent tuned in for many many years but seeing an article likes this really shows that there is still some good in the sporting world.

[Spilling Green Dye]

Very Impressive.

My physical therapist here (in Tampa) has apparently rehabbed John Cena and said he was one of the nicest guys he's ever met.  I've never met anyone here who has said anything bad about him.

[dark_lord]

respect

[Celtics4ever]

If all professional athletes dedicated their time like this, the world would be a better place.

While, I agree with your sentiment,  Cena is a physical specimen but I view wrestlers as celebrity performers. 

[Roy H.]

If all professional athletes dedicated their time like this, the world would be a better place.

While, I agree with your sentiment,  Cena is a physical specimen but I view wrestlers as celebrity performers. 

What John Cena does is every bit as athletic as any professional athlete out there.  It might be "sports entertainment", but the entertainment is physically grueling and takes a lot of strength and skill.

I used to think wrestling was completely fake, too, but after looking at what these guys go through 300 nights per year, it's really impressive stuff.  Unfortunately, it explains why so many wrestlers take steroids and/or are addicted to painkillers.

[bdm860]

I got to do the Make-a-Wish thing in back in '98, good times, though I constantly think about what I'd do if I had that wish again.

When they were going over the guidelines with me, I was told if I wanted to meet Michael Jordan there was a 2 year waiting list.

I wonder how many requests Cena gets, and what's his turnaround time is, compared to a guy like Jordan.  So I just looked it up and here are some facts:

Only a few other sports stars have granted more than 200 wishes, including Hulk Hogan, Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Michael Jordan is in the 200 neighborhood and Kobe Bryant has granted more than 100. (More than 50 wishes will be granted at the London Olympics.) Cena raced past 300 and he fully intends on getting to 1,000.

"Overall, I get 100-140 WWE wish requests a year," said Shaina Reeser, sports program manager at Make-A-Wish, "and the majority is for John Cena. He probably does two or three kids every week. It's crazy."

And it looks like he granted his 200th wish around December 2010 or January 2011, so he plowed through 100 more wishes in like 18 months.  Pretty cool.

[Yoki_IsTheName]

Nobody questioned his character. He's always been a very nice man and I have much respect for him.

But WWE should change his gimmick in ring because it's SO old now.

[Lord of Mikawa]

Cena is a stand up guy. I may not care for his wrestling gimmick but he does whatever he can night in and out.

[nickagneta]

My brother in law sat next to Cena at a Rays game at Tropicana Field a couple years ago. My bro is a big guy too and has many professionally athletic friends.

Cena was unbelievable. Since both are originally Boston guys they hit it off and was goofing on people all night as Cena said my bro was his bodyguard and all requests had to go through him. By the end of the night he had people convinced my bro was a wrestler too and had him signing autographs for people.

LOL.

They took pics and exchanged phone numbers and talk a lot now. My bro gets free tix whenever the WWE is in town. From what I hear, Cena is nothing but a true nice guy who understands exactly where he came from and gives of himself so much because of it.