john cena wwe

Cena happily takes photos, lets kids play with his championship belt and even takes them behind the ropes occasionally. It’s clear that he sees how important it is to create a special experience and goes the extra mile.

“I try to put myself in that perspective of if I had one thing to wish for, where would I fall on that list... So for me to be the name of like, ‘I would like to hang out with this person for the day,’ that’s a pretty strong statement... It really is pretty magical when they get a really intimate experience with the individual and then they get to go see them be a superhero.”

Cena consistently uses his celebrity as a force for good. Earlier in June, when he learned that a mother in Ukraine told her 19-year-old nonverbal son with Down syndrome they were leaving the country to meet him—an attempt to protect her child from the stresses of war—Cena hopped on a flight to fulfill that fictional promise.

.@JohnCena meets Misha, a teen who fled Ukraine after his home was destroyed.

To motivate Misha on their journey to safety, his mother told him they were on their way to find Cena. pic.twitter.com/0Aeab4GkPZ

— WWE (@WWE) June 7, 2022

The pair ended up spending the entire day together near Amsterdam, “building blocks and eating cake.”

Previously, in 2020, he matched pop group BTS’ $1 million donation to help the Black Lives Matter movement. And back in 2012 he headed WWE’s Be-A-Star anti-bullying campaign.

Plus, let’s not forget about his adorable picture book series, “Elbow Grease,” which teaches kids about perseverance and believing in themselves, all with “high-octane illustrations” of the cutest little monster truck you’ll ever see.

You can find those books on Amazon, but nothing quite beats listening to Cena read his own book out loud.

It's easy to find ourselves cynical at the apparent good deeds of celebrities—viewing charitable acts as virtue signaling, a ploy for a better public image or even covering up something nefarious. But it’s even harder to believe that Cena’s compassion, as unfaltering as it is, is anything less than genuine. This is a great example of how status can be used to share blessings. For a guy whose most notorious finishing move includes hoisting a dude above his shoulders before slamming them into the mat, he still shows us what the best of humanity looks like.