John Cena sets new world record with 650 wishes granted with the Make-A-Wish Foundation
He’s become the foundation’s most requested celebrity—and he never turns anyone down.
"I'll drop everything."
The multitalented, mega famous John Cena might hold many titles, but this might be the coolest one yet—and it has nothing to do with wrestling.
The actor and WWE performer just broke the Guinness World Records for most wishes granted through the Make-A-Wish Foundation. As of July 19, Guinness World Records reports, Cena has granted a whopping 650 wishes. The highest amount any other celebrity granted was 200.
The 16-time world champion first became a wish-granter back in 2002. Since then, he’s become the foundation’s most requested celebrity—and he never turns anyone down.
"I just drop everything. I don't care what I'm doing," he said in a WWE produced video after granting his 500th wish. “I can't say enough how cool it is to see the kids so happy, and their families so happy, I truly want to show them that it's their day.”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.
— WWE (@WWE) June 7, 2022
To motivate Misha on their journey to safety, his mother told him they were on their way to find Cena. pic.twitter.com/0Aeab4GkPZ
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.
