John Cena recently spoke with Jeff Conway of Forbes to promote The Suicide Squad, which hits theaters and HBO Max this Thursday in the United States.
Cena also discussed his relationship with Make-A-Wish, where he is the highest celebrity Wish granter with more than 600 Wishes granted. Cena revealed how the philanthropic pairing came to be.
“Make-A-Wish has a great relationship with the WWE,” Cena said. “One day in an arena, I was grabbed by the hand and sent in to meet a family, of which that happens a lot in the WWE. There’s a lot of meet-and-greets backstage and pre-show stuff.
“After the meet-and-greet, I asked who it was and the representative said Make-A-Wish and I didn’t know what Make-A-Wish was. Then they explained to me the charity and the relationship. I said I want to be as involved in this as I can, and the rest is history.”
Make-A-Wish America President & CEO Richard K. Davis provided comments to Forbes, and praised Cena for his dedication to the organization.
“John Cena has been kind enough to dedicate his incredibly valuable time and talent to grant more than 600 wishes over the years, witnessing time and time again the long-lasting impact that a wish can have on families and children with critical illnesses, even years after the wish has been granted. Some families even credit the wish with helping their child overcome their illness,” Davis said.
Cena recently returned to WWE and will challenge Roman Reigns for his WWE Universal Title at SummerSlam on August 22 in Las Vegas. He has made recent appearances on RAW and SmackDown, and is also working non-televised WWE Supershow live events. Cena was asked why he returned to his roots while in the middle of a successful rise in Hollywood. Cena said he really didn’t want to take time away from WWE, but he was faced with a bold choice. He also commented on how Hollywood insurance companies prevent him from working matches, which is something Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has also dealt with.
“I didn’t want to really leave in the first place but I was faced with a bold choice and that bold choice is try your hand at another way of entertaining people through movies and television but if you take that risk, then you can’t be on the WWE in a full capacity,” Cena said. “I could speak maybe or I could be an announcer but you can’t participate. You can’t have matches because the insurance companies bound you to the production. That’s very fair terms.
“This is the first time, like Fast came out, The Suicide Squad is coming out August 6. We just dropped the trailer for Vacation Friends. I’ve been filming movies a lot and that’s why I’ve been away. This is the first time I got a break. I have this block of time, so instead of taking a deep breath and kind of letting it all sink in, I wanted to go home and see my family in WWE, so back to the ring I go!”
Cena was also asked if he sees a realistic future of being able to balance his demanding Hollywood schedule with more WWE matches.
“Man, never say never about the WWE. Like I said, I had a month to myself and here I am back in a ring. So maybe if I get another month to catch my breath, I’ll hopefully make another visit back. I’m going to have to defend that championship that I win from Roman somehow,” Cena said, winking.
It was noted that Cena now has a Hollywood career, a WWE homecoming, and charitable pursuits going at an all-time high, and he is still moving forward with no regrets. Cena says when he looks back at his life, he wouldn’t change anything.
“When I look at what I’ve done with my life and this is good, bad and indifferent, I wouldn’t change anything,” Cena said. “As a matter of fact, some of the biggest mistakes have been some of the greatest chances for growth. If I could bump into my younger self, I would just say it’s going to be one hell of a ride and then just get out of there before I mess up the space-time continuum even more.”
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