John Cena Never Wanted Cameras Present When He Granted Make-A-Wish Requests

John Cena hold the record of Make-A-Wish requests granted at 650. That number continues growing all the time, but he doesn’t do it for the publicity.

During the recent episode of the Something To Wrestle With podcast, Bruce Prichard delved further into the ascent of John Cena within WWE. After all, Cena has a lot of attention with his Make-A-Wish requests.

Bruce Prichard shed light on Cena’s involvement with Make-A-Wish and revealed that Cena had a preference for keeping his charitable endeavors private. This sentiment aligns with what others who have known Cena have stated about him, highlighting his humility and modesty when it comes to his work outside the ring.

“John hated doing Make-A-Wish if there was presence of any kind involved, even our own people. John would always insist on, ‘Their wish wasn’t to be surrounded by cameras and press. Their wish was to meet me and they’re gonna get an experience with me, a one-on-one experience with me, and I’m not doing it for publicity. I’m not doing it to have people say what a great guy I am. I’m doing it because a dying child asked to meet me.’ That’s John Cena.”

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“The battle to get John to allow us and allow Make-A-Wish to acknowledge him for everything he had done was a bit of a battle. He’s like, ‘Why do you want to recognize me for something that I do because it’s the right thing to do?’ That’s not work to him. That’s just his love, his appreciation that someone appreciated him that much and that was his give back. He truly loves those kids and loves doing that.”

“So that’s the real John and that’s the guy that, you know, when people point to Make-A-Wish, ‘Oh, yeah, they’re doing that publicity.’ Man, the fight to even be able to say it, was a fight. ‘It’s about one thing and it’s about that kid that day, that moment. That’s their moment. That’s not my moment. It’s not your moment. That’s there’s’, and, you know, eventually, you got to the point where parents, Make-a-Wish, and everybody, just bragged on it so much, and okay, yeah, you know, we made it public and so on and so forth, but you never heard about all the Make-A-Wishes that he did.”

“It’s a big deal when somebody from Hollywood goes and, you know, makes a wish come true. As many as John’s done, as many times as John has looked at his schedule and said, ‘Hey, I’ve got 12 hours. I can make a flight, you know, four hours someplace, to go meet a child, spend a few hours with them, and then fly back four hours and do what I needed to do.’ Instead of saying, ‘I’m gonna sleep in. I’m gonna train. I’m gonna go eat at this restaurant or whatever.’ It’s like, no, ‘I’ll make that work.’ You don’t hear about that stuff, and again, that’s the thing that makes John Cena the human being, the great human being he is that then makes him the huge megastar that he has become.”

John Cena’s contributions to Make-A-Wish have brought immeasurable joy to countless children. His dedication and compassion have made him one of the most active and cherished celebrity wish granters in the organization’s history.

WWE fans certainly miss John Cena in the ring. He returns when he can, and sometimes fans don’t expect him at all. Only time will tell when he wrestles again, but odds are he will grant a Make-A-Wish request or two along the way.

John Cena has changed a lot of lives with his Make-A-Wish requests. What’s your take on this? Sound off in the comments!