Jim Ross has praised John Cena for his charitable efforts throughout his career, praising Cena’s record-breaking Make-A-Wish commitments.
On a recent episode of ‘Grilling JR’, the legendary announcer, alongside podcast host Conrad Thompson, discussed John Cena’s 2006 run. At the time, Cena was evolving from his ‘Thuganomics’ persona and had already captured the WWE Championship a handful of times.
When discussing John Cena outside of the ring, Jim Ross pointed out that the 16 time World Champion became dedicated to charity work, even early on in his career. Crediting Cena for balancing Make-A-Wish appearances alongside his work in and out he ring with WWE, Ross admired Cena’s dedication to the cause:
“John’s probably granted more Make-A-Wish appearances and things than anybody ever in Make-A-Wish. That’s hard. People have got to understand how hard that is because we all know, Make-A-Wish is something that is done for these terminally ill children. Meaning, they know the hand they’re dealt, they know they’re not around for much longer. So to be able to experience that – and Cena just didn’t do drive-bys; he’d go meet with them. He’d sit and talk with them. And I know that that would be something he’d have to process and still go out and work – and it wouldn’t be easy to go through that dialogue, those conversations with those children. They were happy, they got to see John Cena. They were loving life, or whatever life they had left, they were loving that and John helped facilitate that. […]
Cena was special, even then [2006] on his Make-A-Wish, he believed in it. A lot of guys we would go to, to do Make-A-Wishes didn’t have John’s commitment. Some of them would tell me ‘it’s just too hard for me’, ‘I have children’, ‘I think what it’d be like if they were my kids.’ Cena didn’t have any kids, so he had a little buffer there but it affected him and I’ve seen it affect him. I’ve always admired John for many things but his commitment to the Make-A-Wish kids, these terminally ill children was really really special.”
John Cena officially hold the record for most wishes granted with the Make-A-Wish charity. Granting his first wish in 2004, Cena has gone on to grant over 650 wishes to children battling life threatening illnesses.
John Cena, who has granted over 650 wishes via the Make-A-Wish Foundation, makes sure nothing stops hope – not even a pandemic.
The 16-time World Champion fulfilled another wish by visiting a seven-year-old battling life-threatening illness in Florida. pic.twitter.com/TL7WhZJDjY
— Gary Cassidy (@TheGaryCassidy) May 4, 2020
Cena would even go as far as to grant a wish during the Covid-19 pandemic. In May 2020, John would visit 7 year old David Castle at the child’s home in Florida. Alongside a number of gifts, Cena would gift Castle a replica WWE Championship belt.
Many fans have been critical of John Cena’s unwavering face run throughout the majority of his legendary career. However, his dedicated Make-A-Wish appearances, providing hope to those in need truly proves that John Cena is one of professional wrestlings all time good guys.
Credit for Interview: Grilling JR