After granting his 500th “Make-A-Wish” during his appearance on NBC’s “Today” show earlier this week, WWE has issued the following press release touting the work John Cena has done with the Make-A-Wish foundation over the years.
Make-A-Wish® Celebrates WWE® Superstar John Cena® for Granting Record 500 Wishes
John Cena to become the first celebrity wish granter in the organization’s 35 year history to reach the milestone
PHOENIX (August 21, 2015) – Make-A-Wish® congratulates WWE® Superstar John Cena® for granting 500 wishes through the wish granting organization. Cena will achieve the landmark wish total when he spends time with Rocco, an 8-year-old from Queens, NY, battling leukemia, before WWE Monday Night Raw® at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY. For Rocco, the chance to hang out with the WWE Superstar will be a wish-come-true. For Cena, the meeting will be his 500th opportunity to bring hope and optimism to a wish child battling a life-threatening medical condition.
Since the founding of Make-A-Wish in 1980, no other celebrity has granted as many wishes as Cena. To acknowledge Cena and his contributions to Make-A-Wish, WWE and Make-A-Wish joined together to host a party on Friday, Aug. 21, at a Dave & Buster’s in New York City. Attendees included John Cena, Make-A-Wish America President and CEO David Williams, WWE Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon, WWE Divas The Bella Twins® – Nikki and Brie, WWE Superstar Sheamus®, wish kids and their families. At the event, WWE announced a multi-year, million dollar commitment to Make-A-Wish – a symbol of WWE’s on-going support for wish granting.
In addition to wish granting, Cena regularly goes above and beyond to support the mission of Make-A-Wish. He has personally donated more than 6 million airline miles for wishes involving travel, hosted parties for wish kids at WrestleMania® and served as a Wish Ambassador at speaking engagements. Cena is also a recipient of the Chris Greicius Celebrity Award, which Make-A-Wish awarded him in 2009. In 2012, he also received an award to mark the milestone of his 300th wish, something no other celebrity or athlete has achieved.
“John Cena’s slogan, ‘Never Give UpTM,’ is a constant source of inspiration for wish kids and serves as a reminder to stay strong and keep pushing through the difficult times,” said David Williams, Make-A-Wish America President and CEO. “The fact that he has had the sustained success required to reach 500 wishes speaks volumes about the type of person John is and the quality of the wish experience he delivers.”
“There is no more humbling experience than a child who could ask for anything in the world asking to meet me,” said WWE Superstar John Cena. “I have faced some of the toughest Superstars in WWE history and I’ve never encountered more bravery or toughness than I see in each wish kid that I meet. It is inspiring to see the impact that granting wishes can have and I look forward to granting 500 more.”
WWE has been involved in wish granting since the early 1980s, beginning shortly after the founding of Make-A-Wish. The popularity of WWE has endured throughout the years with a total wish count in the thousands. Since 2001, more than 45 Superstars and Divas have individually been requested, and subsequently, granted a wish. To learn more about Make-A-Wish and the WWE relationship, visit wish.org.
– Daniel Bryan is now in New York City for this weekend’s WWE SummerSlam activities. Sting, however, has already left NYC for a Wizard World appearance in Chicago and will not be appearing at SummerSlam on Sunday.
– Wrestling journalist Dave Scherer will be the guest on the next Jim Ross “Ross Report” podcast, which drops on Tuesday night at 9pm EST. at PodcastOne.com.
– WWE posted the following video looking at John Cena granting his 500th “Make-A-Wish” earlier this week.
WWE Hall Of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin recently spoke with IGN to promote WWE 2K16, as well as this Sunday’s WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view. Below are some of the highlights from the interview.
On who will win the Brock Lesnar vs. The Undertaker match: “I think it’s [Brock Lesnar’s] turn. And if you go that way then you can take the rubber match to WrestleMania and then Brock goes over and Taker rides off into the sunset. That’d be my prediction.”
On John Cena and the internet wrestling community giving him a hard time: “But everybody also knows that I’m a huge John Cena fan for his contributions for what he’s done for the business. He’s been the top guy for the last ten years. I’ve been there and I did it, so the run that he’s had is amazing. When you get the IWC involved, a lot of people have had a gut-full of him. But when a guy like me from outside, who was inside in the business at the highest level, looks at what he’s done, it’s phenomenal. So you could flip a coin on this one. You’d really have to get inside Vince McMahon’s head and see the chess game that’s going on. Get his mindset to see what he wants to do with the pieces on the table. That’s a hard one for me to pick. I’ll go Taker on Taker/Lesnar, but it’s really hard to call Cena/Rollins.”
John Cena appeared on NBC’s “Late Night with Seth Meyers” on Thursday to hype WWE SummerSlam and talk about granting his 500th wish for the Make-A-Wish foundation. In the video above, Cena talked about granting his 500th wish and his role in the recent Amy Schumer comedy Trainwreck.
Cena also followed in the footsteps of The Rock and Hulk Hogan to become the latest Superstar wrestler to sport a tutu. There was a skit after Cena’s interview where Meyers went to find Cena, who had left behind his wallet. Meyers walked in on Cena wearing the tutu and having a tea party with stuffed animals.
WWE U.S. Champion John Cena celebrated his 500th wish through the Make-A-Wish Foundation during his appearance on NBC’s “Today” show on Thursday morning. Cena surprised Rocco Lanzer, an eight year old kid who was diagnosed with Leukemia in January. Cena had already visited Rocco in the hospital a few months ago, but Rocco was too sick back then. Cena commented during his appearance:
“A lot of times when people donate time or resources, there’s a little speculation about where it goes. I’m at the finish line. I get to see the families; I get to see the joy and the hope that we bring. I’ll continue to be involved with Make-A-Wish as long as they’ll have me.”
Cena brought Rocco WWE gear, including tickets to an upcoming WWE RAW show. Cena will celebrate his 500th wish during an event at Dave & Busters in Times Square in New York City on Friday. Stephanie McMahon, Sheamus and The Bella Twins are also scheduled to appear.
– As of this past Sunday, WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns have worked the most matches so far in 2015 with each former Shield member having worked 136 matches each so far this year. Coming in at fourth is King Barrett with 127 and Cesaro at fifth with 122. Reigns has won 119 matches this year, while Ambrose has 88 wins. John Cena has won 93 of 99 matches so far in 2015.
– In the following video, a WWE 2K16 video game developer shows off the upgraded face import tool used in the “Create-A-Superstar” mode.
– WWE United States Champion John Cena tweeted the following after RAW in response to hit haters and the people who don’t want him to win his 16th World Heavyweight championship this Sunday at SummerSlam:
Call up the interweb, sounds impossible, but tell em they're about to hate me sixteen times more than they already do.
– WWE COO Triple H is teasing an all-access behind-the-scenes look at the WWE Performance Center on Monday, September 28th. While it’s not confirmed, this appears to be another post-RAW WWE Network special.
WWE has announced a segment for tonight’s WWE SummerSlam “go-home” edition of RAW in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
In what will be the final show before this year’s big SummerSlam event at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York this Sunday night, WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins and WWE United States Champion John Cena will have a face-off ahead of their title vs. title match this weekend.
WWE posted the following teaser for tonight’s Rollins-Cena confrontation:
“Less than one week before their cataclysmic encounter at SummerSlam, both Brock Lesnar and The Undertaker will be live on Raw. Will these two warriors collide before their anticipated rematch? Also tonight, U.S. Champion John Cena and WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins meet face to face!”
Paul Heyman recently took part in a Q&A with WTOP out of Washington, D.C. to promote Sunday’s WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view. Below are some of the highlights.
On what Brock Lesnar is doing to get ready for SummerSlam: “The same thing he did to get ready for Wrestlemania 30. He’s training, he’s hunting, he’s eating right, he’s getting ready to just walk in the ring and destroy The Undertaker.”
On if Brock has to up his game to beat Undertaker again: “I think The Undertaker is the one who needs to up his game. I don’t understand why anybody doesn’t understand the correlation here. I don’t think The Undertaker wanted to lose at Wrestlemania 30 either, but he had no choice in the matter. He got his ass kicked by Brock Lesnar, he got beaten by Brock Lesnar, he got beat up by Brock Lesnar, he got victimized by Brock Lesnar, and he got conquered by Brock Lesnar. And the very same thing is going to happen next Sunday at SummerSlam.”
On The Undertaker’s time being up: “I didn’t say Undertaker’s time is up. That’s putting words in my mouth. I think if The Undertaker picked a fight with anybody right now, The Undertaker would easily win. I don’t see anybody being able to stand up to The Undertaker. There’s not a man alive right now that can step into the ring with The Undertaker who’s this driven, this focused and now has something to make up for since he lost at Wrestlemania 30. The problem is, The Undertaker isn’t fighting a man, he’s fighting a beast. He’s fighting a conqueror. He’s fighting a once-in-a-lifetime athlete named Brock Lesnar. So it’s no slight to The Undertaker that he’s going to get his ass kicked by Brock Lesnar. Any human being who steps in the ring with Brock Lesnar is going to get his ass kicked. It’s not even a fair fight!”
On why fans should look forward to John Cena vs. Seth Rollins at SummerSlam as well: “It’s a double title match. It’s a pretty interesting situation where one man is going to walk out with the undisputed WWE Heavyweight Championship of the World and the U.S. Championship, so it’s certainly not a match with just typical stakes on the line. It’s a match with both titles on the line, which I think is a unique situation with two of the top stars of not only the past year, but the past decade.”
Former WWE Superstar The Great Khali was recently profiled by the Indian Express newspaper in a piece looking at this wrestling school, Continental Wrestling Entertainment (CWE) academy. Khali spoke about his WWE run, operating his school at a financial loss and more.
One of the more interesting items from the interview was that Khali discussed Randy Orton providing him strong pain pills early in his WWE career to help with his knee pain. Khali noted that the pills were so strong, he couldn’t feel his legs and fell down as a result. #Wellness
Here are the highlights of what he said about:
Working with John Cena and Vince McMahon’s reaction: “A good match is about the chemistry between opponents. I loved working with Cena. He was always receptive to my ideas, even if they weren’t good. Because he was ready to try things, we delivered a great match. When we got backstage, McMahon hugged me and said I had put on a great show.”
His Wrestling School: “I still want to keep some connection with this industry. This was something I was born to do. I was always meant to be Khali. I dream of wrestling all the time. And then I get up and I realise that I am not wrestling anymore. But I still keep my pants with me — both in India and in Houston. You never know.”
Randy Orton giving him strong pain pills early in his WWE career: “The pills were so strong that I couldn’t feel my legs. My foot kept slipping and I fell.”
Khali started with WWE back in 2006, so the incident he’s referencing likely took place around 2006-2007. Orton has been suspended from WWE 4 times over the years for violating WWE’s Wellness policy (2005, 2006, 2007, 2012)
– Longtime WWE executive producer Kevin Dunn was trending worldwide on Twitter earlier this week after online rumors spread claiming he was the one who ordered Randy Orton to make comments about Kevin Owens’ weight during RAW. The rumors turned out to not be true, as Dunn nor Vince McMahon had anything to do with it.
– Vince McMahon tweeted the following on Friday, congratulating John Cena and Roman Reigns for being included on DoSomething.org’s “Athletes Gone Good” list, which recognizes and appreciates their charitable efforts.
– WWE United States Champion John Cena is scheduled to be the special guest co-host for the NBC’s “Today” show on Monday morning, and again on Thursday in the 9am EST. time slot. Cena will be on the show to promote WWE’s SummerSlam pay-per-view. He will also promote the show on “Late Night with Seth Myers” on Friday, August 21st.
– WWE posted the following vignette for The Undertaker’s upcoming in-ring return against Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam.
– WWE Diva Summer Rae was on the field at the Chicago Bears’ NFL pre-season game on Thursday evening. Below is a photo of Summer on the field with her father.
WWE Divas Champion Nikki Bella spoke with FOX Sports recently and spoke about John Cena badly breaking his nose during his match with Seth Rollins on WWE RAW.
“I was so scared,” said Bella. “When you see someone’s nose on the side of their face, just gushing blood, and then when you love the guy and you care about him; I was just like, what’s going on, why is he not coming back?”
Bella continued, “But you know John’s Superman. So he finished the match. But I was still scared and I stayed with him in the hospital that night. He had emergency surgery. I was his nurse all week. But he’s doing amazing. He’s 100 percent now. And I just honestly have never seen anyone in my life heel like John. He heels so fast and he’s so strong but that was pretty scary.”
John Cena’s guest appearance on Tuesday night’s edition of WWE Tough Enough on the USA Network helped the show break its 2-week losing streak.
Week 8 of WWE’s reality competition show drew a 0.74 rating with 1.0245 million viewers, bouncing back from last week’s season-low 0.70 rating with 856,000 viewers.
The episode featured the in-ring debuts of the 6 remaining contestants and the elimination of GiGi.
WWEShop.com has added new merchandise for United States Champion John Cena that appears to spoil the outcome of his upcoming WWE Championship match against Seth Rollins at SummerSlam.
The new orange and green apparel features “Never Give Up” and a cartoon of Cena on the front, with “You Can’t See Me” and “15x” on the back. The “15x” is of course in reference to Cena’s 15 world title reigns.
WWE launching a whole new line of “15x Authentic Merchandise” for Cena just a week before next weekend’s PPV indicates that Cena will not be securing his record-tying 16th title reign at Summerslam.
Comment below and tell us who you think will be walking out of SummerSlam as WWE World Heavyweight champion – John Cena, Seth Rollins, or Mr. Money in the Bank, Sheamus.
WWE.com announced that United States Champion John Cena has been medically cleared to wrestle after undergoing surgery two weeks ago to correct a severely broken nose at the hands of WWE World Heavyweight champion Seth Rollins.
Cena appeared on Tough Enough and said Triple H giving John Cena a 50/50 chance that he’d be at SummerSlam shows that Triple H isn’t a good odds-maker. Cena referred to Daniel Bryan’s “Yes!” chant in response to Chris Jericho asking if he’d be ready next Sunday.
John Cena and Seth Rollins will square off at SummerSlam in a Champion vs. Champion winner-takes-all match.
John Cena is continuing to explore his options in the entertainment industry, which could mean a reduced schedule for WWE’s most decorated champion in the coming months.
Cena got rave reviews for his role in the Amy Schumer/Judd Apatow comedy “Trainwreck” and will be appearing in “Sisters” with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler later this year. Cena has been auditioning for more movie roles and is said to be shopping around a reality show independent from WWE.
While Cena makes it known that WWE will always his top priority, Vince McMahon has seen guys like The Rock and Batista be lured away by Hollywood success and is aware that Cena won’t be able to perform at the highest level forever. With Cena branching out into acting, we could very well see him working a reduced schedule that allows him to continue wrestling (and promoting his outside projects) while remaining a top name for WWE.
– As noted earlier, WWE has joined forces with Hollywood celebrities and professional athletes in support of Answer The Call, a windows’ & children’s benefit fund. Several readers pointed out that the photo of John Cena at CharityBuzz.com depicts the US Champion wearing new green and orange gear, which Cena will likely be debuting very soon.
– Actor Stephen Amell tweeted the following about his scheduled appearance on tonight’s WWE RAW:
As shown in the video above, Tough Enough host Chris Jericho was down at the Performance Center this week with the remaining competitors and got into the ring to assist with their training.
It has already been confirmed that WWE United States Champion John Cena will be the special guest on next week’s episode. He will be appearing on the broadcast live.
The episode will feature yet another challenge which will see the remaining competitors put together matches with the Superstars and Divas of WWE NXT as their audience.
Earlier in the week the Tough Enough competitors were down at Universal Studios in Orlando filming some material for the next episode.
Stone Cold Steve Austin was recently confirmed as the cover star for WWE 2K16, the next WWE video game which is due to be released in October on a number of platforms.
WWE.com recently spoke with the Texas Rattlesnake to promote the game, you can check out highlights from the interview below:
On being the cover star of WWE 2K16:
“It caught me completely off guard. I was very surprised when I got the phone call. You know, I figured I’d been gone for such a long time; it’s been a while.
I think it really speaks to how Austin and The Attitude Era resonated with the fans back then and, obviously, it resonated enough for 2K to pick a guy like me. I’m thankful to have had so many dance partners and so many Hall of Famers to work with. It was really an all-star cast of people in a 20-by-20 squared circle, entertaining people. At the end of the day, you really gotta thank the fans for being there for us. It’s an extreme honor.”
If there was any Superstar from his past who he would like to go one more round with:
“A guy that I’ve always had so much respect for and only got a chance to meet one time was Andre the Giant. So, I would like to play Andre the Giant as myself, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. And some of the new guys that they’re bringing into this game like Finn Bálor, who I think is an outstanding talent and a veteran who’s moved to WWE, but a guy who is probably one of the best wrestlers in the world. There are many dream matchups that I could sit and talk to you about all day.”
The amount of respect he has for John Cena:
“Man, John Cena. I got a lot of respect for that guy. You talk about a road warrior, a guy that works his tail off, shows up with a smile on his face every single day and adds himself to shows when he’s needed. Hell, even when he’s not needed, the guy just loves to get on the road, and he loves the company that much. He’s an absolute workhorse.”
WWE 2K16 is due to be released on October 27th, 2015, in North America and October 30th, 2015, internationally. Check out the full interview with Steve Austin at this link.
– A lot of controversy has spread regarding UFC President Dana White’s “FAKE” comments when referring to a legion of pro wrestling fans on social media, a campaign that WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins was a major part of, in terms of back-and-forth comments between himself and White.
Earlier this week, current UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, current FOX Sports analyst and lifelong pro wrestling fan (need proof — watch UFC champ Daniel Cormier completely mark out when watching Rollins win the WWE title at WrestleMania earlier this year by clicking here for possibly the funniest crowd reaction from a celebrity in WWE event history) appeared on the “Steve Austin Show – Unleashed!” podcast, and the two shared their in-depth feelings about the backlash behind UFC President Dana White’s “FAKE” comments.
Surprisingly enough, Austin and Cormier did not side with who you think they would side with. In fact, to make things even crazier, forget who they each sided with, and listen to why they each backed who they did by CLICKING HERE.
– WWE is planning on having the feud between John Cena and Seth Rollins run as a long-term program, as Cena vs. Rollins is booked as the advertised main event for most of the key WWE live events through September.
The company will continue to market “anti-Cena” t-shirts for the WWE World Heavyweight Champion, one of which Rollins debuted this past Monday night on RAW in San Jose California. Two of the shirt ideas read, “Never Shut Up” instead of “Never Give Up,” and “You Can’t See Knee” instead of “You Can’t See Me.”
Speaking of the knee, which Rollins landed to Cena’s face over a week ago, resulting in Cena needing reconstructive surgery to repair a badly broken nose, the fact that it happened is part of the reason WWE is running with Cena-Rollins long-term.
Cena vs. Rollins in a “Title vs. Title — Winner Take All” match is scheduled for this year’s WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view, which will be a four-hour event live on Sunday, August 23, 2015 from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
– As previously noted, the next episode of “Unfiltered with Renee Young” on the WWE Network will air tonight and will be a 30-minute interview with WWE Divas Champion Nikki Bella.
A preview for the interview is shown above, it appears that even Renee herself wasn’t aware that the episode was going to air for 30-minutes after she tweeted at the beginning of the month:
– The WWE website has a poll asking if John Cena should accept Seth Rollins’ “Winner Takes All” match at SummerSlam later this month.
The two options available are “Yes! A broken nose can’t stop the champ!” or “No, Cena should forfeit his U.S. Title.” You can cast your vote at this link.
– On the topic of John Cena, the WWE have released a video to hype up his appearance on Tough Enough next Tuesday on the USA Network. Check it out above.
John Cena hasn’t been seen on WWE Television since Seth Rollins broke his nose during the main event on RAW which led to Rollins releasing a t-shirt mocking the situation.
WWE announced during Tuesday’s edition of WWE Tough Enough on the USA Network that current WWE United States Champion John Cena will be appearing on next week’s edition of Tough Enough.
Cena has not appeared on WWE television since breaking his nose in a match against Seth Rollins on last week’s edition of RAW.
While Cena has been removed from a number of WWE live events, based on last night’s RAW, it appears he will be facing WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins in a “title versus title — winner take all” match at WWE SummerSlam.
On this Monday’s edition of WWE RAW, WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins challenged WWE United States Champion John Cena to a high-stakes match.
WWE RAW kicked off with Seth Rollins bragging about breaking John Cena’s nose last week. He shows footage of several replays of the knee that broke his nose. Rollins then challenged Cena to a match, title vs. title, winner take all, at the four-hour SummerSlam event.
WWE SummerSlam takes place on Sunday, August 23, 2015 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
During the main event of RAW last week, WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins broke WWE United States Champion John Cena’s nose.
John Cena managed to complete the match and won, retaining his United States title but the break was so bad, it forced Cena to pull out of various live events.
Over on WWEShop.com a brand new Seth Rollins “U Can’t C Knee” T-Shirt has been launched following the same design of T-shirts released for John Cena. Check it out below:
You can purchase the new t-shirt for $24.99 by clicking on this link.