John Cena moved to California in 1998 to pursue a career as a bodybuilder, and switched to professional wrestling in 1999 before making his debut for Ultimate Pro Wrestling .
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John Cena moved to California in 1998 to pursue a career as a bodybuilder, and switched to professional wrestling in 1999 before making his debut for Ultimate Pro Wrestling .
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Joint-record 16-time world champion, John Cena has won the WWE Championship 13 times, a record for the title.
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John Cena'sprofessional wrestling career has been met with mixed critical and audience reception, with praise for his character work and promotional skills, but criticism for his perceived over-representation and on-screen dominance relative to other wrestlers.
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John Cena first starred in The Marine, and gained praise for his performances in Trainwreck, Ferdinand, Blockers, and Bumblebee .
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Outside his work in entertainment, John Cena is known for his involvement in numerous charitable causes, namely with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, where he has granted the most wishes at over 650.
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John Cena'smother is of English and French-Canadian descent, while his father has Italian ancestry.
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John Cena began training to become a professional wrestler in 1999 at Ultimate Pro Wrestling's California-based Ultimate University operated by Rick Bassman.
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Once he was placed into an in-ring role, John Cena began using a semi-robotic character known as The Prototype.
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In 2001, John Cena signed a developmental contract with the WWF and was assigned to its developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling .
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John Cena was eventually joined by an enforcer, Bull Buchanan, who was rechristened to B-2 .
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Shortly after this, John Cena began mocking The Undertaker, leading to a match at Vengeance, where he lost a singles match.
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In early 2004, John Cena participated in the Royal Rumble match at the Royal Rumble, making it to the final six before being eliminated by Big Show.
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At No Way Out, John Cena faced Big Show and Kurt Angle in a triple threat match for a WWE Championship match at WrestleMania XX, which John Cena lost by submission to Angle.
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John Cena won his first singles championship in WWE, the United States Championship from Big Show at WrestleMania.
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In 2005, John Cena took part in the Royal Rumble match, making it to the final two along with Batista until both went over the top rope at the same time, at first ending the match, which was restarted and won by Batista.
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John Cena defeated JBL at WrestleMania to win the WWE Championship, giving him his first world championship.
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John Cena immediately entered into a feud with Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff, after refusing to participate in the "war" against the Extreme Championship Wrestling roster at the 2005 ECW One Night Stand.
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At Vengeance, John Cena defeated Christian and Chris Jericho in a triple threat match to retain the title.
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John Cena held on to the WWE Championship through his feud with Angle, losing to him by disqualification at Unforgiven, pinning Shawn Michaels in a triple threat match involving Angle at Taboo Tuesday, and pinning Angle at Survivor Series.
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At New Year's Revolution, John Cena participated in the Elimination Chamber match where he retained the WWE Championship when he last eliminated Carlito.
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Immediately after John Cena won, Mr McMahon announced Edge was cashing in his Money in the Bank contract—a "guaranteed title match against the WWE Champion at a time and place of the owner's choosing".
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John Cena lost the WWE Championship to Van Dam at after interference from Edge.
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John Cena eventually regained the championship in a match and an arena of Edge's choice: a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match at Unforgiven at the Air Canada Centre in Edge's hometown of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, after performing the FU on Edge through two tables off a ladder.
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John Cena returned with his version of the spinner title belt on the next night's Raw.
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At New Year's Revolution, John Cena defeated Umaga to end his undefeated streak and retain the WWE Championship.
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At the Royal Rumble, John Cena defeated Umaga in a Last Man Standing match to retain the title.
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At WrestleMania 23, John Cena defeated Michaels to retain the WWE Championship after forcing him to submit to the STF.
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The Great Khali then declared his intentions to challenge for John Cena's championship attacking and "laying out" all three of the top contenders, before assaulting John Cena and stealing the title belt.
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John Cena retained the WWE Championship in a five-pack challenge at Vengeance: Night of Champions, and against Bobby Lashley at The Great American Bash.
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John Cena's surgery was performed by orthopedic surgeon James Andrews at St Vincent's Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama.
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Cena made a surprise return as the final participant of the Royal Rumble match, winning it, and the traditional WrestleMania XXIV title shot, by last eliminating Triple H Instead of waiting until WrestleMania, the title shot was cashed in against then WWE Champion Randy Orton at 2008's No Way Out in a match Cena won by disqualification and, therefore, not being awarded the championship.
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The following night on Raw, John Cena was placed back into WrestleMania's WWE Championship match defeating Orton in a non-title match with Triple H as special guest referee, making it a triple threat match, during which he was pinned by Orton.
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At Backlash, John Cena failed to regain the title in a fatal four-way elimination match, in which he was eliminated by Orton.
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John Cena failed to regain the WWE Championship from Triple H at Night of Champions.
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Shortly after, John Cena was named one of four contenders for CM Punk's World Heavyweight Championship in the Championship Scramble match at Unforgiven, but he was replaced by Rey Mysterio after suffering a herniated disc in his neck in his match at SummerSlam, which required surgery.
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John Cena made his in-ring return at Survivor Series, defeating Chris Jericho to win his first World Heavyweight Championship.
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John Cena received his rematch for the title at WrestleMania 25 in a triple threat match involving Big Show, which he won.
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John Cena lost the championship back to Edge in a Last Man Standing match at Backlash after interference from Big Show, who chokeslammed John Cena through a spotlight.
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At Night of Champions, John Cena challenged for the WWE Championship in a triple threat match against Triple H and defending champion Randy Orton, but was pinned by Orton after interference from Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase.
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The next night on Raw, John Cena won a beat the clock challenge to earn another shot at the WWE Championship at SummerSlam, where Orton would use underhanded tactics to retain his title.
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The next night on Raw, John Cena competed in a tournament to crown the 2009 Superstar of the Year, defeating CM Punk in the first round and Orton in the finals later that night to win the honor.
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At the Royal Rumble, John Cena competed in the titular match, making it to the final two where he was eliminated by the returning Edge.
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John Cena regained the title at Elimination Chamber in the eponymous match, his reign was cut short after Mr McMahon made him defend the title immediately against Batista, who emerged victorious.
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John Cena defeated Batista at WrestleMania XXVI for the title, and successfully defended it in a rematch at Extreme Rules in a Last Man Standing match.
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John Cena defeated Batista for a third time in an "I Quit" match at Over the Limit, ending their feud.
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John Cena faced Barrett at Hell in a Cell with the stipulations that if he were to lose, he would join The Nexus, and if he were to win, The Nexus would disband.
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At Survivor Series, John Cena officiated a match for the WWE Championship between Barrett and Orton.
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Per stipulation, if Barrett didn't win the championship, John Cena would be "fired" from the WWE; Orton defeated Barrett to retain the title, and John Cena was fired .
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John Cena competed in the Royal Rumble match at the Royal Rumble, which saw John Cena eliminate most of the Nexus members, ending his feud with the stable.
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John Cena won the titular match at Elimination Chamber to face Miz at WrestleMania XXVII for the WWE Championship.
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John Cena then began a feud with CM Punk, who was leaving the company due to his contract expiring after Money in the Bank.
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John Cena fought Kane to a double countout at the Royal Rumble, and then defeated Kane in an Ambulance match at Elimination Chamber.
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At WrestleMania XXVIII, John Cena faced The Rock in the main event; the match ended when John Cena attempted the People's Elbow on The Rock, and he countered with a Rock Bottom for the pinfall.
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The following night on Raw, John Cena accepted his loss and invited The Rock to the ring so that he could congratulate him.
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However, John Cena's call was answered instead by the returning Brock Lesnar, who then attacked John Cena with an F-5.
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John Cena won the WWE Championship Money in the Bank ladder match at Money in the Bank, earning a contract for a shot at the WWE Championship anytime within a year.
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The following night on Raw, John Cena teamed with Vickie Guerrero to face Ziggler and AJ in a mixed tag team match which ended in a disqualification after John Cena was attacked by the debuting Big E Langston.
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John Cena blamed his personal and professional troubles on his work The Rock previous year, going so far as admitting his own vanity had cost him the match.
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At WrestleMania, John Cena defeated Rock in their rematch to win his eleventh WWE Championship.
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John Cena then began a rivalry with Ryback, during which he suffered a legitimate achilles tendon injury.
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John Cena retained his championship against Ryback in a Last Man Standing match at Extreme Rules; the match ended in a no contest after both men were down for a 10 count.
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John Cena then defeated Ryback in a Three Stages of Hell match at Payback.
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At SummerSlam, John Cena lost the WWE Championship to Daniel Bryan, with Triple H as the special guest referee ending his reign at 133 days.
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The following night on Raw, John Cena announced he would undergo surgery for a triceps tear and would be out for four to six months.
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John Cena returned at Hell in a Cell and defeated Alberto Del Rio to win his third World Heavyweight Championship.
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Wyatt wanted to prove that John Cena's heroic act was a facade characteristic of "this era of lies" and to turn John Cena into a "monster".
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At WrestleMania, John Cena overcame interference from Luke Harper and Erick Rowan to defeat Wyatt.
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At SummerSlam, John Cena lost the championship to Brock Lesnar in a squash match, during which Lesnar hit John Cena with sixteen suplexes and two F-5s, ending his reign at 49 days.
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John Cena invoked his title rematch clause against Lesnar for Night of Champions, nearly winning before Seth Rollins attacked him to cause a disqualification.
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John Cena then began feuding with Dean Ambrose for the right to face Rollins at Hell in a Cell, but Ambrose won the right by defeating John Cena in a No Holds Barred Contract on a Pole match.
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John Cena's team consisted of Dolph Ziggler, Big Show, Erick Rowan and Ryback.
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At Survivor Series, Big Show turned on John Cena, resulting in his elimination, but Ziggler eventually won the match for Team John Cena with the interfering Sting's help.
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John Cena defeated Rusev at WrestleMania to win the US Championship for the fourth time, marking Rusev's first pinfall loss in the main roster.
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The following night on Raw, John Cena announced that he would issue an open challenge each week on the program with his US Championship on the line.
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John Cena concluded his feud with Rusev and retained his title in a Russian Chain match at Extreme Rules and an "I Quit" match at Payback.
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The following night on Raw, John Cena was attacked by then-NXT Champion Kevin Owens, setting up a Champion vs Champion match at Elimination Chamber, where Owens defeated John Cena.
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John Cena defeated Owens again at Battleground to retain the US Championship and end the feud.
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John Cena then resumed his feud with then WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins, with Rollins refusing John Cena's challenges for the title.
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John Cena defeated Rollins despite suffering a legitimate broken nose during the match.
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John Cena defeated Rollins to win the title for the fifth time at Night of Champions, a record in the WWE ownership era of the title.
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John Cena retained his title against Rollins the following night on Raw and then in a steel cage match at WWE Live from Madison Square Garden, while restarting his open challenges, successfully defending the title against New Day members Xavier Woods and Big E, as well as Dolph Ziggler.
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At Hell in a Cell, John Cena lost the title to the returning Alberto Del Rio in an open challenge.
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John Cena returned at WrestleMania 32, helping The Rock fend off The Wyatt Family.
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John Cena continued his feud with Styles, which resulted in him losing their match at SummerSlam on August 21,2016.
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On January 29,2017, John Cena defeated Styles at the Royal Rumble to win the WWE Championship and tie Ric Flair for the most recognized world title reigns at 16.
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Two nights later on SmackDown, John Cena lost a triple threat match against Wyatt for the championship in a match featuring Styles.
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John Cena proposed marriage to Bella after the match and she accepted.
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John Cena returned to SmackDown the next month after Commissioner Shane McMahon named him the final member of Team SmackDown for the men's 5-on-5 elimination match against Team Raw at Survivor Series; at the event, John Cena was eliminated by Kurt Angle and Team SmackDown was later defeated.
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From January until April 2018, John Cena was involved in a storyline where he was trying to find his "path to WrestleMania".
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Three weeks later, at the Greatest Royal Rumble, Cena defeated Triple H After the match, he thanked the crowd for sticking by him during a tough period, referencing his loss to Undertaker at WrestleMania and his recent breakup with Nikki Bella.
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John Cena was scheduled to compete in the Royal Rumble match at the event, but was taken out due to an in-storyline ankle injury supposedly suffered during the earlier triple threat match.
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At the time, John Cena was in Canada filming the HBO Max series Peacemaker, and the pandemic made it logistically impossible for him to travel to Tampa, Florida for WrestleMania 37, as upon his return to Canada, he would have had to quarantine for two weeks, which would have shut down production on the series.
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On 27 June 2022, in the episode of Raw John Cena returned and recalls all his memories and thanked the WWE Universe.
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John Cena often rapped before his matches, insulting his opponents, events that happened in the media and even the crowd.
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John Cena regularly performed "rap battles", where he and his opponent took turns rapping on each other.
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Around the time The Marine was released, John Cena began wearing more military related attire, including camouflage shorts, dog tags, a Marine soldier cap, and a WWE produced shirt with the legend "Chain Gang Assault Battalion".
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John Cena has continued to wear dog tags, as he has the names of his parents and brothers inscribed on them, so he keeps them as a way to keep his family close to him.
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John Cena co-starred in his third film produced by WWE Studios, titled Legendary, which was played in selected theaters beginning on September 10,2010 for a limited time.
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That same year, John Cena starred in the children's film Fred: The Movie, a film based on Lucas Cruikshank's YouTube videos of the same name, where he plays Fred's imaginary father.
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In 2015, John Cena made appearances in the comedy films Trainwreck, Sisters and a cameo in Daddy's Home.
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In 2017, John Cena starred in the war drama The Wall and lent his voice for the animated films Surf's Up 2: WaveMania and Ferdinand.
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In 2018, John Cena starred in the comedy Blockers, and had a leading role in the Transformers spin-off prequel, Bumblebee.
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In 2019, John Cena was cast in Justin Lin's F9, playing the brother of Vin Diesel's character Dominic Toretto.
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In March 2009, John Cena made an appearance on Saturday Night Live during the show's cold opening sequence.
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In 2001, between his training in Ultimate Pro Wrestling and Ohio Valley Wrestling, John Cena was involved in the UPN produced reality show Manhunt, in which he portrayed Big Tim Kingman, leader of the group of bounty hunters who chased down the contestants who acted as fugitives.
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John Cena was featured on the ABC reality series Fast Cars and Superstars: The Gillette Young Guns Celebrity Race, which aired in June 2007, making it to the final round before being eliminated on June 24, placing third in the competition overall.
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In 2007, John Cena was interviewed for the CNN Special Investigations Unit documentary Death Grip: Inside Pro Wrestling, which focused on steroid and drug use in professional wrestling.
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John Cena hosted the Australian Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards with Natalie Bassingthwaighte on October 11,2008 in Melbourne.
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John Cena guest starred as Ewan O'Hara, brother of Juliet O'Hara, in an episode of the fourth season of the comedy drama Psych.
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John Cena hosted two seasons of American Grit on Fox, a reality television series with 10 episodes.
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John Cena hosted the ESPN ESPY Awards on July 13,2016, in Los Angeles.
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In October 2014, John Cena was featured on two songs with rapper Wiz Khalifa for his two singles "All Day" and "Breaks" for the soundtrack to the WWE 2K15 video game.
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In 2008, John Cena filmed a commercial as part of Gillette's "Young Guns" NASCAR campaign.
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In 2009, John Cena expanded his relationship with Gillette by introducing a new online campaign called "Be A Superstar" featuring himself alongside fellow WWE wrestlers Chris Jericho and Cody Rhodes.
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On October 13,2016, John Cena made his debut as the voice of Ernie the Elephant in a new commercial campaign launched by Wonderful Pistachios.
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John Cena has granted over 650 wishes for children with life-threatening illnesses through the Make-A-Wish Foundation—the most in Make-A-Wish history.
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The Guinness Book of World Records confirmed that not only had John Cena granted this many wishes by mid-2022, but the second place was less than 200.
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From late 2011 until WrestleMania XXVIII, John Cena wore a black "Rise Above Hate" T-shirt promoting WWE's "Be a Star" anti-bullying campaign.
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In September and October 2012, Cena wore pink and black with the phrase "Rise Above Cancer" in partnership with Susan G Komen for the Cure as part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
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In November 2016, John Cena appeared in a public service announcement, "We Are America", sponsored by the Ad Council as part of its "Love Has No Labels" campaign.
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John Cena accepted the dare, but waved his hand in front of his face instead to make it look more visible to his brother.
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John Cena is a fan of anime and has named Fist of the North Star as his favorite anime film.
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John Cena started learning Mandarin Chinese in 2016 to help the WWE expand its reach, and he spoke in Mandarin at a press conference in China.
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In December 2017, the Ford Motor Company filed a lawsuit against John Cena for selling his 2017 Ford GT, therefore violating his purchase agreement.
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In July 2018, John Cena briefly moved to China, where he settled in Yinchuan.
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