John Cena Has Granted More Wishes Than Anyone in History

Forget the pop stars and the movie icons. When a sick child gets to make one wish, the name that comes up more than any other in Make-A-Wish Foundation history is a professional wrestler.

A Record That May Never Be Broken

On July 19, 2022, Guinness World Records officially certified John Cena as the holder of the record for most wishes granted through the Make-A-Wish Foundation, with 650 wishes fulfilled. The foundation has operated since 1980. In more than four decades, no other celebrity, athlete, or public figure has ever reached 400 wishes granted. Cena's total is more than three times higher than anyone else who has ever participated.

How It Started

Cena granted his first wish in 2002, early in his WWE career. He kept going. By 2012, he had reached 300 - a milestone no celebrity had hit before. He reached 400 in 2014, then his 500th wish in August 2015, spending time with Rocco, an 8-year-old from Queens, New York, who was battling leukemia. Cena met Rocco at a WWE Raw event at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The foundation called it the most wishes ever granted by a single person in its history.

What He Said About It

Cena has never treated the work as a publicity exercise. "There is no more humbling experience," he said, "than a child who could ask for anything in the world asking to meet me." He has also said he will continue as long as the foundation will have him, and that he drops everything when a request comes in.

Why It Matters

Make-A-Wish grants wishes to children aged 2 to 18 with critical illnesses. Each wish requires coordination, scheduling, and genuine time from the celebrity. Cena has done this more than 650 times across more than two decades, fitting it around a full-time wrestling career and a growing acting career in Hollywood. The gap between his record and the next highest total is not close - it is not even in the same league.