John Cena grants record 650 wishes with Make-A-Wish

From “scrawny” kid who was bullied to a tape-breaking 16-fourth dimension WWE Globe Champion to bonafide film star — it seems there’s nothing John Cena can’t and won’t practise.

At present, Cena can add prolific wish-granter to his flourishing listing of accomplishments. The wrestler turned player has helped make the dreams of more than 600 kids come true for Brand-A-Wish, a non-turn a profit arrangement that helps grant life-changing wishes for children fighting critical illnesses.

Though he discovered information technology past accident when he was still a rookie in the WWE in 2002.

“My first Make-A-Wish, I was kind of shuffled — it wasn’t for me, I think the person wanted to meet some other superstar,” Cena, 42, tells PEOPLE in this calendar week’s issue. “But the WWE does a great job of like, ‘Hey, there’s a Make-A-Wish child in this room. Can you lot come say hello?’ So, a bunch of people are shuttled in to say hello to a young fan of WWE.”

“And so, we’re shuttled in and said my hellos and took my pictures then left. And they’re like, ‘Cheers, Make-A-Wish thanks you.’ I was like, ‘What is Make-A-Wish?’” Cena continued.

Once the
Trainwreck
star was made aware of what the foundation stood for, he went out of his fashion to prioritize charity piece of work higher up all else in the hereafter.

“I said, ‘If you ever need me for this always, I don’t care what I’m doing, I will drop what I’g doing and be involved considering I retrieve that’due south the coolest affair,’” Cena explained. “We’ve all experienced that joy of giving a gift for the holidays where you just smash it — that’southward the same gift I go far giving back to people’southward lives, in being able to give them wonderful emotional moments.”

Concluding December, the wrestler and Hailee Steinfeld teamed up with Make-A-Wish to light up the Empire Land Edifice yellow in honor of their movie
Bumblebee,
as well as to commemorate his dedication to brightening children’s lives.

In his upcoming pic
Playing with Fire, Cena plays a smokejumper (specialized firefighter) named Jake Carson, who leads a small team of men in a fire depot based in Redding, California. Despite their everyday challenges at work, he and his colleagues are put to the ultimate examination when they presume responsibility of three orphaned siblings during a heavy tempest in the woods.

Amidst the tragic blazes that are causing millions of Californians to evacuate their homes, Cena pledged $500,000 to the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation and the California Burn Foundation, charities called by Paramount Pictures, the studio backside
Playing with Fire.

“It’s really special that we were able to take a movie and tie it into a charity,” the WWE champion said. “We’ve had numerous instances where we tin tie relevance and sensation around commencement responders to go maybe more than funding for their departments effectually a movie that’s a family comedy kind of loosely based on firefighters.”

Not only does the player hold the privilege of about wishes granted by a single individual, merely he likewise happens to be the most requested celebrity for the foundation, according to
Today. Not many others go far past 300 wishes.

“The fact that I essentially play dress upwardly for a living and can still be a force in providing promise and happiness for children and families? That’s actress, extra special,” Cena tells PEOPLE. “You can learn from whatever and every situation. I learned from every single kid I come across and their families as well. It’s incredibly rewarding.”

And with every wish, the
Blockers
star commits to it.

“If you were given one wish, what would y'all exercise with it? I don’t know if ‘Hang out with John Cena’ would be at the meridian of my listing,” Cena says. “But the fact that that is on someone’southward listing is the coolest thing. So, I approach it with that attitude — like this is fantastic, let’s make this wonderful.”

Playing with Fire
opens in theaters November 8.