Why John Cena, the man himself, is awesome and I respect him, even if his in-ring character sucks...

I heard a story a while back that really proves what kind of man John Cena, really is.


A great man.


Yes, I hate his character. Always have, and as long as it remains the way it still is, always will.

But sometimes John Cena reminds me, just what kind of person he is, when I hear stories like this:

Supposedly a story about something Cena has done a while back, come out as common knowledge recently. During a taping of Raw one night, a while back, John Cena got an urgent text message.

One of the children that he has talked to or seen multiple times, at the Make-A-Wish foundation who is a huge fan of Cena had gotten sick, and gone through a serious relapse, and it didn't look good for him.

Cena quickly went backstage and let everyone know that he had to leave RIGHT NOW, even though he needed to be back for a match in the main event later that night, and that if there was any reason he wasn't back on time, to cover for him.

Cena quickly booked it over to the hospital to go give his fan a personal appearance, while Raw was still going on. John Cena stayed with the sickly boy, and made him feel better, before booking it back to Raw to finish the main event.

That.... is awesome and actually kind of brings a tear to my eye, just thinking about the level of commitment and heart that John Cena has. Also, John Cena never even particularly wanted this story to come out in the media.

Let it be known that no matter how hard I ever rag on John Cena, or even if I think that what he did with Brock at the night of Extreme Rules was perhaps unprofessional, that can't take away from stories like this that i've heard before this whole Extreme Rules ever came up, about what kind of a person John Cena is at heart, and why he deserves massive respect, even if I still boo him and remark about how tired I am of seeing him booked and shoved down people's throats, the way he is.

Perhaps things like this at least shed a little bit more light as to WHY Cena is shoved down everyone's throats. The wrestling fans may hate him. But he's still a role-model to his young fans, and he's serious about living up to that.

For as good natured and nice as a lot of other wrestlers might be at public signings, I can't recall ever hearing any of them ditching a live broadcast to visit a seriously ill child for a half hour and then driving all the way back.

Yup, whether or not you like the way his wrestling character is booked, you can't argue with the fact that the guy works his ass off away from the main shows to represent the company and try to give something back to the fans. He's WAY out in front of everyone else (in and out of the business) on make a wish appearances, and I've never heard a report of him turning down an autograph request or being impolite to a fan. He goes out of his way to do appearances and talk to kids, and you have to give him all the credit in the world for stuff like that, because it would be easy for him to have reached the point where its becoming tiresome now.

He's an extremely dedicated guy who cares about his fans, and all credit to him for it. Obviously I met him early in his WWE career, but he was really nice then, and you just got the impression he clearly loved what he was doing.

But on this subject, another guy who doesn't get enough credit for that sort of thing is Jeff Jarrett. He does an amazing amount away from the camera for children's charities.

I have an interesting idea, that i'm going to start here.


I want people to posit their top 5 or top 10 lists on some subjects, for fun (if you want.)

choose 5 or 10, depending on how much you want to go for..

But who are the top 5 or 10, NICEST and more professional out-of-character wrestlers that you know of their attitude.

And the top 5 or 10 worst, in this regard. Going by first-hand exerence or good rumor is ok. If you don't know, then make a list of what you image they are probably like.

Ooh, good one.

I'll exclude UK based wrestlers for now and concentrate on international ones. Not in particular order of niceness, but ten guys I know from personal experience are nice guys:

1) William Regal - wonderfully humble and grateful for recognition from fans, very self-depreciating and very polite. Absolute gentleman.

2) John Cena - very nice guy who seems to genuinely care about his fans.

3) Jeff Jarrett- has done an amazing amount to go out of his way to help ill kids who have contacted him. Paid for the funeral of a wrestling fan who sadly died, and is one of the nicest guys you could meet.

4) RICO - never once refused an autograph at Mania 20. Always played up to his character. Just a really nice guy.

5) Chris Hero - we had him here for a number of US shows and he was great. Always ready to chat, pose for photos, and joke. Remembered me from one tour to another and made a point of coming over to me to tell me about his match with Johnny Saint.

6) Kevin Steen- I picked hi up once when he got stranded at Kings Cross station. He was tired and jet-lagged but great to chat to, and made a point of thanking me again when I saw him two days later.

7) Stone Cold Steve Austin - Despite having a massive queue of people waiting to see him, he took time to pose for photos and tell me a story about Vader breaking a table at the Royal Albert Hall.

Jim Ross - amazingly polite old-school gentleman

9) Brock Lesnar - might come as a surprise, but on both occasions I have met Lesnar he's been a perfect gentleman and great to his fans. Laughed and joked about busting his head in the match with Angle, and cracked jokes about Torrie Wilson seeing him in the shower. He was a genuinely nice guy.

10) Rob Van Dam- had a great conversation with Rob about the WWE's first ECW PPV and about ECW in general. He was funny, open, and honest.

Honourable mentions to the Ultimate Warrior (who was great) and Hurricane Helms.

Will do the assholes later ;0)

Hero. *UK shows.

I'm not sure I've met enough of them to do one from personal experience but I fully support DS on Hero. He was at one of the shows I was and he just came across as a genuinely nice guy. Finley came across very well and really professional when he was there but Hero just seemed to have a warmness about him.

As for the other end of the spectrum I remember reading an article once that suggested Monty Sopp, Mr Gunn was not a pleasnt character. Rude, arrogant, the works.

Orton would also have to make a top five. The reports of him and the bag are just nasty.

Of course there's the old favourite about Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks over here. In the ring, hero and villian respectively. Outside completely vice versa.

Plus Bob Holly always struck me as poor human being after he beat up on that wannabe.

Not a person but another group that deserves credit is the WWE itself. They've done a lot to help their guys, past and present, and I sometimes don't think it's always thought off.

Billy Gunn just seemed really disinterested when I met him, and I've heard reports of him being an asshole at other signings. Massive ego.

Haystacks and Daddy is exactly right. Big Daddy HATED kids in real life and was a miserable bastard. By contrast, I met Haystacks when he was filming "Give My Regards to Broad Street" with Paul McCartney. He was very quiet, very polite, and very friendly with all the kids who wanted photos done.

I saw them live once, Haystacks and Daddy, and can't remember seeing much of Daddy. You'd have expected it, given he was the fan fave. But nowhere to be seen.

Right, the ones who aren't so nice:

1) Carlito - Rumour has it that his behaviour at personal appearances was one of the reason he got the boot from the WWE. He refused to look up or pose of photos, or shake hands, and was just rushing people through as quickly as possible.

2) Batista - Spent his time in New York at Mania 20 walking around in dark glasses and a baseball cap, refusing point blank to even so much as speak to any of the fans. Just blanking them totally.

3) Ric Flair - I've heard conflicting reports on Flair to be fair, with some people saying he's been really great with them. He was polite enough when I met him back during his first WWF run, but I've heard a lot of reports since that he can be a totally a$$clown with fans at times, depending on what mood he's in.

4) Mick Foley - This is coming from a lot of more recent appearances I've seen feedback from. He was OK when I met him at Mania, and at his book signing, but since then he's apparently become totally money orientated and all about pushing as many fans through as he can as quickly as he can. He won't sign autographs now unless its at an event where he's being paid for it.

5) The Dudley Boys - Not so much that they were really assholes, as I had a good chat with both og them. But its more that they were both very aggressive and cocky, and utterly full of themselves. They always seemed to want to get the better of any fan that spoke to them, which was a bit sad really.

6) Austin Aries - Again, a bit like the Dudleys. Came across as loving himself and being a real mark for himself, a bit too much.

Some other thoughts on some other guys

Dawn Marie - Probably should have put her in the top 10 nicest people - She was utterly lovely and very very sweet. She's got amazing eyes and a really sweet nature.

Eric Bischoff - Looked like he clearly couldn't have given a toss to be there or not and was doing the appearance because he had to.

Tazz - Great guy. Very open and very funny. Asked me to squat down when I took a photo with him because "I'm short, and you're making me look bad!"

Scotty Too Hotty - Another really nice guy who clearly didn't take any of it seriously and was just having a laugh with it all along with the fans.

Matt Hardy - Seemed like a nice guy at the time, but we know of course what an utter mark for himself the loser turned out to be.

Doug Basham - Really one of the nicest guys you could meet.

Paul Burchill - Played an utter thug during his FWA guys, but was actually one of the nicest guys around.

Nick "Eugene" Dinsmore - nice enough guy, but overplayed the gimmick with fans who didn't need him to.

Bryan Danielson/Daniel Bryan - Didn't say an amazing amount, but a nice guy and seemed quite thankful for the fan support.

Al Snow - Fantastic guy. Really down to earth and ready to pose or do whatever for fans just on an evening walk down Broadway.

Jonathan Coachman - See Al Snow

Tito Santana - Quite old school in his approach, but was nice enough to stop and sign an autograph for me while he was checking in at a hotel after a long flight, which I thought was good of him.

AJ Styles - Clearly a mark for himself, and it shows when you speak to him, but nice enough and willing to have a good conversation about his prospects of going to WWE

Frankie Kazarian - Much the same as what I said about AJ (as I chatted to them at the same time). Mark for himself, but was perfectly happy to chat about how his WWE run went badly.

I always got the impression that Snow was a good guy. He's one of those people who I always thought they should do more with. I certainly think him and Regal should be doing more as commentators.