WWE champion John Cena to host Nickelodeon awards

By TV Guide editor Helen Ganska

October 12, 2008 03:39pm

TALENTED World Wrestling Entertainment champion John Cena is part of the SmackDown roster and tomorrow the co-host of the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards.

As well as his massive muscles, he is a hip-hop artist, movie star and will co-host the awards with rock star Natalie Bassingthwaite.

He will also be part of the WWE live series on FOXTEL's Main Event on November 24 and December 25 where he headlines the matches.

He is unsure if he is prepared for the reaction of the children at the awards evening tomorrow.

"I don't know if anyone can ever be ready for the show, but it will be great," he says.
"The children at the sports events are always so crazy so it will be very interesting to see what this crowd is like.
"I am also ready to get slimed - that is what the kids awards is all about."

Cena was a huge fan of WWE as a child and didn't pursue a career in wrestling until he graduated from college with a degree in Exercise Physiology.

"I was 23 years-old and found an avenue to become a professional wrestler," he says.

"If I had known about it sooner then I would have gone down that avenue earlier.

"I then enrolled in a wrestling school and was instantly hooked.

"It is certainly a profession that is attractive to young people, the basis of WWE is heroes and villains.

"As a young boy or girl is always good to root for the good guy and boo the baddie - you can't help but not.

"As a kid I wanted to either be a rock star or a professional wrestler."

The training that Cena does is very different to wrestling.

"It took me three or four years to get to the WWE and every day I am constantly learning and trying to perfect my craft," says Cena.

"To learn the fundamentals will take one to two years."

Cena closed the chapter on his body-building days once he started wrestling with WWE.

He played American football for eight years and when that athletic avenue closed, body building held him over until he decided what to do.

"I chose body building as I love being in the gym," he says.

"It also gave me a purpose behind my training and when wrestling came along I didn't need any more purpose.

"I was able to be part of something I have always wanted to do and remain an athlete."

When Cena hops into the ring he wrestles under his own name.

"I have been blessed to have fans all over the world know who I am," he says.

"I not only love what I do, I am genuine; there is no character or persona - just me."

His hero when he was growing up was Hulk Hogan and today he idolises many veterans of his profession for different reasons.

"I also came up with an ideology and came up with the blue-collared Chain Gang Soldier," says Cena.

"It is everybody coming together behind one cause and I used to wear a steel chain around my neck.

"If you were a John Cena fan you didn't have to idolise any one person, but be a member of the Chain Gang.

"I have since changed the name of the organisation to the C Nation - it is kinda like being a pro-active part of what I do.

"The fans make decisions for me and tell me what matches to go in and I try hard to get back to them all."

To find out more about Cena and C Nation, check out www.wwe.com

NICKELODEON KIDS CHOICE AWARDS, SAT, 3.30PM, NICKELODEON

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