WWE News: John Cena To Host 2016 ESPY Awards This July

John Cena’s schedule just keeps getting busier and busier, despite the fact that he’s been unable to compete in the WWE for the last several months due to a shoulder injury. Cena will be returning to the ring on the Memorial Day episode of Monday Night RAW after defying the odds yet again. His rehab prognostication was nine months, and he’ll make it back in five. But it wasn’t as if Cena was only rehabbing and nothing else, even though no one would have blamed him based on his somewhat miraculous five-month recovery time.

John initially took a hiatus from WWE last fall to film his reality-competition series, American Grit, on FOX. Cena also made several guest-hosting appearances on the Today Show and Live! With Kelly & Michael, not to mention continuing to make his presence felt in his various charity endeavors and countless media appearances to promote it all. And now, we can add hosting the 2016 ESPY Awards to his laundry list of jobs, as reported by Wrestling Inc.

Never before has John Cena attended, let alone hosted, an awards show of any kind, but he wasn’t about to turn down this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity when presented with the gig last week. Cena was his usual humble self when describing the chance to ESPN.

“They asked, and of course I said yes. It goes without saying it’s a tremendous honor. The prestige of the show grows every year. It’s unbelievable. I obviously accepted, but it doesn’t go without its share of nerves. I just want to do the show justice. I’m going to do my due diligence and hopefully we can have a great show… I’m going in there as appreciative of the athletes as everyone watching the show. I’m sure you’ll see good times and humor done as good as it can be, but most of it will be bouncing off of me.”

John Cena has worked tremendously hard to earn these opportunities as they come. He’s always quick to point out that wrestling continues to be his first love and main focus, and he will continue performing in the squared circle as long as the WWE allows him to. The American Grit ratings have not been what FOX and Cena may have hoped for, but it was likely his exposure hosting a show on a major network, combined with his appearance at the Invictus Games earlier this month that gave ESPN the confidence to offer him this spot, generally reserved for mainstream athletes, movie stars, and comedians.

Cena will become the first sports entertainer to host the ESPY Awards, but it was The Rock that may have paved the way for these opportunities to present themselves. Dwayne Johnson has hosted several reality television series in his own right, as well as the 2009 Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards, but the pairing of John Cena and the ESPY Awards is in a different category altogether. It’s certainly a feather in the cap for Cena and more importantly, for WWE. The hope is that the mainstream attention from the award show will translate into more eyeballs on WWE. ESPN has already ventured into a weekly segment covering the product hosted by former WWE employee Jonathan Coachman. Cena was asked about the significance of this partnership.

“It’s greatly significant. I’ve worked my entire career to try to broaden the perception of the WWE. A lot of folks think because we’re so entertaining and oftentimes have such wild and well-defined characters that it’s all we are. It has kind of been my life’s work to tell the public that’s not true. To be able to host an event like the ESPYS and be able to do all the things I’ve been fortunate enough to do outside of the WWE, and all the while still return to the WWE, hopefully it’s a step in the right direction.”

It’s going to be a busy summer for John Cena. A Memorial Day return to Monday Night RAW, a rumored main-event match with Roman Reigns at SummerSlam and now, the chance to host the 2016 ESPY Awards on Wednesday, July 13. Cena certainly intends to make the most of his return to the public eye.

[Image via WWE]