John Cena's Two Guinness World Records Are Polar Opposites

When John Cena delivered a swift kick in the nuts to Cody Rhodes this past Saturday at Elimination Chamber, turning heel and siding with The Rock in the process, it was a moment that shook up the wrestling world as everyone knows it. Indeed, while heel and babyface turns happen multiple times a year, or in the case of Paul Wight, multiple times a month, a turn like Cena's arguably hasn't happened since July 1996, when Hulk Hogan dropped the leg on "Macho Man" Randy Savage, and betrayed WCW to form the New World Order with Kevin Nash and Scott Hall. 

For that alone, Cena's turn was noteworthy. But as it turns out, it was also record setting, a bit of irony given Cena's turn may have been motivated by his quest to break Ric Flair's record for the most World Title reigns in wrestling history. According to the Guinness World Records, Cena's heel turn this past Saturday represented the longest time between turns in WWE history. 

A quick look at Cena's history shows that likely checks out; the last time the WWE legend was a heel was all the way back in 2003, when he was still deep in his "Doctor of Thuganomics" phase and working his way up the card. He would officially turn face on the November 6, 2003 edition of "WWE SmackDown," which means his face run lasted a total of 7,786 days. This record not only shatters the WWE history books, but likely the overall wrestling history books as well, and completely eclipses the aforementioned Hogan's face run, which lasted over 5,420 days between July 1981 and July 6, 1996.

With this new record not likely to not be broken any time soon, Cena can also say he's entered into the Guinness World Records for the second time in his career. There's a bit of irony to the accomplishment, however — whereas this record came about because Cena finally embraced the hate and turned to the dark side, the other record relates to a lot of the good Cena did during his run as a babyface: the most wishes granted through the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Much like the length of time it took for Cena's heel turn, his record for the non-profit organization is equally as daunting. As of September 2022, Cena had granted 650 wishes; given that was nearly three years ago, it is likely Cena has only strengthened that record since that time. It was a milestone set in motion 20 years earlier, when Cena granted his first Make-A-Wish in 2002. It's also not the only time he's created history with Make-A-Wish either; the organization lists Cena as granting the 1,000th wish in 2012, and he is said to be the most requested celebrity by Make-A-Wish. Given Cena's track record with the organization, it's not hard to see why.

As such, Cena now finds himself in Guinness for two reasons that couldn't be more opposite if they were lamb and tuna fish; first, for being among the most generous celebrities one could find, and another for the longest amount of time it took between turning from hero to villain.