John Cena Receives the Muhammad Ali Legacy Award, WWE Return date

As announced in late November, John Cena received the Sports Illustrated Muhammad Ali Legacy Award of the year 2018. Cena received the honor at the SI Sportsperson of the Year event held on December 11, 2018 at the Beverly Hills Hilton in Los Angeles.

Following the receipt of the award, here is what Cena had to say to you:

“I’ve just been given the Muhammad Ali Legacy Award here at the Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year Awards,” Cena said. “It’s truly moving to see some of those moments back and get to re-live some of those moments. To be mentioned in the same sentence as Ali, let alone a respectable comparison, comparable legacy is simply incredible. I just wanted to say that I accepted this award tonight on behalf of all the WWE Superstars because I believe if put in my shoes, they would all make the exact same choice.

“Tonight is a wonderful night for WWE because here I am, a sports entertainer, being awarded a tremendous honor among athletes. It’s not something that probably would have happened a few years ago but it’s amazing to see a culture change, and people have open minds about what we do, and accept us for just being damn good at what we do. I’m actually sending this award to Connecticut so it’s going to be displayed in WWE headquarters because that’s where it belongs. It’s part of all of us, it’s for all of us. I’m headed onto Hong Kong to keep that legacy thing going. Like I said, I love what I do and I’m going to be doing what I love and tonight was a tremendous honor. So thank you, Sports Illustrated.”

John Cena was busy this week while touring for the Bumblebee movie in the United States and the United Kingdom. Now he is going back to China for the end of his movie ” Project X ” and as planned he will return to the WWE on December 26th.

Tonight was for “us.” The privilege we have to entertain fans young and old has opened to the possibilities of what can be accomplished in and out of the ring. Thank you @SINow for this amazing honor and @TheRealLailaAli @ikebarinholtz for presenting tonight. Now…back to work! https://t.co/JvCa5DMOOa

— John Cena (@JohnCena) December 12, 2018