In 2007 or 2008, a friend agreed to give me a right home from a live WWE Monday Night Raw in Phoenix, as long as I was cool with hanging out and seeing if he could score some autographs outside the hotel for a little while after the show. See, some of my friends are autograph collectors. I have SOME signed things, but I’m not into it like they are. However, it’s fun to sometimes go with them, and meet people whose work I like and just say thanks. For me, the autograph or photo is more of an excuse to start a conversation than anything else. But, I figured, hey, even if we’re outside the hotel for an hour or whatever, that’s still probably going to get me home faster and more safely than riding the bus across the Phoenix metro area in the middle of the night, so, sure.
Anyways.
After we’d been out there for a little while, John Cena stepped out of his rental car. There was maybe 20 or 25 feet between the car and the door of the hotel, and as soon as he appeared, fans just SWARMED the area. But then something I didn’t expect happened; Cena stayed. He signed every single autograph and took every single photo that fans asked for him. He was obviously exhausted and beat up from wrestling a 20-minute match less than an hour before, but he stayed and took care of every single person.
Every.
Single.
Person.
He could have just barged right through and lied to say he had to get to a meeting or a date or something, and yeah some kids would be disappointed, but nobody would have blamed him. But he didn’t do that. John Cena decided to be a class act that night. And, honestly, I’m not sure this wasn’t a daily occurrence for him.
After an HOUR of watching this go down, I was like, you know what? I may never get this chance again. So I stepped up, asked if it was cool to get a photo, pulled out my flip phone (because it was 2007 or 08), and snapped the above picture. It’s terrible quality by 2020 standards, which is a good reminder of how far cell phone cameras have come in the last decade-plus.
And that’s how I got a photo with the champ.