John Cena: Why WWE legend will never turn heel after major award nomination

The respected award is given to athletes who embody the ideals of sportsmanship, leadership, as well as charity and whose career has impacted the world, just like Ali did.

Cena is set to be awarded after years of outstanding work in WWE as a wrestler and a philanthropist.

He has granted more wishes than any other celebrity with the Make-A-Wish Foundation and also advocates for breast cancer awareness.

The Champ is the face of Vince McMahon’s promotion and has been wrestling as a babyface (good guy) since 2005 despite many fans pleading with WWE to turn him heel (bad guy) throughout the years.

The Leader of the Cenation’s wrestling career seems to be coming to an end due to his advanced age of 41 and his busy Hollywood schedule, so it seems very unlikely that he will be adopting a meaner character any time soon.

The 16-time world champion’s latest honour seems to have quashed any of the fans’ last hopes of seeing the highly-demanded heel turn as the award only goes to athletes of excellent character.

Cena said he was very humbled to be joining such an exclusive list of sports personalities as he never dreamed such an accolade would ever be possible.

He tweeted: “To be considered part of Muhammad Ali’s legacy and be added to this incredible list of athletes is something I never dreamed could be possible. Thank you for this honor, I’ll do my best to live up to its reputation.”

Cena is also thrilled to be associated with legendary boxer Ali as he admired his dedication to the sport and the generosity he showed outside of the ring.

The ex-WWE Champion told Sports Illustrated: “I am truly thrilled to receive Sports Illustrated's Muhammad Ali Legacy Award.

"Ali's commitment to helping others, his dedication to the sport and his generous spirit are incomparable and he was a role model to us all.

“To be linked with him in any way is an honor that means so much to me."

Sports Illustrated Executive Editor Stephen Cannella said the professional wrestling hero was selected based on his commitment to charity.

Cannella even described the former World Heavyweight Champion as perhaps “the most charitable person in sports”, which greatly reflects on Ali’s work as a role model and civil rights activist.

He said: “From his unparalleled work with the Make-A-Wish Foundation to his support for a wide range of causes ranging from activism for military families to cancer research, John has made personal outreach and generosity of time and spirit his calling cards.

“He might just be the most charitable person in sports, and his dedication to philanthropy richly reflects the spirit of the Ali Legacy Award."

Previous winners of the prestigious award include the likes of Earvin "Magic" Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Colin Kaepernick

The presentation will take place at SI's Sportsperson of the Year event on December 11 at the Beverly Hills Hilton in Los Angeles.

Cena's last WWE appearance took place at WWE Super Show-Down in Australia where he teamed up with Bobby Lashley and defeated Kevin Owens as well as Elias in a Tag Team Match.

The ex-US Champion was scheduled to compete at the World Cup Tournament at WWE Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia but was removed from the event for unconfirmed reasons.

Reports, however, suggest that Cena and Daniel Bryan refused to be part of the show after the host nation sparked global outcry after the murder of prominent journalist and outspoken government critic Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.