Paul Heyman On Why He Thinks John Cena Is A Real-Life Superhero

Paul Heyman has not always made the best choices in his life, but the former ECW promoter has looked at his history with a modicum of self-awareness and has decided his future grandchildren should pick a different role model: John Cena.

"John Cena is a real-life hero. He's a superhero," Heyman said to "Tetragrammaton" host Rick Rubin. "When I become a grandparent one day, if I'm asked what my grandchildren should watch — or read comic books — or whatever. It will not be Superman or Batman or Spider-Man or The Incredible Hulk. You wanna see a superhero? Go see what John Cena does in his life outside of the ring. That man's a superhero. I don't have the words to convey the admiration I have for John Cena as a human being."

According to Heyman, Vince McMahon had to beg Cena to let him publicize the numerous Make-A-Wish visits that he was doing. McMahon told Cena that he was essentially hurting Make-A-Wish itself by robbing them of the opportunity to fundraise off of his hard work.

"Cena never wanted to exploit it," Heyman explained. "He never wanted publicity for it. He never wanted recognition for it. He wanted to just do it. That's a hero." Heyman pointed out that there are people that will do good deeds for the promise of an eternal reward, and believes those people are foolish.

"Your motivation isn't really pure, is it?" Heyman asked of such people. "Your motivation is, 'I want something back for this. I want my VIP pass to heaven. I want god to like me because of this.' That's not why John Cena did it. John Cena did it because it's the right thing to do."