John Cena Body Slams The Book World

You can’t see him in a WWE ring lately, but it appears you can catch John Cena on the New York Times best-sellers list for his recent children’s book, “Elbow Grease”.

According to the book’s publisher, Penguin Random House,  “Elbow Grease” is, “a new picture-book series all about perseverance and believing in yourself, featuring a little monster truck named Elbow Grease!”.

With that description and accolade in mind, I decided to take a look at a recently published YouTube video, which you can see above, of Cena reading his new book to see if it truly lived up to the hype.

Honestly, before I watched the video, I was fairly skeptical as to whether it could live up to expectations. Sure, Cena’s been known to spit a few good verses as “The Doctor of Thuganomics” in WWE, but that’s a far cry from trying his hand at being a Dr. Seuss.

Once I watched the video and actually heard the book read however, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised.

John Cena, the former WWE champion, reality TV star, and occasional rapper, actually wrote a great kids book.

Cena does an impressive job of working the mantras he’s lived by in the squared circle into the message in “Elbow Grease”. The story follows the title character through an attempt at defying expectations by driving in a major monster truck demolition derby.

Throughout the story, Elbow Grease is faced by his brothers, all of whom are also pretty hilariously voiced by Cena in the read-through I might add, who are skeptical that a truck as unassuming as Elbow Grease could make it through the race.

Nevertheless, Elbow Grease tries his hand, or wheel I suppose, at racing and discovers some classic Cena mottos to live by along the way. Inspirational quotes and lines, sort of like the ones Cena has become fond of sharing on Twitter lately, are peppered throughout the story, such as Cena’s classic rallying cry to “Never give up!”.

Overall, Cena actually does a great job of delivering those messages throughout the book, honestly making it entertaining for wrestling fans and readers of all ages. Personally,  I would be lying if I didn’t say I got a bit of a kick out of some of the comedic lines and voice work Cena does in the read-through.

Now, if only we could somehow get Cena to shout “Ow-y Kazow-y!” or “BOOM-SHOCK-A-LOCK-A” the next time he unleashes his new ‘Lightning Fist’ finisher on an unsuspecting opponent.