Bryan Bedder/Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) — The host is here! WWE superstar John Cena will host the 2016 ESPYS, ESPN’s annual award show, tonight from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.
Cena is taking the role very seriously. He tells ABC News, “I’m being put on a great platform with the ESPYs. I’m being put around some unbelievably creative people. The show has always done so well, like this one is mine to eff up.
“A steady show would be great,” he continues. “But I want people to have a great time.”
As one of the most popular wrestlers around, Cena — who will also co-host Teen Choice 2016 on Fox later this month — wants to represent his peers as best he can when he’s on a stage as big as the ESPYs.
“An opportunity like this from ESPN to kind of captain the ship on the biggest night of sports and entertainment…it’s vehicles like that that can help change perception, and I don’t look at it like a career goal, I look at it as appreciation for not just myself, for everybody,” he says.
During the ESPYs broadcast, which begins at 8 p.m. ET on ABC, Justin Timberlake will honor retired athletes Kobe Bryant, Peyton Manning and Abby Wambach with the Icon Award, and Vice President Joe Biden will present the Jimmy V Award to Turner Sports reporter Craig Sager, who is being recognized for his courageous battle with leukemia.
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