By James Caldwell, PWTorch columnist

John Cena [artist Grant Gould (c) PWTorch]

John Cena has only missed one of the "Tribute to the Troops" tours the last six years, and even when filming "The Marine" in Australia, he tried to get a military plane to take him to the Middle East in the middle of filming.

He says he used to be about having fun and jumping on military tanks to take photos, but now he understands the seriousness and significance of the tour to visit U.S. troops.

"Now my focus is where it needs to be, and that's meeting as many men and women as possible," Cena told Scott Fishman for the Miami Herald. "We want to relay the message that, not only WWE, but the United States of America is so very proud of what they do."

Art Myers, the head of military entertainment, complemented Cena on accepting his responsibility as a leader for WWE in visiting with the troops.

"No matter what a military personnel asks him to do, he is there and visits our military bases, if they're near where they're going to have an event," Myers said. "He is really a role model. WWE does have the biggest impact on the military, no matter where they go."

Cena also provided a sneak peek of Smackdown's Big Show actually body-surfing on the soldiers, who held up his massive frame. Whether it airs on the Tribute to the Troops show remains to be seen.

"I don't know if it's in the program or not. I hope it is," Cena said. "He decided to go crowd surfing. I told him it was a bad idea, but those soldiers held him up. I saw a 7-foot, 500 pound giant go crowd surfing."

VIDEO SELECTION below: An exclusive six-minute interview with Big Show that was conducted in Iraq. Thanks to dvidshub.net for providing the footage. You'll only find this video here on PWTorch.com.



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RELATED STORY at PWTorch.com: KELLER'S Take on Cena being the son Vince McMahon always wanted.

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