Issue 137 - August 2012 (2nd Edition) - Page 23

Wrestling Star John Cena is NOT Dead

Outline
Circulating social media message claims that World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) star John Cena has died of a head injury while practicing a wrestling stunt with a WWE co-star.

Brief Analysis
The claims in the message are untrue. John Cena is alive and well. The message is a variant of another hoax that claims that WWE star Undertaker has died of a neck injury. The messages are apparently designed to trick users into visiting a page that hosts a suspect Facebook application.

Detailed analysis and references below example.

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Last updated: August 6, 2012
First published: August 6, 2012
Article written by Brett M. Christensen
About Brett Christensen and Hoax-Slayer

Example

John Cena(John Felix Anthony Cena) of World Wrestling Entertainment died in a head injury while perfecting a wrestling stunt with WWE wrestler, Dwayne Johnson or also known as The Rock. Authorities are now investigating. Watch the original video clip from WWE and their effort to save JOHN CENA (for 18yrs & above) --> [Link Removed]

Detailed Analysis
According to this message, John Cena of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) fame has died of a head injury while perfecting a stunt with fellow WWE performer Dwayne Johnson. The message claims that authorities are investigating the accident. Viewers of the message are invited to click a link to watch a video of the accident and the efforts to save the star.

However, the claims in the message are untrue. John Cena is alive and well. There are no credible media or news reports that he has been killed or injured. Nor has WWE reported any such incident involving John Cena. In fact, the message is a reworking of another recent hoax that claimed that WWE star Undertaker had died of a neck injury. As revealed in the following example, the earlier version claimed that Undertaker had died while practicing with John Cena:

The Undertaker of World Wrestling Entertainment died in a neck injury while practicing a wrestling stunt with WWE co - star John Cena. Police are now investigating. Watch the practice video and their effort to save THE UNDERTAKER (for 18yrs & above) --> [link removed]

These wrestler death hoaxes are apparently an attempt to trick Facebook users into clicking a link in the messages. The pages that the links opened now display a "Not Found" error message which suggests that the app may have already been removed from Facebook. Given the fact that the messages use deliberate falsehoods to trick people into clicking the links it seems very likely that the app was suspect or rogue.

Various other false death rumours about both John Cena and Undertaker have also been circulating via Twitter and email over the last few days. But, fans should ignore the rumours. And, if you see such a message, do not follow any links that it may contain.

References
Wikipedia - John Cena
John Cena Not Dead – Fake Death Stories Anger Wrestling Fans
WWE - John Cena
Wrestling Star Undertaker is NOT Dead

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