New England-Born A-Lister Hosting ‘Shark Week’ 2024

Shark Week 2024

Shark Week has been this crazy, almost hard-to-explain phenomena, according to People, for over 30 years.

During a time where you would think someone would want to hear about anything other than sharks, considering July is the dead middle of summer and beaches are frequented by locals and tourists alike, one of the most-watched events of the summer happens to be Discovery's Shark Week.

And while there have been many celebrity hosts for one of the most popular weeks of summer (last year was hosted by Jason Momoa), a homegrown A-list superstar has the honor this year.

John Cena Shark Week

From Sunday, July 7 through Saturday, July 13, West Newbury, Massachusetts, native John Cena takes the hosting reigns for the 2024 edition of Shark Week.

While you may think Shark Week and think essentially a week of nonstop programming similar to the movie JAWS, Shark Week is more about educating the public about sharks in general, including some interesting facts but presented in a comedic way.

Like this example of matching up John Cena's strength against that of a couple of sharks, including a Great White.

And as big of a deal as hosting Shark Week is, that's not even the biggest thing Cena has done all week.

John Cena Retirement

First bursting on the scene back in 2002 and gaining popularity over the years as a WWE superstar, viewers have watched John slowly transition from full-time in-ring performer to making Hollywood more of his prime focus, while still making the occasional WWE appearances.

In fact, he made one in Toronto, Canada, on Saturday, July 6 (the day before he started hosting Shark Week, ironically), during WWE's Money in the Bank Premium Live Event, to announce his WWE retirement.

Amazingly strategic move, when you think about it. News breaks of John's retirement on Saturday night, the Google searches begin, and suddenly a lot of people find out about/are reminded of John hosting Shark Week. More eyes on John, more eyes on WWE, more eyes on Discovery.

Genius move. Check out highlights of John hosting Shark Week so far on the Discovery YouTube page, and of course on both Discovery and streaming on MAX.