Once during a show in Omaha, Bret "The Hitman" Hart was walking to the locker room when he found a Make-a-Wish family waiting outside in the hallway. The little boy had a bald head and looked like he just had a few days left. He wore an Ultimate Warrior t-shirt and had Ultimate Warrior face paint.
Hart said hello to the family -- all the wrestlers did -- except the Ultimate Warrior who was hiding inside the locker room. When a WWF (now WWE) PR guy came to ask the Warrior if he was going to see the little kid, the Warrior snapped "can't you see I'm fucking busy?" Keep in mind, the Warrior hated the other wrestlers and always demanded his own private dressing room.
After Hart's match, he was relieved to find the family was gone from the hallway. Hart figured that the Warrior had finally met with the family. Hart took a shower and rushed out of the building to beat the crowd, only to see that the family had been moved. Turns out the Warrior didn't want the family to be in the way when he made his entrance to ring. One of the child's last days on Earth, and the Warrior made them wait all night in a hallway and never even said hello to them.
I've heard a dozen stories about how the Ultimate Warrior was a complete asshole. Even the nicest guys in the business piss on his grave. Literally everyone hated him. And after that story, he's a bigger asshole than I could ever have imagined.
Hulk Hogan, who has his share of detractors, would have seen that kid. Hulk Hogan may have been a racist, a pathological liar, and a guy who pulled up the ladder behind him. But he also granted over 200 Wishes in his career.
Then you have John Cena. Cena holds the Guinness World Record with over 650 Wishes granted. He's said "If you ever need me for this ever, I don’t care what I’m doing, I will drop what I’m doing and be involved because I think that’s the coolest thing."
Because Hulk Hogan and John Cena understood what it means to be the World Champion of the WWE. Yes it's a made up title. Yes the matches are predetermined. But to the kids watching, these guys are super heroes. I know, because I used to be one! I remember watching Wrestlemania VI and crying my eyes out because my favorite, Hulk Hogan, lost the belt to my second favorite, the Ultimate Warrior.
Warrior became World Champion because the WWF wanted to diversify away from Hogan. But the Warrior was a shitty champion and his reign didn't last long. And now time has all but forgotten about him, except when people share stories about how shitty he was.
But people will remember Hulk Hogan and John Cena for generations.