John Cena Dead? 2012 Death Hoax Has Wrestler Falling Off Cliff In New Zealand

“John Cena dead” in 2012 is the latest death hoax to hit Twitter in a week of copious celebrity death hoaxes, though it seems Cena is unusually prone to victimization in the fake-dead stakes.

Celebrity death hoaxes like the one that reports John Cena is dead are becoming increasingly common, and sites like Twitter where jumpy fans can hit “retweet” before checking the veracity of a tale make a spurious tale like that of Cena’s death grow legs faster and more prolifically than similar hoaxes have in the past.

It seems the same site that was responsible for the fake-deaths of Morgan Freeman and Jerry Springer earlier this week are spreading the news that John Cena is dead (which is entirely untrue), and at this point, they’ve just begun recycling the same older death hoax stories they’ve used in the past to draw attention, traffic or just rubes to their site.

The “cliff in New Zealand” tale is one debunked by the website Snopes as a common web untruth, but the tale stuck today with the false report John Cena was dead. Today’s date was plugged into the start of the “news story,” and it begins:

“Actor John Cena died while filming a movie in New Zealand early this morning -September 9, 2012 … Preliminary reports from New Zealand Police officials indicate that the actor fell more than 60 feet to his death on the Kauri Cliffs while on-set. Specific details are not yet available.”

John Cena’s 2012 death hoax is yet another reminder — if a celebrity’s death is not confirmed by major news outlets, chances are someone is pulling your leg.

John Cena Dead ???? WTH !?

— KeepThaatAssJUMP!N(@ItsCookie_BXTCH) September 8, 2012