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WWE wrestler Rey Mysterio grants his 100th wish at Make-A-Wish in Phoenix

Rey Mysterio is seen on the right shaking Max La Caria's hand.  La Caria is facing Mysterio, away from the camera.
Kirsten Dorman/KJZZ
WWE superstar Rey Mysterio (right) visited the Make-A-Wish America headquarters in Phoenix to personally grant his 100th wish by surprising lifelong fan Max La Caria (left).

Earlier this week, WWE superstar Rey Mysterio visited the Make-A-Wish America headquarters in Phoenix to personally grant his 100th wish by surprising lifelong fan Max La Caria.

Now in his 20s, La Caria met John Cena as a Wish Kid in 2008 and was his special guest at WrestleMania XXIV.

“I just really appreciate what they go through in and out of the ring,” said La Caria. “It’s just inspiring, I guess. But yeah, I just love it.”

Mysterio was a big part of hosting him and 49 other Wish Kids that made the trip to Orlando that year, and meeting La Caria again was the 100th wish he’s personally granted since the start of his WWE career.

Max La Caria is seen in the center of a group posing for a photo in front of a celebratory themed Make-A-Wish backdrop; La Caria's brother stands to his right, Rey Mysterio and his mother on his left.
Kirsten Dorman/KJZZ
Ahead of a match in Desert Diamond Arena, when he visited the Phoenix headquarters to surprise lifelong fan, Max La Caria (center), on Nov. 25, 2024.

Make-A-Wish America CEO Leslie Motter said the decades-old partnership with the WWE has been one of their most longstanding, but granting that many wishes is no small effort.

“I was with Rey earlier this year in Philadelphia,” said Motter, “and the care that he put into calling out each of the kids' names as they came out and had a superstar experience, and to see the joy on their faces was really, really something that none of us that were there will forget quickly.”

An extreme closeup of a photo book laid out on a table top, with a mock-up WWE wrestling belt seen in the background, shows a 9-year-old Max La Caria meeting Rey Mysterio for the first time.
Kirsten Dorman/KJZZ
Max La Caria met Rey Mysterio for the first time when he was 9 years old. Mysterio personally granted his hundredth with by surprising La Caria at Make-A-Wish's Phoenix headquarters on Nov. 25, 2024.
Several items are visible laid out on a table, but the most visible and centered item seen here is a notebook open to a page that reads: TO MAX, "BIG EVIL" followed by a signature from WWE superstar, The Undertaker, dated 2006.
Kirsten Dorman/KJZZ
A signature from WWE superstar The Undertaker, dated 2006, belonging to lifelong fan Max La Caria on display at Make-A-Wish America's Phoenix headquarters.

Mysterio immediately began granting wishes in 2003 and has never turned one down.

“When you connect in such a way like this where you literally put a smile on kids’ faces, and families' — it just, in a sense it kind of brings you in together, tighter,” said Mysterio. “So we were just going over, reminiscing on events we had done in the past,” he added, referring to his conversation with La Caria.

He said that as long as he’s able to, he’ll continue to show up for more Wish Kids: “As long as I’m breathing.”

A closeup of several items on a table, including 'Make-A-Wish' buttons preserved in a binder and primarily, a mock WWE champion belt.
Kirsten Dorman/KJZZ
Ahead of a match in Desert Diamond Arena, WWE superstar Rey Mysterio visited the Phoenix Make-A-Wish headquarters to surprise lifelong fan, Max La Caria.

Kirsten Dorman is a field correspondent at KJZZ. Born and raised in New Jersey, Dorman fell in love with audio storytelling as a freshman at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in 2019.
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