Who Won John Cena’s Heart? All About Shay Shariatzadeh

28th January, 2024

John Cena is officially off the market! According to a marriage certificate obtained by PEOPLE, the actor and former pro wrestler tied the knot with Shay Shariatzadeh on Oct. 12, 2020, at a Tampa, Florida attorney’s office. The couple later celebrated with a second wedding bash in Vancouver, Canada, in July 2022.

Romantically linked since March 2019, Cena and Shariatzadeh’s love story began in Canada while the actor was filming Playing with Fire. Curious to know more about John Cena’s better half? Dive into the details of Shay Shariatzadeh and her relationship with the wrestling champion.

She was born in Iran

Photo: ERNESTO S. RUSCIO/GETTY

According to the couple’s marriage certificate, Shariatzadeh, born in Iran, currently resides in Vancouver.

She’s an engineer

Shay Shariatzadeh and John Cena. Photo: AXELLE/BAUER-GRIFFIN/FILMMAGIC

Having started her role in December 2019, Shariatzadeh worked as a product manager at Sonatype, an enterprise software company in Canada. Before this, her professional journey included employment at Motorola Solutions, where she researched thermal cameras and video intercom systems, as outlined in her LinkedIn profile.

Shariatzadeh pursued her education at the University of British Columbia from 2008 to 2013, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in electrical and electronics engineering. Her passion for the field ignited during her younger years, sparked by a project her brother brought home from engineering school.

“I have always enjoyed math and physics,” she told Motorola Solution’s subsidiary Avigilon in March 2019. “My brother studied engineering in school, and I remember one day he came home with a project, and it was an autonomous car — and that was it!”

In addition to her engineering background, Shariatzadeh has experience working as a sales associate at Guess and La Vie En Rose, as indicated on her LinkedIn profile.

She’s inspired by her mother

Shariatzadeh doesn’t just draw inspiration from her brother; her mother, a surgeon, has also been a significant positive influence in her life.\

“The strongest and most hard-working woman I know is my mother,” she said in Avigilon’s International Women’s Day feature. “The biggest lesson she taught me was to be independent and fight for the things I want in life.”

Shariatzadeh added, “While she was at the peak of her career, she gave it all up to move her family to Canada to give us a better future. She is the reason I fight to be the best version of myself, to be kind and to never give up.”

She’s not active on social media

Shariatzadeh keeps a relatively low profile and is not active on social media, which aligns with how private the couple is.

“He is a romantic,” a source speaking about Cena told PEOPLE shortly after the couple married, adding that the “…[private ceremony] wasn’t a surprise. He just wanted to do it out of the limelight.”

She met Cena at a restaurant

Photo:AXELLE/BAUER-GRIFFIN/FILMMAGIC

Cena first noticed Shariatzadeh when she was out for dinner with friends at a restaurant in Vancouver.

“There was one woman I was looking at, and I couldn’t take my eyes off her,” Keegan-Michael Key — who costarred in Playing with Fire — recalled Cena saying.

Cena first noticed Shariatzadeh when she was out for dinner with friends at a restaurant in Vancouver.

“There was one woman I was looking at, and I couldn’t take my eyes off her,” Keegan-Michael Key — who costarred in Playing with Fire — recalled Cena saying.

She and Cena made their red carpet-debut in 2019

Photo: ROY ROCHLIN/GETTY

The couple attended their first red carpet together in October 2019 for the premiere of Cena’s film Playing with Fire, which he was filming when he met Shariatzadeh.

The actor looked dapper in a navy blue suit with a white button-down and red tie, while Shariatzadeh dazzled in a silver and black sequined dress.

“It’s a wonderful day for a movie premiere, and I got a beautiful date,” Cena told Entertainment Tonight on the red carpet. “What’s truly special about this one is that, no matter what projects I’m involved in the future, this one will always have a special meaning because I got to film a special project and meet someone special.”

She’s the first woman Cena was linked to since Nikki Bella

Cena and ex-fiancée Nikki Bella called off their engagement in April 2018, just weeks before their destination wedding.