Leeds man who has broken Guinness World Records dressed as John Cena eyes up Great North Run and awards
An inspiring Leeds man who has broken world records and caught the attention and hearts of many for his charitable work is set for a bumper second half of 2025.
Matthew Akpan, 36, from Cross Gates, has broken four Guinness World Records for running full and half marathons dressed as iconic WWE wrestler John Cena.
Matthew has raised thousands of pounds for various charities and has used his platform to speak openly about his experience of living with Asperger’s syndrome.
He is now being recognised for his work, having been nominated for the Yorkshire choice awards, which is held next Friday (June 6), and the Rob Burrow Outstanding Courage Award 2025.
He said: “I met Lindsay Burrow and told her how much Rob inspires me.”
Matthew is also hopeful that he will be featured when the nominations are released for the Pride In Diversity awards at the first direct arena on July 3, saying that he’s particularly hoping to receive an award from the Lord Mayor Councillor Abigail Marshall Katung.
He said: “She has already passed on her congratulations for the work I’ve done but what’s quite important is that she’s got Nigerian links and my dad came over from Nigeria in the 1980s.
“He passed away from kidney failure in 2021 and I don’t think he would believe it if he knew how far I’d come now.”
It was Matthew’s shared love of wrestling with his dad that inspired him to take on marathon runs while dressed as John Cena, and there may be another full-circle moment in the pipeline for him when the WWE comes to Leeds on August 27.
Matthew said: “I wanted to do something to honour my dad and people knew how much he meant to me.
“It was The Rock that got me into wrestling but when I was wanting to honour my dad I thought I would dress up as Cena because of his charitable nature.
“I thought I would do one race but because of the attention it got it has just spiralled from there.”
He said that although John Cena is not scheduled to appear in Leeds, he has made enquiries to the WWE in the hope that he will make the trip to West Yorkshire to meet with Matthew.
Cena is already well aware of Matthew’s charity work, having shared his story on social media and praised him for his “substance and message”.
The whirlwind six months doesn’t stop there though, as Matthew hopes to break his own Guinness World Record when he runs the Great North Run and he is also set to run the Jane Tomlinson Leeds 10km for the 13th time in June, a run that he says “means so much to me”.
During his runs Matthew has raised money for the MND Association and Victim Support, the latter of which was in memory of his father.
Finally, he will be part of a panel at Leeds Playhouse of inspiring people “who have overcome barriers” as part of the Leeds International Festival of Ideas in October and is also currently working as an extra on various feature film projects.