John Cena passes Kobe Bryant as most-liked American athlete on Facebook

John Cena will fight nemesis Randy Orton in the Elimination Chamber later this month. (Charles Sykes/Getty Images)

John Cena's time is now. The 36-year-old WWE superstar surpassed the Lakers' Kobe Bryant as the most-liked active American athlete on Facebook, WWE public relations announced on its Twitter feed on Friday.

Cena, who won the 2013 Royal Rumble, has more than 18.6 million followers on his official Facebook fan page, while Bryant was just shy of 18 million as of Friday afternoon.

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The 14-time world champion Cena has 5.88 million Twitter followers, while Bryant, a five-time NBA champion who was voted into this year's All-Star game by the fans despite playing only six games, has 4.3 million.