John Cena wrestled in Madison Sq. Backyard this week for the ultimate time as his retirement tour nears its emotional climax, however whilst you received’t be capable to see Cena compete after Dec. 14, the WWE icon lately shared the origins of his widespread hand gesture and “You Can’t See Me” taunt on ESPN’s First Take. Simply by no means name it a catchphrase!
Whereas Cena, who’s the present Intercontinental Champion, has shared this legendary story earlier than, his rationalization on Nov. 17, 2025, the identical day as his final aggressive WWE Monday Night time Uncookedappeared all of the extra poignant as a result of the grappler-tuned-movie-star was about to battle for the final time in “The Backyard.”
John Cena Explains the Origins of ‘You Can’t See Me’
“The place did this come from?” requested ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky whereas replicating the well-known hand gesture that results in the favored verbiage. Apparently, the enduring sequence was extra by “joyful accident” than design defined the WWE nice.
When Cena was making his studio album “You Can’t See Me” again in 2005, he performed some inspirational cuts to his youthful brother, Sean, who responded to the beats by waving his hand throughout his face. “And I’m like, man you look silly,” joked the king of the jorts. In retaliation, Sean challenged his older sibling to do the identical transfer on tv. “And I used to be wrestling in matches that nobody cared about, I used to be on an obscure Saturday program referred to as ‘Velocity,’ nobody ever watched it, so I’m like oh superb, no one’s watching.” Cena then gave his ESPN hosts a rendition of the well-known hand gesture. “You guys can’t see me,” he stated. “It caught, and right here I’m, the invisible man, 23 years later.”
Within the WWE Celebrity’s personal e book, Hustle, Loyalty & Respect: The World of John Cenathe Peacemaker defined how he put his personal stamp on the sequence. “I simply needed to modify it somewhat bit,” wrote Cena. “As a substitute of shaking my head round my hand, I shook my hand round my head.”
As professional wrestling followers turned accustomed to the gesture and taunt, they started to mimic it proper again at him however by no means name it a catchphrase! “Let me state for the report that I hate the phrase ‘catchphrase,’” wrote Cena. “It’s like ‘suppose exterior the field’ or any of these different advertising and marketing phrases. It’s simply ugly. “Properly, it could have been a cheerful accident, “however that’s how the nice issues are born,” concluded ESPN’s Shea Cornette.
John Cena is ready to defend his WWE Intercontinental Championship towards Dominik Mysterio on Nov. 29 at Survivor Collection: Wargames airing on ESPN in the US and Netflix internationally. He’ll then formally retire on Dec. 14 with a remaining match on WWE Saturday Night time’s Primary Occasion to be simulcast on NBC and Peacock in the US and through YouTube internationally. So, if you wish to say a fond farewell to the John Cena’s in-ring profession, the time is now.
By way of WWE post-Cena, the professional wrestling juggernaut simply introduced that beginning Friday, Nov. 28 at 9 a.m. ET/6 a.m. PT, followers will be the primary in line to safe particular person occasion tickets to the 2026 WrestleMania solely at Ticketmaster.
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