John Cena Asked Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, AJ Styles, And CM Punk To Teach Him New Moves After ‘You Can’t Wrestle’ Chants

For years, John Cena was criticized for using the same five moves in his matches. Chants of “you can’t wrestle” became the norm for the multi-time WWE Champion.

Cena would eventually expand his moveset, hitting springboard stunners, code reds, and more.

Speaking to Tom Rinaldi for WWE, Cena explained his mindset in wanting to improve.

“The ‘You can’t wrestle’ chants because I would do the same five moves every time and win all the time. What I heard from the audience is, ‘I’m seeing other performers do these fantastic things and at the end of the night, I see you do five moves and win.’ In the through line of the story, I’m setting up a dynasty and if it ain’t your guy, dynasties are tough. I’ve learned that. That was the biggest criticism from the audience of, ‘this guy gets his ass kicked, he never stops, he gets thrashed out there and somehow manages to find another way.’ ‘Yeah, but I see this performer and this performer and their moves are better, and they look better.’

“In hearing that, I just began to do more stuff. It looked janky and unorthodox, but I listened, and I went back to wrestling school halfway through my career. Went to new performers, ‘What do you think I’ll be good at? Can you teach me some stuff?’ There were performers like Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, AJ Styles, CM Punk. ‘Teach me stuff. What can I do better? How can I make you look great and what can you teach me?’ That’s from the audience chanting at the top of their lungs, ‘You can’t wrestle.’ Our audience will continue to lean in until they get you. They didn’t get me. I didn’t come back and be like, ‘What do they know? I can wrestle.’ No, I’ll try to be better and not make it a hard reset. I’ll try to be better and be my authentic self. I was able to do that with the United States Open Challenge.”

Cena’s US Title Open Challenge ran from 2015 to 2016.

Elsewhere during the interview, Cena revealed he signed a five-year ambassador deal with WWE. Fans can learn more here.

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