10 Reasons John Cena Is This Generation's Mitsuharu Misawa
7. Misawa Was Kicking Out At 2 Long Before Cena
There are certain patterns and common traits that can be found in all of Miawa's best matches: he demonstrates incredibly versatility, he strikes extremely hard, he takes an unbelievable amount of punishment…and he keeps kicking out at 2.
In what has become something of a running joke among members of the WWE Universe, John Cena has gained a reputation for always kicking at 2 during a match, even if his opponent executes a finisher or an otherwise devastating maneuver.
Case in point: recently, Seth Rollins delivered a Frog Splash onto Cena, who not only kicked out at 2, but no-sold the move entirely, powered through it, and hoisted Rollins onto his shoulders afterwards.
However, this philosophy isn’t exclusive to John Cena. Misawa was doing this before Cena even began training to become a wrestler. Misawa would take an unbelievable amount of punishment during a match, including several signature and finishing moves and other ‘head drop’ moves. Despite all this damage, he’d still keep getting up, and the audience loved him for it.
You can see why Cena’s booked this way: while some might dismiss his ‘superman’ presentation as a cheesy concept for children, it’s actually a WWE version of Misawa’s fighting spirit. No matter how much damage he took, he kept getting up, making his matches so much more dramatic and exciting.