10 Wrestlers Who Hated Parodies Of Their Work
3. Steve Austin
Not strictly speaking a parody, John Cena's Springboard Stunner experiment nonetheless scanned as parody because it hardly registered as a wrestling move.
Cena's reinvention as "Big Match John" was a rewarding late-career development. He dropped the Hulk Hogan-adjacent histrionic selling act in order to work more selflessly in matches that strived for state-of-the-art, and while the execution was often wonky, the ambition was admirable. Cena often used every drop of his charisma to suck up to a crowd, just to turn a toxic reaction round. This was a far more effective and productive way of doing it; his United States Open Challenge in particular was an exceptional attempt to show fans that he still deserved the spot when so many hot, indie-honed talents were threatening it.
His Stunner was a step too far. It was a step on dog sh*t. He looked like a flying oaf lacking entirely in the athletic grace and precision required to pull off the move, and the poor sods asked to take it had to basically receive the move as a sacrifice, not a sell.
Steve Austin hated it, tweeting "Springboard Stunner = Zero Effect". He was right; in addition to executing it horrifically, it was an indie spot tribute too far because it was only ever an ineffective signature.