John Cena’s 10 Other Moves Of Doom
3. STF
Next up is Cena’s primary finishing submission move, the STF. Cena adopted the STF and made it an important part of his overall moveset early on in his career. The move was initially invented by Lou Thesz and popularized by Masahiro Chono. It’s a step-over toe-hold face-lock (or STF for short) performed by trapping your opponent's leg with your ankles and then locking your arms around your opponent's head, stretching back to apply pressure to their neck.
Some of Cena’s biggest matches have been won with the STF, most notably at WrestleMania 22 when the move was fairly fresh and he tapped out Triple H in the middle of the ring to a huge reaction.
When Cena feuded with Brock Lesnar the first time around back in 2003, he came up with the FU as a way to make fun at Lesnar's F5. When he added the STF submission to his arsenal - in a match against Chris Masters in 2005 - he slapped the U on the end of it so it went with the FU name/move and was generally accepted to stand for ‘Shut the f**k Up’. These dirty-worded finishing manoeuvres went well with his character at the time. And when WWE went PG, the FU became the Attitude Adjustment (AA) and the STFU reverted back to its normal name, the STF. In an interview Cena claimed that it was his decision to change the names of his two finishing manoeuvres:
"I realize that our audience has changed now and when I look out past the ring now I see so many children. I know that kids are watching my every move and there are a lot of parents know their kids look up to me and I know a lot of people watch our program with closed eyes and I kind of live by the motto - 'Hustle Loyalty Respect'. If someone is out of line, I think instead of giving them an FU, it's better to give them an Attitude Adjustment."
The STF submission is designed to target the neck. But a lot of fans take issue with Cena’s interpretation of it, claiming he applies no pressure to the neck at all. Fans wonder why Cena won’t just lock it in properly and clasp his hands. Some even wonder if John’s just trolling his online detractors by purposely putting zero pressure on the move. Though if you were a wrestler, would you really want Cena pulling back on your head and putting pressure on your neck? He could rip it off in one pull with his intensity/strength.
The best STF John ever executed was against Umaga at the 2007 Royal Rumble. A bloodied and bruised Cena wrapped the thick ring rope around Umaga’s thick neck and then reared back as hard as possible (for once). Umaga struggled before finally passing out as the crowd erupted as Cena was declared the Last Man Standing.