John Cena has a legacy in the WWE that is insurmountable. Despite only making sporadic appearances in the company for the past few years, mainly due to his Hollywood career, The Cenation Leader remains a star attraction due to his promo skills and unique in-ring arsenal. One of the main reasons behind Cena’s massive popularity has been his unique skillset which was marked by Attitude Adjustment (AA).
However, fans may think that the 16-time world champion has used the AA forever, but that is actually not the case. His first finishing move, where he also lifted opponents on his shoulders to toss them, was called the FU.
He first used the move, which in general wrestling terminology is called the Death Valley Driver, in 2003 during an episode of SmackDown. The then-heel was known as the Doctor of Thuganomics and used it on Rikishi to defeat him in a bout.
The move later got transitioned to the AA as WWE looked to move away from edgier content and progressed towards the now PG era. Cena then turned babyface following his heel phase and was made the face of the company, appealing to children. It was only reasonable that in such a scenario, the move be renamed to something more befitting of a babyface whose catchphrase was “Never Give Up.”
What is John Cena’s “Sixth Move of Doom?”
Ahead of a WWE live event in Shanghai, China, in 2018, John Cena told the WWE Universe that he would be introducing a Sixth Move of Doom. It was previously noted that the infamous sequence of a shoulder tackle, hip toss, spin-out powerbomb, the five-knuckle shuffle, and the AA came to be known as the five moves of doom.
.@JohnCena unveils #TheDoomiest move of his arsenal … the LIGHTNING FIST! #WWEShanghai #WWE pic.twitter.com/n1M5HIFiv7
— WWE (@WWE) September 1, 2018
However, the sixth move of doom was something Cena termed as “extremely powerful,” something he has acquired from the Chinese culture (via WrestlingInc.).
“Not only is this a new maneuver that has a true foundation in Chinese culture which I am very proud of because I’d love to pay respect to my experience here,” Cena said. “But [the new move] is extremely powerful so I’m excited to debut something that I’ve learned here so maybe I can take a piece of my Chinese experience back to the ring.”
Fans at the time took John Cena’s comments with a pinch of salt and even made fun of the move. The Sixth Move of Doom was obviously not one to be brought out during critical matches but only served as a gimmick for Cena to strengthen his ties with the Chinese.
Many fans took it as a joke and noted that the 16-time world champion was obviously trolling. Some fans even joked that Cena had been training with anime characters such as Dragonball Z’s Piccolo. The move was hardly seen on television and seems to have disappeared from his arsenal.
Why did John Cena settle on AA as his finishing move?
The AA was brought in by Cena to make it big as a babyface. In 2008 WWE moved to a TV-PG rating which prompted the company to curb its edgy content. At the time, Cena was done with his Doctor of Thuganomics gimmick, and it only made sense that he changed up his arsenal.
The company was looking to make John Cena a babyface at the time and was reluctant to push a move that could be deemed non-PG. Since then, Cena’s FU has been Attitude Adjustment, with the former name coming back only once during an impromptu appearance at WrestleMania 35 as the Doctor of Thuganomics to confront Elias. It remains to be seen whether the infamous name will be used again in WWE.