WWE: John Cena Reveals Inspiration For New Offensive Move

John Cena continues to be one of the most popular athletes in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) but after spending well over a decade of performing in the squared circle almost every night, he has now taken a step back. The 41-year-old is a part-time superstar for the moment making appearances at select live and pay-per-view events.

The 16-time WWE champion was the face of the promotion for a number of years and continues to be one of the most recognizable faces in pro-wrestling. But his focus has now shifted toward other forms of entertainment, more so, Hollywood.

Similar to Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, Cena has looked to make himself a career in the film business and has been pretty successful after landing prominent roles in comedy and action films. He has starred in films like Bumblebee – a Transformers franchise spinoff – and comedy movie Daddy’s Home 2 and Blockers, while also lending his voice in animated blockbuster Ferdinand.

Cena has not been seen in WWE since January when he last appeared in a number of live events. He debuted a new move when he returned for his latest stint and has now revealed that it was inspired by his stint in China at the Jackie Chan stunt training center.

“I spent six months in China and I was training with the Jackie Chan stunt team in the Jackie Chan stunt team training center and learning all of this amazing stuff that I really would only practice for a brief time in a picture I just wrapped with Jackie Chan,” Cena told Uproxx.

WWE is the most popular pro-wrestling promotion in the world and the superstars are recognized world over. But Cena revealed that it was not the case in China as they do not have one superstar from their homeland to connect to the sports entertainment industry.

“The country just doesn’t understand what we do because they have no one essentially to connect to,” he added. “It’s not culturally important because they don’t have a hero. Pretty much every other place in the world we tour, we perform and they have their favorites and they have the people they love to hate, but China’s been a bit of disconnect for us.”

And as an ode to the people of China, the former WWE champion, introduced a new move to his “offensive moveset” which originally known as the “Shǎndiàn quántóu,” has been christened the “Lightning Fist” by the American.

“So I wanted to use some of the things that I learned in training with the stunt team and incorporate in my offensive moveset to pay respect and homage to my wonderful time in China,” Cena explained.

“So the guys taught me a little bit of bajiquan and it’s a very fast, very defensive kung fu mechanism, which is meant for close quarter stuff. And I just kind of modified it a little bit and came up with the Lightning Fist. Shǎndiàn quántóu is a really cool name in Mandarin and I’m surprised I call it Lightning Fist because I always call it shǎndiàn quántóu.”