Arn Anderson has explained why John Cena's submission move, the STF, is applied so loosely.
While Cena's Attitude Adjustment is very real, it's been noted that the STF (formerly STFU) doesn't look like he's actually applying much pressure as there's visible space between his hands and the opponent's neck.
Stone Cold is one of the voices from WWE to criticize the hold because of its clear lack of pressure but Anderson, speaking on a recent episode of his ARN podcast, explained why that is. A listener asked whether Arn or anyone else spoke to Cena about his application of the grapple hold and surprisingly revealed the WWE superstar had to scale back after he was asked to loosen it up because someone felt like they were being legitimately choked.
“I gotta feeling that, err, when he first put it on – and I gave him the move ’cause I saw it in Japan. It was [Masahiro] Chono’s finish move. […] I thought it was a tremendous finish," Arn said (H/T Sportskeeda). "Y’know you’ve trapped the guy’s leg, his knee is bent uncomfortably and then you reach up and you hook him around the jaw.
"Apparently, he did snug it up when he first started using it and some guys said, ‘Hey man, you’re choking me out! You need to loosen up’. Just from that moment forward John would have said, ‘Oh man, that’s not my intention’, and he would have loosened it up and it would have stayed loose. That’s the only thing I can figure. It never jumped off the page to me.”
We Aren't About To See The STF Anytime Soon
Cena did not drop the hold despite its detractors and went on to win multiple championships with WWE, executing the STF on many an occasion.
Fans would have hoped to see him back at WrestleMania 37 this year but that now appears unlikely as he's said he'll be too busy working on Suicide Squad spin-off Peacemaker.
"I’ll do whatever the event asks me to because it means that much to me, and WWE means that much to me, but I’m in Vancouver shooting Peacemaker for HBO Max," he said earlier this month.
Source: ARN (H/T Sportskeeda)