John Cena was a top name in WWE for over a decade. He earned that spot with a lot of hard work. He also didn’t let anyone come close to copying his finisher.
Former WWE Superstar Tyler Reks stated on The Lewis Nicholls Show that “it’s pretty well-known” that he didn’t have a good relationship with John Cena. He stated that there were some “not so good moments” with the Bumblebee star.
“Where did our bad relationship come from? It started when I got drafted to RAW and it was all about me using a finisher that looked similar to his. The interesting part is when I was first being — when Tyler Reks was being introduced as a heel and I was coming off the Bragging Rights deal where I took Kaval’s (Lo Ki) spot he had done a match against Big Show. So he comes out gets cocky I’m like I want your spot and we have a match and I took his spot. Nobody had seen this character before.”
“Before all of this happened we were rehearsing in front of the agents before the show and Arn Anderson was my agent. He said ‘Reks what’s your finisher?’ I said I’m using the Burning Hammer. Basically it’s like an inverted [Attitude Adjustment], but I flip them over and sit down with a DDT. It’s nowhere near the same, personally I think it’s way cooler [laughs].”
“Goldust says ‘I’ll take [the Burning Hammer] for ya’ and we do it in front of everyone and Cena was right there and they go ‘Oh god! Are you okay Dust?’ He said ‘yeah it’s easy no problem.’ I don’t remember who had the earpiece on, but someone said, ‘Okay Vince likes it, use it!'”
There was no issue with Tyler Reks finisher. Arn Anderson was there along with Cena and about twenty other Superstars. Vince McMahon even approved it. He used the Burning Hammer finisher for about six months on SmackDown. Reks even did it during his Bragging Rights match where John Cena was on the other team.
When he got drafted to Raw, Reks had a match against Primo during a house show. He said there a bit of an issue with the finisher where Primo was turned wrong and it looked like John Cena’s finishing move. When Tyler Reks got backstage John Cena was waiting for him.
“Cena looks at me in front of all the boys and says, ‘you might have to find another finisher.’ I looked him dead in the eyes and said, ‘Sorry man I know it looked a little screwed up tonight it didn’t come off the way it should have. We’ll get it right tomorrow.'”
Tyler Reks and Primo did the same match on the next night. Primo even asked him if they should change the finish, but Reks just told him if they nail it then the Burning Hammer shouldn’t look like John Cena’s move.
There was no issue that Reks knew about. No agent told him to change his finisher either. Then he got another backstage reception from John Cena.
“We did it, I go backstage and [Cena] just starts yelling at me in front of all of the guys. Like he just ‘What did I F’n tell you last night?! Are you deaf?!’ I’m like ‘woah man, what’s wrong?’ He’s like ‘I told you to find another finisher!’ He’s just yelling at me and degrading me like I was a six-year-old kid.”
Tyler Reks said that he apologized for the miscommunication, but Cena kept going. Finally, he walked off while John Cena was still berating him about his finisher. Reks thought he was going to quit, but then he went back to talk to him.
Reks tried to talk with Cena again, but he was cursed out and asked if he was stupid. This is when Tyler Reks decided to switch up his finisher. He said that by the time they got to RAW everyone knew the story.
He said Michael Hayes asked him why he changed his finisher because John Cena told him to. It happened and there was nothing Reks could do to get the Burning Hammer back.
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