John Cena Had Legitimate Heat For Choking Out Superstars With The STF

The Stepover Toehold Facelock, better known as the ‘STF” was the signature submission move of John Cena for the majority of his career, with which he won many major matches.

While speaking on the latest episode of Ask Arn Anything, WWE Hall Of Famer Arn Anderson revealed he was the one who gave John Cena the move. After seeing Masahiro Chono perform the move in Japan, Anderson thought it would be a good fit for Cena’s moveset.

“I got a feeling that when he first put it on, and I gave him the move because I saw it in Japan. It was Chono’s finishing move, right?”

However, it seems John Cena got legitimate heat backstage for having a grip that was far too tight when applying the submission hold. In fact, Cena legitimately choked out Superstars with the STF at one time.

“Well, yeah, I thought it was a tremendous finish. You trap the guy’s leg. His knee is bent uncomfortably, and then you reach up, hook him up 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’, and just from that moment forward, John would have said, ‘Oh, that’s not my intention.’ He would have loosened it up and stayed loose. That’s the only thing I can figure out. It never jumped off the page for me.”

John Cena is currently busy with his hectic schedule in Hollywood and had recently made it clear he won’t be appearing at WrestleMania 37.