John Cena first debuted his trademark finisher, the Attitude Adjustment (originally called The FU), back in early 2003 while feuding with Brock Lesnar. Cena would go on to make the move one of the most powerful in company history, but he wasn’t the man who invented it. Tommy Dreamer spent years using the move (albeit slightly altered) as the Spicolli/Dreamer Driver in both ECW and WWE and discussed on Busted Open Radio this week how Cena asked him to adopt the move.ย
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“I was blessed to work with John. It kind of was my deal when I worked with WWE. I worked with everyone when they first started on the road. John was always a professional,” Dreamer explained. “I’ll tell you what stood out because this business is all about respect. It really is. Early on when they (WWE) first wanted to push John, he came to me and said, ‘They suggested in the meeting to use your finish as my finish. I wanted to come to you. If you don’t want me to do it, I won’t do it.’ I was like, ‘I appreciate you so much for coming to me. I’m not winning with it and obviously they want you to do it, so run with it.’ Just to come to another person and say that, was super cool because he cared when he didn’t have to care.”
Cena returned to WWE programming on this week’s Monday Night Raw to celebrate 20 years since his WWE debut. He indicated that he’ll be back in action for multiple matches in the future, but couldn’t definitively say when.ย
“Returning to WWE, it’s a brand new world. A new cast of characters, new direction with the company, new platforms, new environment. There is a challenge there,” Cena said in an interview last year with Chris Hardwick about his future in WWE. “To challenge myself as a 44-year-old to go back, there is an Intrinsic challenge there, a set of circumstances. That’s a good challenge in many ways. My body could tell me after this extended stay, ‘dude, you’re done’ or it could tell me, ‘You’re so far from done it’s crazy.’ That’s another interesting conversation with myself. If physically, I’m slower, I’ve said openly to everyone that I will keep doing this until I feel I’m offending the customer. I will continually go out there and do what I can to contribute and add.
