WWE’s Samoa Joe Thinks John Cena’s New ‘Lightning Fist’ Is a Joke

John Cena recently unveiled his new finishing maneuver and dubbed it the “Lightning Fist.” While the new move has drawn mixed reviews, it’s clear Samoa Joe hates it.

In an interview with Hollywood Life, Joe was asked about Cena’s new addition and his response was hard to misinterpret.

“The sixth move of doom? Yeah. So John Cena went to China, took some lessons, an all of a sudden, now he’s got a bad palm strike,” said Joe.

To Joe, Cena’s new strike—which is basically a melodramatic jab—won’t be hard to prepare for and can be easily countered.

“Listen, I’ve been traveling the world for years and I’ve been beating up people with martial arts techniques from far superior styles and techniques. So, I ain’t worried about that. You can come throw that back just all you want, and when you catch a foot in your face, you tell me how effective it is,” he said.

Cena teased the Lightning Fist for weeks while in China filming a movie with Jackie Chan. The 16-time WWE Champion finally unveiled his new finisher during a WWE show in China, but the Lightning Fist had its biggest moment over the weekend when it was used to pin Elias at Super Show-Down.

But Cena isn’t ready to can his patented Attitude Adjustment, rather that trusty slam will now precede the Lightning Fist—or that’s at least how things appear at the moment.

Around this time last year, it appeared Joe and Cena were on a collision course, but an injury to the Samoan Submission Machine derailed their story. It’s possible Joe is planting seeds for a reboot, but he may have a wait a while until Cena is back in WWE.

After his victory as Super Show-Show Down, Cena addressed the 70,000 Australians and spoke on his ambiguous WWE future.

“WWE has always been my home and will always be my home,” Cena said. “I have no idea what the future holds so I’m focusing on the now, and right now I’m standing in front of 70,000 plus people saying ‘what!?’ 70,000 people making some noise.”

Cena has never been this absent from WWE programming but has remained steadfast in his intention to stay available for Vince McMahon. In a spring interview with ESPN, Cena discussed his status with the company.

“I’m far from done with the WWE. The WWE will always be my home, but in this current state of affairs right now with all this extra cool stuff that’s going on, it’s fun to try. It’s a great time to be able to take a chance and I’m so eternally grateful to the WWE and its audience for bringing me to this point. I realize I’d be nowhere without them and I never forget them. I promise as soon as I have any sort of downtime, like I had when I was at the Greatest Royal Rumble and the string of shows I did before WrestleMania, anytime free time I get will not be free, it will be spent at my home in the WWE,” he said.

Cena’s stepping back aligns perfectly with the rise of Roman Reigns and Ronda Rousey as they lok to take the throne he’s been keeping warm for 10 years.

“I don’t feel like they’re dependent on me in any way. I think the program is riveting as it stands and there are so many gifted young performers that deserve a chance and have earned a chance so there couldn’t be a better time for me to take a break,” he said.