John Cena is widely recognized as a pro wrestling GOAT, celebrated both for his in-ring work as well as for how he represents the business to the rest of the world.
One aspect of Cena’s wrestling that’s always received criticism, though, is how he frequently called spots very loudly to his opponents. Now, none other than Cody Rhodes has publicly addressed this habit of Cena’s.
Whereas wrestlers typically try to speak quietly — often in coded language — to other competitors about what move is coming
next, The Cenation Leader became well-known for being overly vocal in these moments. In fact, social media is full of videos fans have made that compile some of Cena’s loudest moments of calling spots.
This common criticism of Cena was brought up in humorous fashion when the retired wrestling legend appeared on the most recent episode of the Good Hang with Amy Poehler podcast. Before the interview with Cena, Poehler spoke briefly with Cody at the top of the podcast.
Rhodes talked about how Cena’s been a mentor to him and touched on Cena’s much-debated heel turn during his retirement tour. Soon enough, he got to John’s less-than-subtle spot calling.
“John is pretty great at the magic, except for one area that is widely known to wrestling fans and wrestlers. John will not talk low, or in ‘carny,’ as we would say,” Rhodes said before briefly explaining “carny” — the fake language derived from carnival workers that’s used by wrestlers — to Poehler.
He continued: “John yells everything that is going to happen in the ring as loud as he can possibly yell it. He calls it for the first four rows, an interactive experience.”
The American Nightmare emphasized that Cena “screams” when he calls spots before he shared a funny story to drive the point home.
“The last match I had with him at SummerSlam, he’s about to slam me with his big finishing move, which is the Attitude Adjustment, from a table to another table. It’s highly dangerous. It’s going to hurt. We’re going to do it the safest way we can,” Cody said. “But you can hear him yelling at me while I’m on his shoulders that he can’t see because my arm is over his eyes. I never spoke back to John, I never wanted to speak back, he’s a mentor to me. But it was one of those moments where I thought, ‘Buddy, I’m the one doing it. I don’t give a s**t. Just throw me.’”
What do you think about Cody’s story? Is the frequent criticism about Cena’s spot calling valid? Let us know in the comments.
