WWE star John Cena's 'You Can't See Me' Meme Explained

The Leader of the Cenation is popular for many reasons

The tagline “You can’t see me” spawned a humorous John Cena meme that mocked the WWE star-turned-actor’s invisibility. Cena’s provocative taunt to his opponents belongs in the great pantheon of wrestling catchphrases that have long been a part of every fighter’s arsenal.

Along with The Undertaker’s scary “Rest in Peace” and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s slightly weird “If you smell what The Rock is cooking,” Cena’s is one of the most quotable. Cena’s taunt, which suggests that his wrestling maneuvers are too quick for his opponents to anticipate, has a lovely and amusing history.

Cena competed for WWE for several years before moving to Hollywood. Cena spent most of his tenure as a face (a good man in wrestling language), although he began as a heel (a villain) who frequently taunted his opponents.

Even after going well, Cena continued to taunt his opponents, particularly with the phrase “You can’t see me”. However, the John Cena invisible meme has spread far beyond the ring, and its most amusing applications have little to do with WWE today.

Where did John Cena’s “You can’t see me” meme come from?

According to WWE, Cena was playing around with his younger brother Sean, testing out hip-hop rhythms for his then-upcoming rap album (named You Can’t See Me), when the younger Cena sibling began dancing about and waving his hand in front of his face.

Sean challenged his brother to perform this during a wrestling match, and John agreed before introducing the catchphrase. As a result, one of wrestling’s most recognizable motions emerged. Cena would wave his hand in front of his face, signifying that his opponent could not see him since he was superior to them.

He had no idea that his remark would be immortalized in a John Cena invisible meme, which spawned hundreds of Twitter visual jokes using him.

It’s safe to say that the meme has spread well beyond the ring, and many of those who like it have little to no interest in WWE other than John Cena’s playful jabs at his opponents.

Although Cena intended the term to signify that his wrestling skill could not be equaled, the meme-making community interprets “You Can’t See Me” fairly literally, with memes implying that he believes he is invisible or perhaps is.

What is the John Cena ‘You Can’t See Me’ meme really?

The usual format for the John Cena meme includes an image of the man and text implying that Cena is not present. Even John Cena is in on the joke, but there are other variants.

When Apple introduced the iPhone X with its new Face ID feature in 2017, Cena rushed to Twitter to express his doubts about whether the facial recognition system would work for him.

Another example is this viral video tweet from Deadspin, in which Fox Sports reporter Jamie Little appears completely unaware of John Cena’s attendance at a NASCAR race.

In which John Cena's presence is completely ignored: pic.twitter.com/HsjsqaRZRN

— Deadspin (@Deadspin) February 21, 2016

This progressed to broader gags, such as individuals adding Cena’s name to movie cast lists and then criticizing those who claim they didn’t see him in the film.

His film career has helped spread the John Cena invisible meme even wider than when he was a wrestler who did it on TV every week. Indeed, Cena is not only renowned, but he also has an iconic, unchanging appearance and a huge frame, which makes occurrences of the “You Can’t See Me” meme even more amusing.

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