John Cena's iconic You Can't See Me taunt started out as a dare

WWE star John Cena has opened up about the origin behind his 'You Can't See Me' taunt.

Regarded as one of the best wrestlers of all time, John Cena won't just be leaving a lasting imprint on the world of WWE - and Hollywood through his career as an actor - but also in the land of memes.

The 46-year-old became a meme after his 'You Can't See Me' line became his catchphrase.

But where did he get it from and what's the story behind it?

Getty/ Jamie McCarthy

On The Graham Norton Show in 2018, sat on the sofa next to actor Matthew McConaughey and chef Jamie Oliver - who apparently used to consider himself a bit of a wrestler fan too - Cena explained the story behind his signature move and how he was 'dared to do it'.

He says: "I was actually making the music for my own theme song [..] and we played it for my brother.

And the first time he heard it - the 50 Cent crew had a really popular song called 'In da Club' - and he heard it the first time and instead of dancing - like he was our litmus test to see what songs were good and what were bad - he did [the gesture].

"I'm like, 'Dude what are you doing?' And he was like, 'Nah, everybody does this man, everybody does this.' And I guess this was from 50 Cent's video. And he was like, 'You won't do it on TV'."

BBC

Of course, Cena being Cena did it.

"I was like, 'What are they going to do? Fire me?'" he said.

Adapting the move slightly, Cena waved his hand from side to side opposed to his face. And he's now been doing it for over 15 years - all because of a dare.

While the gesture may be a joke, some fans of the wrestler actually go so far as to pretend they can't actually him - which must be slightly infuriating at times.

"People actually think I'm invisible," the wrestler tells Norton. "So you never know."

BBC

Cena has previously spoken out about the saying, noting he was spurred on to take 'personal inside jokes and put them on television' because 'nobody follow[ed] the humble beginnings of [his] career when [he] was forgotten about and Vince and everyone else wanted [him fired]'.

"So I had fun with it," he said in an interview with Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson featured on WWE's website.

Even Tony Yayo - the rapper who originally performed the gesture in 'In da Club' - saw the funny side.

Speaking to Vlad TV, Yayo said: "John Cena, just give me a million dollars or something. Give me a million. Let me get a million. That’s worldwide.

"Nah, that’s cool man. He always gives me my props for it. He doesn’t have to do that. He’s an icon out here. Shoutout to him."