Nikki Bella says Fearless Lock is different from John Cena’s submission
Recently, on the December 29th episode of RAW, fans witnessed Stephanie Vaquer defend her Women’s World Championship against Nikki Bella and Raquel Rodriguez. However, one mid-match moment caught fans’ eyes when Bella locked in the Fearless Lock move on Rodriguez, leading to “Thank You Cena!” chants from the fans. To which she instantly responded to it by yelling, “No! Thank me!”
Now, a few days after the bout, Bella opened up on the Nikki & Brie Show and shared more insights on the move. Clarifying how her ‘Fearless Lock’ is different than John Cena’s submission move ‘STF’, she opened up about its origin.
“I think people forgot, not everyone, but I used to do the Fearless Lock. Yes, it was during a period of time when John [Cena] and I were together, but the Fearless Lock is different from his submission, it really is. He lays on top of people and grabbing the front face,” Bella continued. The Fearless Lock is a legit submission Shayna (Baszler) gave me. We named it the Fearless Lock because of Fearless Nikki, and coming back from my broken neck, I was training a lot with Nattie [Natalya], Shayna, and Bayley at the PC. I went to an MMA place with Shayna, and she was teaching me legitimate moves.”
Further speaking on the podcast, Bella addressed her reaction to the “Thank You Cena!” chants from the fans.
“I said, ‘I want to come back from this broken neck with a submission.’ She showed me this, and she’s like, ‘It’s not at all what John’s is.’ I get the step in makes people think that, but I’m on the side, and how I lock in, you see it. You’re yanking the person back,” Bella added. “Raquel [Rodriguez] was the first person I did it on over six feet tall, and it looks a lot different. It felt different. I wasn’t expecting anything with John, so when they started chanting, ‘Thank you Cena,’ the old Nikki came alive, ‘Thank me!’ I loved it.”
Bella and Cena were once one of the promotion’s most popular couples and were even engaged when Cena proposed to her at WrestleMania 33 in 2017. However, their relationship fell apart, and their engagement was soon called off.
Shounak Chakrabarti is an experienced sports journalist with a lifelong passion for athletics and storytelling. He holds a Master’s Degree in International Journalism from the University of Leeds and joined F4WOnline in 2025.
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