Why did John Cena start using the "You Can't See Me" hand gesture?

When John Cena first did the "You Can't See Me" hand gesture on the lesser-known WWE program Velocity, little did he realize the popularity it would gain. Today, the gesture has made him into an internet meme, taking its popularity well outside the realms of professional wrestling/sports entertainment.

You might be interested to know that that the reason why John Cena first did the gesture was a dare. It was during his early days in WWE, days that he described as "forgotten".

Cena, knowing how little importance there was for Velocity, had fun with his character. Speaking to WWE, he revealed the origin of the "You Can't See Me" hand gesture:

“This stupid song came on, we started dancing around and my brother Sean did this dance from a video where he moves his head around his hands,” said John Cena.

Cena had the freedom to experiment with his character, and he proclaimed to his brother that he would get the dance on WWE TV. His brother didn't believe him and placed a bet that he eventually lost:

“I just had to modify it a little bit,” said Cena. “Instead of shaking my head around my hand, I shook my hand around my head.”

This gave birth to the "You Can't See Me" hand gesture. It was a period where Vince McMahon hardly even wanted him in the company according to Cena himself, and he was still a few years away from reaching the top.

John Cena's "You Can't See Me" Rap album

While not confirmed by John Cena himself, the words "You Can't See Me" may have had to do with the rap album that he was working on. The album would only release in 2005, right as Cena began his run at the top of WWE.

The album was an instant success and it sold 40,000 copies in the first week alone. It was good timing as he was at the peak of his popularity up to that point. He went on to have an unprecedented decade-long run at the top of WWE.