Monday’s episode of Raw was a loaded show and it featured a big title match as Stephanie Vaquer defended her WWE Women’s World Championship against Nikki Bella and Raquel Rodriguez.
During the match Nikki applied what appeared to be the STF on Raquel Rodriguez, but she recently clarified on the Nikki & Brie Show that she used the Fearless Lock which Nikki says is different from the STF.
“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. 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.”
When Nikki used the move on Raw fans responded with “Thank You Cena!” chants. According to Nikki she wasn’t expecting the chants, but she loved the reaction.
“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. 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.”