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For the poker player see John Hennigan (poker player)

John Hennigan
Statistics
Ring name(s)	John Hennigan Johnny Blaze John Morrison Johnny Nitro Johnny Onyx[1] Johnny Spade Johnny Superstar[2]
Billed height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)[3]
Billed weight	219 lb (100 kg)[3]
Born	October 3, 1979 (1979-10-03) (age 28) Los Angeles, California, U.S.[4]
Resides	Los Angeles, California[5]
Trained by	SPW staff[6] Tough Enough III trainers OVW staff Nick Dinsmore
Debut	January 27, 2003

John Randall Hennigan^[7] (born October 3, 1979)^[8] better known by his ring name John Morrison, is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) performing on their ECW brand.^[3] He is also currently co-holder of the Smackdown! brand's WWE Tag Team Championship with The Miz.^[9] He came to WWE in 2002 after co-winning their reality television program Tough Enough, and has since held championships in the company on seven occasions; having held the Tag Team Championship four times, Intercontinental Championship two times, and the ECW Championship once.

Contents 1 Career 1.1 Tough Enough 1.2 2004-2006 1.3 2007 2 In wrestling 3 Championships and accomplishments 4 Personal life 5 References 6 External links

Career

Tough Enough

Before getting into professional wrestling, Hennigan attended University of California at Davis studying both film and to become a geologist.^[4] Deciding that wasn't right for him, he began his professional wrestling career training at the Supreme Pro Wrestling professional wrestling school.^[1] In 2002, he was accepted as a cast member for the third season of the WWE/MTV reality show WWE Tough Enough, eventually becoming co-winner with Matt Cappotelli.^[10] For winning he was awarded a WWE developmental contract and assigned to WWE's "farm territory" Ohio Valley Wrestling to continue his training.^[11] The duo made their first appearance on WWE television on an episode of Heat in January 2004, losing to Garrison Cade and Mark Jindrak in a tag team match..^[12]

2004-2006

In March 2004 Hennigan debuted on the Raw brand. His character was depicted as the apprentice and assistant of Raw brand General Manager Eric Bischoff and given the ring name Johnny Blaze.^[13] The next week his name was changed to Johnny Spade,^[14] and the week after that it was changed to Johnny Nitro.^[15] It's worth noting that both the Johnny Spade and Johnny Blaze names had been in use before Hennigan used them, by an independent wrestler and by Marvel Comics respectively. The Nitro name, a name which finally stuck, was a reference to Monday Nitro, the flagship show of World Championship Wrestling which Bischoff had created, and to drive the point home he began using the Nitro theme music as his ring entrance music.^[16] Nitro acted as Bischoff's apprentice and assistant until the June 7 episode of Raw, during which he lost a match to Eugene which carried the stipulation that should he lose the match, he also lose his job.^[17]

After leaving Raw, Nitro returned to OVW and was put into a feud with his former partner Matt Cappotelli. During the course of the feud Melina Perez was brought in to the company as Nitro's ex-girlfriend and an ally of Cappotelli, only to double-cross him and side with Nitro. Not long after, they were joined by Joey Mercury, forming the stable "MNM".^[18] MNM wrestled in OVW for around a year, holding the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship once, before being called up to the main SmackDown! roster in April 2005. While on SmackDown!, they were put into feuds with the teams of Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero, Mysterio and Batista, the new Legion of Doom, and Paul London and Brian Kendrick. MNM held the SmackDown! brand's WWE Tag Team Championship on three occasions, all in their rookie year on the brand.^[19] At May 2006's Judgment Day MNM dropped the tag team title to London and Kendrick, with Nitro and Melina suddenly turning on Mercury after the match, breaking up the group.^[20] Later in the night, after Melina lost a match to Jillian Hall in controversial fashion, she and Nitro complained to SmackDown! General Manager Theodore Long until Melina slapped Long, getting both her and Nitro (kayfabe) fired from the brand.^[21]

The next week Nitro (with Melina) debuted on the Raw brand in a loss to WWE Champion John Cena.^[22] The following week, Melina faked a sprained ankle, which allowed Nitro to roll-up a distracted Charlie Haas for his first Raw brand win.^[23] Nitro immediately joined the hunt for the WWE Intercontinental Championship, finally defeating champion Shelton Benjamin at June's Vengeance in a Triple-Threat match, which also involved Carlito.^[24] Nitro held the belt, the first singles title of his career, for four months, feuding with several challengers before losing it to Jeff Hardy on the October 2 Raw.^[25] During his time on Raw, Nitro was also involved in a sporadic rivalry with John Cena, the man who defeated him in his first Raw match. The feud was unique in that it also involved non-wrestler Kevin Federline, who appeared on the October 16 Raw from Los Angeles.^[26] Federline was (kayfabe) trained by Nitro for a January 1, 2007 match with Cena, which he ended up winning after outside interference from Umaga.^[27]

In the meantime, Nitro recaptured the Intercontinental title from Jeff Hardy on November 6 when former friend, and General Manager for the night, Eric Bischoff restarted a match that Nitro had been disqualified from.^[28] The very next week, however, Hardy got the title back.^[29] In November 2006 MNM reunited on an episode of Raw to accept an "open challenge" from The Hardys (Matt and Jeff) for ECW December to Dismember.^[30] MNM and The Hardys feuded across the brands, with the feud intensifying after Mercury was (legitimately) injured at Armageddon in December.^[31]

2007

MNM continued on and off as a unit until Mercury was released from WWE in March 2007.^[32] Without Mercury, Nitro was paired up with Kenny Dykstra^[33][34] until the annual WWE draft, during which Nitro was sent to the ECW brand and Dykstra to SmackDown!.^[35] He made his ECW debut on June 19 with a win over Nunzio.^[36] The very next week, at the Vengeance pay-per-view , he replaced Chris Benoit in a match against CM Punk; for the vacant ECW World Championship, which he won,^[37] marking not only his first world title, but the first world title for any Tough Enough cast member in WWE. A few weeks after winning the title, Nitro's name was changed to John Morrison and his character was tweaked to be more even more conceited and self-aggrandizing.^[38] After defeating CM Punk again at the Great American Bash,^[39] he began taking part in a "15 Minutes Of Fame" segment on the weekly ECW on Sci Fi television program, where if a wrestler could either defeat Morrison, or last 15 minutes without being defeated by Morrison, they would be granted a title shot. The first wrestler to do so turned out to be CM Punk,^[40] setting up another match between the two at SummerSlam, which Morrison won when he used the ring ropes for leverage. The next week, Punk again became #1 contender,^[41] this time taking the Championship at a September 1 television taping in Cincinnati, Ohio.^[42] Hennigan was then suspended for 30 days following a violation of the WWE's Talent Wellness Policy; after returning from his suspension,^[43] he renewed his feud with Punk, this time also fending off The Miz who was also after the title.^[44] Though enemies, The Miz and Morrison teamed on the November 16 (taped November 13) episode of SmackDown! to take the WWE Tag Team Championship from Matt Hardy and Montel Vontavious Porter.^[45] At Survivor Series, Morrison and The Miz were both defeated by CM Punk in a triple threat match for the ECW Championship.^[46]

In wrestling

• Finishing and signature maneuvers
  • Corkscrew neckbreaker^[47]
  • Shooting Star Splash (Standing shooting star press)
  • Shoulder neckbreaker (Mid-2007)
  • Superkick
  • Breakdance Legdrop (180° spun flare into a leg drop)
  • Multiple corkscrew moonsault variations:
    • Diving
    • Split-legged
    • Standing
    • Springboard
  • Springboard enzuigiri
  • Springboard / slingshot elbow drop
  • Feint back suplex wheelbarrow facebuster
  • Step-up enzuigiri
  • Neckbreaker slam
  • Diving knee drop bulldog
  • Satellite spin or inverted headlock backbreaker into a Russian legsweep
  • Spinning wheel kick
  • Springboard dropkick
  • Release German suplex
  • Feint vaulting dive transitioned into a baseball slide dropkick in the ring
  • STO backbreaker followed by a Russian Legsweep or a STO or the most used is into a neckbreaker Slam
  • Kick to the midsection thrown into a one-arm handstand overhead kick
• Nicknames
  • During his time as Johnny Nitro, he, as well as the rest of MNM, were often referred to as "A-Listers". Since his name change to John Morrison he has begun referring to himself as "The New Face of Extreme", "Guru of Greatness", "Shaman of Sexy", "The A-list Elitist" and "The Tuesday Night Delight" in his promos.
• Entrance Music
  • As a singles wrestler Hennigan has had four themes in WWE. When he was first given the name Nitro it was coupled with the former theme song of WCW Monday Nitro. After splitting from MNM, he continued to use their theme until his July 17, 2007 name change. After that he was given a more Rock & Roll styled song, to which lyrics were added on August 7, 2007.
• Managers
  • Melina
• Signature taunts
  • Snap Shot (Mimicking taking pictures with hands)
  • Pelvic thrust with accompanying finger guns
  • Showing off eight pack
  • Holds one arm to side, followed by swinging his arm in a circle across him and raising his other arm, accompanied by slow-motion theatrics.

Championships and accomplishments

• Ohio Valley Wrestling
  • OVW Southern Tag Team Championship (1 time)^[48] - with Joey Mercury
• World Wrestling Entertainment
  • ECW Championship (1 time)^[49]
  • WWE Intercontinental Championship (2 times)^[50]
  • WWE Tag Team Championship (4 times, current)^[51] - with Joey Mercury (3) and The Miz (1)
  • WWE Tough Enough III co-winner with Matt Cappotelli^[10]
• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI Tag Team of the Year (2005) - with Joey Mercury ^[52]

Personal life

Hennigan was in a long term relationship with Melina Perez, his former on screen manager,^[53] but they have since broken up.^[54] The pair met during auditions for Tough Enough III, although she didn't make the show.^[5]

Articles posted by Sports Illustrated, the New York Daily News, and the Washington Post during the weekend of August 30, 2007, named Hennigan as one of a number of WWE superstars to have purchased pharmaceuticals from an online pharmacy, a violation of the WWE "Talent Wellness" program. Specifically, Hennigan received somatropin, anastrozole, testosterone, stanozolol and chorionic gonadotropin between June 2006 and February 2007, which is after the "no drugs from online sources" rule was instituted.^[55][56] As a result of the infraction, Hennigan was suspended for 30 days. ^[43]

References

External links

• WWE Profile
• Online World of Wrestling Profile
• John Hennigan at the Internet Movie Database
• John Hennigan at TV.com

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Inactive RAW Superstars	John Cena  • Bobby Lashley  • Candice Michelle  • Val Venis
SmackDown!	Batista  • Deuce  • Domino  • Kenny Dykstra  • Edge  • Festus  • Finlay  • Ric Flair  • The Great Khali  • Mark Henry  • Hornswoggle  • Jesse  • Kane  • Brett Major  • Brian Major  • Michelle McCool  • Shannon Moore  • Rey Mysterio  • Jamie Noble  • Chuck Palumbo  • Montel Vontavious Porter  • Dave Taylor  • Undertaker  • Victoria  • Jimmy Wang Yang  • Cherry  • JBL  • Justin Roberts  • Michael Cole
Inactive SmackDown! Superstars	Funaki  • Chavo Guerrero  • Gregory Helms  • Maryse  • Ashley  • Matt Hardy  • Vickie Guerrero  • Torrie Wilson
ECW	Shelton Benjamin  • Big Daddy V  • Elijah Burke  • CM Punk  • Tommy Dreamer  • Kelly Kelly  • Layla  • Balls Mahoney  • John Morrison  • The Miz  • Nunzio  • Matt Striker  • Kevin Thorn  • Armando Estrada  • Joey Styles  • Tazz  • Tony Chimel
Inactive ECW Superstars	Boogeyman  • Mike Knox  • Stevie Richards
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Persondata
NAME	Morrison, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Johnny Blaze; Johnny Spade; Johnny Superstar; Johnny Nitro
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Professional wrestler
DATE OF BIRTH	October 3, 1979
PLACE OF BIRTH	Los Angeles, California
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH