John Morrison (wrestler)

For the professional poker player see John Hennigan (poker player)

John Hennigan
Born	(1979-10-03) October 3, 1979 Los Angeles, California
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	John Hennigan Johnny Blaze Johnny Spade Johnny Superstar Johnny Nitro
Billed height	6 ft 1 in (183 cm)
Billed weight	219 lb (99 kg)
Trained by	Tough Enough III trainers OVW staff Nick Dinsmore
Debut	January 27, 2003

John Randall Hennigan (born October 3, 1979) is an American professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Johnny Nitro currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment wrestling on the RAW brand.

Career

Hennigan began his professional wrestling career on the third season of the WWE/MTV reality show Tough Enough. He, along with Matt Cappotelli, was named co-winner and given a developmental contract and assigned to "farm territory" Ohio Valley Wrestling to continue his training. It's worth noting that he tried out for the second season of Tough Enough, and can be seen on the first episode, but the judges thought he wasn't serious about wrestling for a living, and he was cut from the "final 13".

In March of 2004 Hennigan debuted on RAW under the name Johnny Blaze as the (kayfabe) apprentice and assistant of RAW brand General Manager Eric Bischoff. For the next few weeks Hennigan cycled through a few different names -- including Johnny Blaze (a trademarked property of Marvel Comics), and Johnny Spade -- before Johnny Nitro was settled on. The name Nitro being a reference to Monday Nitro, the flagship show of World Championship Wrestling which Bischoff had created, and he began using the Nitro theme music as his ring entrance music. Bischoff "fired" Nitro as his assistant/apprentice on the June 7 RAW after he failed to defeat Bischoff's (kayfabe) nephew Eugene.

After being fired Nitro returned to OVW and started a feud with former partner Matt Cappotelli. In the course of the feud Cappotelli brought in Nitro's ex-girlfriend, Melina Perez, to embarrass him, only to get double-crossed by her when she and Nitro got back together. Not long after they were joined by Joey Mercury, forming the stable "MNM"

MNM wrestled in OVW for around a year, winning the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship once, before being called up to the main SmackDown! roster. While on SmackDown! they feuded with teams of Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero, Mysterio and Batista, & Paul London and Brian Kendrick. Together they captured the WWE Tag Team Championship on three occasions, all in their rookie year on the brand.

At the May 2006 Judgment Day pay-per-view, where MNM lost the tag team title to London and Kendrick, Nitro and Melina suddenly turned on Mercury, breaking up the group. 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. Melina lost her temper and slapped Long, getting both her and Nitro (kayfabe) fired from the brand.

The very next day, May 29, Nitro (with Melina) debuted on the RAW brand in a loss to WWE Champion John Cena. The following week Melina faked a sprained ankle, which allowed Nitro to roll-up the distracted Charlie Haas for his first RAW brand win.

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. Nitro held the belt, the first singles title in his career, for four months and feuding with several challengers before losing it to Jeff Hardy on the October 2 RAW.

During his time on RAW, Nitro was involved in a sporadic rivalry with the man who defeated him in his first RAW match, John Cena. The feud was unique in that it also involved non-wrestler Kevin Federline, who appeared on the October 16 RAW from Los Angeles. Federline was (kayfabe) trained by Nitro for a January 1, 2007 match with Cena, which he ended up winning after outside interference from Umaga.

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. The very next week, however, Hardy won the title back.

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. MNM and The Hardys feuded across the brands, with the feud intensifying after Mercury was (legitly) injured at the December Armageddon event.

Wrestling facts

• Finishing and signature moves

• Standing shooting star press
• Superkick
• Corkscrew moonsault
• Tidal Wave (Springboard enzuigiri)
• Standing Step-Up Enzuigiri
• Shoulder neckbreaker
• Split-legged handstand into a one-handed handstand followed by pivoting 180° into a leg drop
• Feint backdrop wheelbarrow facebuster
• Guillotine leg drop
• Swinging fisherman suplex
• Inverted headlock backbreaker into a Russian legsweep
• Satellite Russian legsweep
• Leg-lace lock
• Headscissors takedown
• Standing dropkick
• Leg lariat
• Spinning heel kick
• Top rope hurricanrana
• Running crossbody plancha

• With Joey Mercury

• Snapshot (Flapjack DDT)
• Simultaneous leg-drops to the throat and leg
• Double baseball-slide dropkick
• womens championhaha

• Managers

• Melina

Championships and accomplishments

• Ohio Valley Wrestling

• OVW Southern Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Joey Mercury

• World Wrestling Entertainment

• WWE Intercontinental Championship (2 times)
• WWE Tag Team Championship (3 times) - with Joey Mercury all three Tag Titles reigns came during their WWE rookie year
• WWE Tough Enough III co-winner with Matt Cappotelli

Personal life

Hennigan grew up in Los Angeles, California with his two younger sisters, Kelly & Elise.

Hennigan resided in Louisville, Kentucky with his real life and on-screen girlfriend, Melina Perez, before they moved to California.

External links

• WWE Profile
• Johnny Nitro at Obsessed with Wrestling