John Hennigan (Courtesy Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

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John Randall Hennigan (born October 3 1979), is an American professional wrestler better known by his former ring name Johnny Nitro. He is currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment performing on their ECW brand under the name John Morrison.

Career

Tough Enough

Before getting into professional wrestling, Hennigan studied to become a geologist in college. Deciding that wasn't right for him, he began his professional wrestling career training at the Supreme Pro Wrestling professional wrestling school. In 2002, he then joined the third season of the WWE/MTV reality show WWE Tough Enough, of which he was eventually named co-winner (with Matt Cappotelli), and awarded a WWE developmental contract and assigned to "farm territory" Ohio Valley Wrestling to continue his training. The duo made their first appearance on WWE television on an episode of HEAT in January 2004, losing to Garrison Cade and Mark Jindrak.

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 name Johnny Blaze. The next week his name was changed to Johnny Spade, and the week after that it was changed to Johnny Nitro. 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. 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.

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". 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 exclusive WWE Tag Team Championship on three occasions, all in their rookie year on the brand. 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. 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 lost her temper and slapped Long, getting both her and Nitro (kayfabe) fired from the brand.

The next week 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 a 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 of his career, for four months, 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 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. 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 (legitimately) injured at Armageddon in December.

2007

MNM continued on and off as a unit until Mercury was released from WWE in March 2007. Without Mercury, Nitro was paired up with Kenny Dykstra until the annual WWE draft, during which Nitro was sent to the ECW brand and Dykstra to SmackDown!. He made his ECW debut on June 19 with a win over Nunzio. 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, marking not only his first world title, but the first world title for any Tough Enough cast member in WWE. After winning the title, Nitro's name was changed to John Morrison and his character was tweaked to be more cryptic and self-aggrandizing, with many similarities and references to Jim Morrison, singer of the band "The Doors". After defeating CM Punk again at the Great American Bash, 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, 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, this time taking the Championship at a September 1 television taping in Cincinnati, Ohio. The title change coincided with Morrison's name coming up in an investigation of an online pharmacy (see personal life).

In wrestling

• Finishing and signature maneuvers
  • Corkscrew neckbreaker
  • Standing shooting star press - 2004-2006
  • Hangman's Neckbreaker - Mid-2007
  • Superkick - 2004-2005
  • Breakdance Legdrop (Freezing handstand spun 180° into a legdrop)
  • Corkscrew moonsault
  • Springboard enzuigiri
  • 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 heel kick
  • Springboard dropkick
  • German suplex

• 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", 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 Perez

• Signature taunts
  • Snap Shot (Mimicking taking pictures with hands)
  • Pelvic thrust with accompanying finger guns
  • Showing off eight pack

Championships and accomplishments

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

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • Tag Team of the Year (2005) - with Joey Mercury

• World Wrestling Entertainment
  • ECW Championship (1 time)
  • WWE Intercontinental Championship (2 times)
  • WWE Tag Team Championship (3 times) - with Joey Mercury
  • WWE Tough Enough III co-winner with Matt Cappotelli

Personal life

Hennigan is currently dating and living with Melina Perez, his former on screen manager. The pair first met during auditions for Tough Enough III, although she didn't make the show.

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.

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