John Morrison (wrestler)

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

John Hennigan
File:Johnny Nitro2.jpg
Born	October 3, 1979 Los Angeles, California
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Johnny Nitro John Hennigan Johnny Blaze Johnny Spade Johnny Superstar
Billed height	6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Billed weight	219 lb (99 kg)
Trained by	Al Snow Bill DeMott Ivory Nick Dinsmore
Debut	January 27, 2003

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

World Wrestling Entertainment

Tough Enough and RAW

Hennigan, along with Matt Cappotelli was the winner of Tough Enough III in 2003 and was granted a WWE contract as a result. After the series ended, Hennigan and Cappotelli were sent to the WWE developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) for further training. He had tried out for Tough Enough II, and can be seen on the first episode, but the judges thought he wasn't serious about wrestling for a living, so he was cut from the final 13, having placed in the final 25.

In 2004, Hennigan debuted on WWE television as the assistant of RAW General Manager Eric Bischoff. Hennigan was given a variety of pseudonyms, including, briefly, Johnny Blaze, a trademarked property of Marvel Comics (and nickname of rapper Method Man), and Johnny Spade. He was eventually named Johnny Nitro, a reference to WCW Monday Nitro, the television series formerly produced by Bischoff. Hennigan also began using the Nitro theme music as his entrance music. This storyline was abandoned after several weeks when Bischoff fired Hennigan for failing to pin Eugene (Bischoff's kayfabe nephew). Hennigan was then sent back to OVW, although he retained the name Johnny Nitro.

SmackDown brand

Hennigan returned to WWE television on April 14, 2005, making his SmackDown! debut as one-third of the stable MNM with Joey Mercury and manager, Melina. The following week, MNM defeated Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero for the WWE Tag Team Championship. MNM successfully defended the titles in a match with Charlie Haas and Bob Holly at Judgment Day 2005, but were defeated by Heidenreich and Animal at the Great American Bash 2005. They defeated Animal and Heidenreich for the titles in a four way tag team match on October 28, 2005, and held the titles until December 16, 2005, when they lost to Batista and Rey Mysterio. They began their third reign December 30, 2005, defeating Batista and Mysterio with the assistance of the returning Mark Henry.

The team of Paul London and Brian Kendrick would go on to feud with MNM, beginning by picking up a win in a non-title match against the reigning WWE Tag Team champions. London and Kendrick would continue their winning streak on the champions, including singles victories for both Kendrick and London on Nitro and Mercury respectively. The feud came to a head at Judgment Day 2006, where they defeated MNM for the titles. After the match, Nitro and Melina blamed Mercury for the loss, resulting MNM in a break up. Later that same night, Melina and Nitro were fired, in kayfabe, from SmackDown!, due to Melina slapping Smackdown! General Manager Theodore Long, and Nitro for mouthing off. As a result of that, Nitro and Melina were no longer employed by Smackdown.

RAW brand

Nitro, along with Melina, made their way to the RAW brand, debuting together on May 29, 2006, with Nitro losing to WWE Champion John Cena. The following week, Melina faked a sprained ankle, allowing Nitro to roll up Charlie Haas for his first RAW win.

Nitro would get into the hunt for the WWE Intercontinental Championship, finally defeating the champion Shelton Benjamin and Carlito in a Triple-Threat Match at Vengeance 2006 to capture the title; which was his first singles title in his career. Nitro held the belt for 4 months, feuding with several challengers and defending it against others before finally losing it to Jeff Hardy on the October 2, 2006 edition of RAW.

During his time on RAW, Nitro would have a sporadic rivalry with the man who defeated him in his first RAW match, John Cena. During the October 16, 2006 edition of RAW in Los Angeles, California, Nitro and Melina brought rap artist Kevin Federline to the show as a special guest. Natuarally, Cena interrupted, battle rapped Federline and eventually FUed him. In a surprise return, Federline appeared the next week to aid Nitro in a match against Cena.

Nitro defeated Jeff Hardy on the November 6, 2006 episode of RAW to win his second WWE Intercontinental Championship. Nitro would lose the title back to Hardy the following week on RAW. He then challenged Hardy to a Ladder match the next week on RAW for the Intercontinental Championship, in which he lost after Hardy trapped him under the ladder.

At Survivor Series, Johnny Nitro was the second to be eliminated during his match with Team Rated RKO going against Team DX.

On an episode of Monday Night RAW it was revealed that Nitro, Melina, and Mercury were once again a trio,accepting the open challenge by The Hardys' for ECW's December to Dismember. At December to Dismember, The Hardys' defeated MNM and the next night on Monday Night RAW, teaming with Rated RKO to defeat D-Generation X and The Hardys'. He is currently training Kevin "K-Fed" Federline for his match against John Cena on the New Years edition of RAW on January 1st, 2007.

On the 11th of December's edition of RAW, Nitro interupted John Cena's S.T.F.U on Umaga with a solid kick to his face. This prompted a match between the two which would feature as the main event later that night. John Cena stated he would give Nitro a taste of what was to come to Kevin Federline, and he did just that winning cleanly utilising his full ensemble of finshing movies in a fairly long fight. At New Years Revolution, Nitro will continue his feud with Jeff Hardy for the intercontinental championship inside of a steel cage. This was decided by The Coach who stated that he wanted to see Nitro go far and he has been impressed with him as of late.

Johnny Nitro took part in a 4 Way WWE Tag Title Ladder Match with Joey Mercury vs. The Hardy Boyz, Paul London & Brian Kendrick, William Regal & Dave Taylor. MNM lost the match to London and Kendrick, and Mercury ended up seriously injured.

Wrestling facts

• Finishing moves are uncertain

• Standing shooting star press
• Superkick

• Signature moves

• Corkscrew moonsault
• Split-legged handstand into a one-handed handstand followed by pivoting 180° into a leg drop
• Feint backdrop wheelbarrow facebuster
• Shoulder neckbreaker
• Enzuigiri
• DDT
• Guillotine leg drop
• Swinging fisherman suplex
• Inverted headlock backbreaker into a Russian legsweep
• Nitro performs a tilt-a-whirl on the opponent's head, then lands on his feet and hits a Russian legsweep
• Leg-lace lock
• Powerbomb
• Headscissors takedown
• Springboard dropkick
• Leg lariat
• Spinning heel kick

• With Joey Mercury

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

• Managers

• Jillian Hall
• Melina

Championships and accomplishments

• World Wrestling Entertainment

• WWE Intercontinental Championship (2 times)
• WWE Tag Team Championship (3 times) - with Joey Mercury
• Tough Enough III co-winner with Matt Cappotelli

• Ohio Valley Wrestling

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

Personal life

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

Hennigan resided in Louisville, Kentucky with his girlfriend and on screen valet, Melina Perez, before the two moved to California.

External links

• WWE.com Profile
• J-Nitro
• Nitroism.net