John Randall Hennigan (born October 3, 1979) is an American professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Johnny Nitro. He is currently performing on the RAW brand of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).
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 defeat Eugene (Bischoff's kayfabe nephew). Hennigan was then sent back to OVW, although he retained the name Johnny Nitro.
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.
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.
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 defeat Eugene (Bischoff's kayfabe nephew). Hennigan was then sent back to OVW, although he retained the name Johnny Nitro.
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.
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.
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