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. 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's 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 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 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.Federline was 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 got 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 injured at Armageddon in December.
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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's 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 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 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.Federline was 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 got 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 injured at Armageddon in December.
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