John Hennigan John Randall Hennigan ( October 3 , 1981 ) is an American actor and professional wrestler better known by his ring name John Morrison , and previously Johnny Nitro who is currently signed to Lucha Underground . He is best known for his work while signed to World Wrestling Entertainment ( WWE ) and was last performing on its Raw brand . Before being promoted to the main WWE roster , Hennigan entered " Tough Enough III " , a televised competition that would award the winner a WWE contract . He was one of the winners in the competition and assigned to their developmental territory , Ohio Valley Wrestling ( OVW ) , to continue his wrestling training . While situated at OVW , he was placed in a tag team , alongside Joey Mercury , in which they won the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship on one occasion . It was also during this time that he and Mercury , alongside their manager Melina , were known as the stable MNM . After signing with WWE , the group were called up to the SmackDown ! roster and on their debut in April 2005 , Hennigan and Mercury went on to win the WWE Tag Team Championship . After their third and final reign ended in May 2006 , Hennigan and Melina turned on Mercury . Hennigan and Melina were let go from the SmackDown ! roster and debuted on the Raw brand . During his time with the brand , Hennigan competed in singles competition and won the WWE Intercontinental Championship twice . In June 2007 , Hennigan was drafted from Raw to the ECW brand . During that time , he won the vacant ECW World Championship once , which was his first world championship . Hennigan formed a partnership with The Miz in late 2007 , with the two capturing the WWE Tag Team Championship and the World Tag Team Championship on separate occasions . They split in April 2009 , and Morrison returned to SmackDown , where he won the Intercontinental Championship for the third time in September 2009 . Career . Tough Enough . Before getting into professional wrestling , Hennigan attended the University of California at Davis studying both film and geology . Upon deciding that he did not want to pursue either path , Hennigan began his professional wrestling career training at the Supreme Pro Wrestling school in Sacramento , California . After failing his audition for Tough Enough 2 , he was accepted as a cast member for Tough Enough III in 2002 , eventually becoming the co - winner with Matt Cappotelli . [ for winning , Hennigan was awarded a WWE developmental contract and assigned to WWE ' s developmental territory , Ohio Valley Wrestling ( OVW ) , to continue his training . Hennigan competed in a Bar Room Brawl match at Vengeance in July 2003 . Hennigan and Cappotelli made an appearance on an episode of Heat in January 2004 , losing to Garrison Cade and Mark Jindrak in a tag team match . World Wrestling Entertainment . Bischoff ' s assistant and apprentice ( 2004 ) . On March 1 , 2004 Hennigan debuted on the Raw brand under the ring name " Johnny Blaze " . His gimmick was that he was the apprentice and assistant of the Raw General Manager , Eric Bischoff . The next week his name was changed to " Johnny Spade " , and three weeks after that it was changed to " Johnny Nitro " . The Nitro name , which finally stuck , was a reference to WCW Monday Nitro , the flagship show of World Championship Wrestling for which Bischoff had previously worked . To drive the point home , he began using the Nitro theme as his ring entrance music . Nitro acted as Bischoff ' s apprentice and assistant until June , when he was sent back to OVW . To explain his departure , Hennigan lost a match on the June 7 episode of Raw against Eugene , which carried the stipulation that upon his loss , he also lost his job . MNM and Intercontinental Champion ( 2004 – 2007 ) . Upon his return to OVW , Hennigan was put into a feud with his former partner Matt Cappotelli . During the course of the feud Melina was brought in to the company as Nitro ' s ex - girlfriend and an ally of Cappotelli , only to turn on him and side with Nitro . Not long after , Nitro and Melina 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 . In their first match for the brand , they won the WWE Tag Team Championship from Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero . MNM held the titles for three months , having successful titles defenses against the teams of Mysterio and Guerrero and Hardcore Holly and Charlie Haas , before dropping them to the Legion of Doom ( LOD ) at The Great American Bash . They won the titles again in a four - way match defeating The Mexicools , William Regal and Paul Burchill , and LOD , but lost them to Mysterio and Batista days before Armageddon in December . Due to help from Mark Henry , MNM defeated Mysterio and Batista in a rematch on December 30 to win the championship for the third time . They began a rivalry with the team of Paul London and Brian Kendrick that lasted over three months , until they dropped the championship to London and Kendrick at Judgment Day in May , with the storyline leading to Nitro and Melina suddenly turning on Mercury after the match , breaking up the group . Later that night , Melina and Nitro were booked off the SmackDown ! brand by having the General Manager , Theodore Long , " fire " them . The next week Nitro , along with Melina , debuted on the Raw brand in a loss to WWE Champion John Cena . [ Hennigan was immediately placed in the WWE Intercontinental Championship picture , beginning his first reign at Vengeance in June defeating champion Shelton Benjamin in a triple threat match also involving Carlito . Hennigan held the belt for four months , feuding with several challengers before losing it to Jeff Hardy on the October 2 episode of Raw . Nitro recaptured the Intercontinental Championship from Hardy on November 6 when the General Manager for the night , Eric Bischoff , restarted a match that Nitro lost by disqualification . The next week , however , Hardy won the title back . In addition , Hennigan was featured in a sporadic feud with John Cena throughout 2006 . The feud was unique in that it also involved non - wrestler Kevin Federline , who appeared on the October 16 episode of Raw . Federline was then , in storyline , trained by Nitro for a match with Cena , which he won after interference from Umaga . In November , MNM reunited on an episode of Raw to accept an open challenge from The Hardys ( Jeff and Matt Hardy ) at December to Dismember , a match that they lost . MNM and the Hardys feuded across the brands throughout December , with the feud intensifying after Mercury was legitimately injured at Armageddon in a four - way ladder match . Mercury wrestled Matt on SmackDown ! , while Nitro continued to feud with Jeff for the Intercontinental Championship on Raw , including a steel cage match at New Year ' s Revolution . MNM lost to The Hardys at the Royal Rumble , and again at No Way Out in February which ended the feud . MNM continued on and off as a team until Mercury was released from WWE in March 2007 . Without Mercury , Nitro ' s association with Melina was played down as she began competing for the WWE Women ' s Championship . Nitro was paired up with Kenny Dykstra , until the 2007 WWE Draft , during which Nitro was sent to the ECW brand and Dykstra to SmackDown ! . ECW World Champion ; teaming with The Miz ( 2007 – 2009 ) . Hennigan made his ECW debut on June 19 with a win over Nunzio , and the next week , at Vengeance : Night of Champions , took the vacant ECW World Championship in a match against CM Punk , when he was called upon to replace the missing Chris Benoit . A few weeks after getting the title , Nitro ' s name was changed to John Morrison and his gimmick was tweaked to be even more conceited and self - aggrandizing , modeled after Jim Morrison , to whom Hennigan bears a resemblance . 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 him or last 15 minutes without being defeated , they would earn a title shot . The first wrestler to do so was CM Punk , which set up another match between the two at SummerSlam . Morrison won by illegally using the ring ropes for leverage . The next week , Punk again became the number one contender ; this time , however , Punk won the championship . Hennigan was then suspended for thirty days for violating WWE ' s Wellness Program , renewing his feud with Punk upon his return , as well as competing against The Miz for the number one contendership to the title . Though rivals , Morrison and The Miz were placed in an ad hoc team on the November 16 episode of SmackDown ! , and were booked to take the WWE Tag Team Championship from the imploding team of Matt Hardy and Montel Vontavious Porter . At Survivor Series , Morrison and The Miz were both defeated by CM Punk in a triple threat match for the ECW Championship . After the defeat , the rivalry aspect of Miz and Morrison ' s relationship faded , as they were now portrayed as trusting friends . In February 2008 , Morrison and The Miz were given a streaming segment on WWE . com named The Dirt Sheet in which they mocked other wrestlers and facets of pop culture . Morrison and The Miz co - wrote each episode of The Dirt Sheet each week , and he credits his time in college studying film with contributing to the success of the show . The team had many successful title defenses over the next few months , before dropping the titles to Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder at The Great American Bash in a fatal four - way match which also featured Jesse and Festus and Finlay and Hornswoggle . Neither The Miz nor Morrison were pinned , as Hawkins pinned Jesse to win the titles . Afterwards , they started a feud with Cryme Tyme ( Shad Gaspard and JTG ) through each team ' s Internet show , which then transitioned to matches on Raw and at Cyber Sunday . After winning the Slammy Award for Best WWE . com exclusive earlier in the day , Morrison and The Miz won the " Tag Team of the Year " Slammy Award on the December 8 , 2008 episode of Raw . On December 13 , Morrison and The Miz won the World Tag Team Championship from CM Punk and Kofi Kingston at a Raw live event . Morrison and the Miz engaged themselves in a feud with The Colóns ( Carlito and Primo ) , who were the reigning WWE Tag Team champions which resulted in both teams defending their respective championships successfully in separate matches . Their feud culminated in a tag team lumberjack match at WrestleMania XXV where both titles were on the line , but it was The Colóns who would unify the championships with a win . As part of the 2009 WWE Draft on April 13 , The Miz was drafted to the Raw brand to split up the team , and , as a result , Miz attacked Morrison . Brand switches and NXT ( 2009 – 2010 ) . On April 15 , 2009 , Morrison was drafted to the SmackDown brand as part of the 2009 Supplemental Draft . In Morrison ' s first match back for the brand , on April 17 , he defeated R - Truth . On the May 1 episode of SmackDown , Morrison defeated Shelton Benjamin , and then engaged in a backstage fight with Chris Jericho , after Jericho slapped him , thus turning into a face ( fan favorite character ) . At Judgment Day , Morrison defeated Benjamin in a rematch . On the July 31 episode of SmackDown , Morrison had his first World Heavyweight Championship match against champion Jeff Hardy , but failed to win the title . On the September 4 episode of SmackDown , Morrison defeated Rey Mysterio to win his third WWE Intercontinental Championship . At the pay - per - view , Morrison lost the Intercontinental Championship to Drew McIntyre In 2010 , Morrison formed a friendship with R - Truth . He won an Elimination Chamber pay - per - view qualifying match and participated but lost and failed to capture the World Heavyweight Championship . Morrison and Truth defeated Cryme Tyme and The Hart Dynasty to earn a Unified WWE Tag Team Championship match at WrestleMania XXVI against ShoMiz ( The Big Show and The Miz ) . At the event , they failed to win the championship . On April 26 , Morrison was drafted to the Raw brand as part of the 2010 WWE Draft , and lost his first match back for the brand later that night to Jack Swagger . Later that week , in his final match on SmackDown , he lost to Cody Rhodes . On June 1 , Morrison announced that he would be mentoring Eli Cottonwood in the second season of WWE NXT . Cottonwood , however , was eliminated from the competition on the July 27 episode of NXT . Morrison then went on to participate in the main event of SummerSlam in which he and six teammates were victorious in a seven - on - seven elimination tag team match against The Nexus . Main Event Push and Departure ( 2010 - 2011 ) . In November 2010 , Morrison entered the 2010 edition of the King of the Ring tournament . He defeated Tyson Kidd , Cody Rhodes , and Alberto Del Rio en route to the final where he lost to Sheamus . He continued his feud with Sheamus in later weeks , and on December 13 edition of Raw , it was announced that will fight Sheamus in a Ladder match at Tables , Ladder & Chairs pay - per - view for the no . 1 conterder spot for WWE Championship , and he successfully won the match . On the final " Raw " of 2010 , he put his number one contender ' s contract on the line against Alex Riley . If Riley won , Morrison would no longer be the number one contender , but if he won , he would choose the time and stipulation of his WWE Championship match with The Miz . Morrison won and challenged The Miz to a Falls Count Anywhere match on January 3 but was unsuccessful . In February 2011 , Morrison participated in the Raw Elimination Chamber match at the Elimination Chamber pay - per - view event but was eliminated second - last by CM Punk . At Wrestlemania he teamed up with Trish Stratus and Snooki to beat Dolph Ziggler and Laycool . On the April 11th edition of Raw , Morrison competed in 5 - Man Gauntlet match to determine # 1 Contender for the WWE Championship . He was pinned by R - Truth who then became the # 1 Contender alongside with John Cena . The next week on Raw , he interrupted R - Truth celebration by showing footage of R - Truth drink a bottle of water before John Cena came out . He then challenge for R - Truth ' s spot in the title match and successfully won the match but he was attacked by R - Truth after the match . Later that night it was revealed that the match will held inside a steel cage . At Extreme Rules , John Morrison loss the match after he was brutally attacked by R - Truth . The next night on Raw , Morrison was attacked again by R - Truth again before their match start . On May 9 , Morrison posted on his Twitter feed that he suffered a neck injury and would be undergoing surgery . He was expected to be out for 4 – 6 weeks , as said on WWE . com . Morrison initially returned on the June 13 edition of Raw , but R - Truth put him out of action again by attacking him before their scheduled match . Morrison returned again on the July 25 edition of Raw , attacking R - Truth . At Summerslam 2011 , Morisson competed in a six - man tag - team match with Kofi Kingston and Rey Mysterio to defeat R - Truth , Alberto del Rio , and The Miz , then the next night on " Raw , " Morrison picked up his first win since returning by defeating R - Truth in a Falls Count Anywhere Match . Morrison would then get great recommendations of sorts for his conpetiton in the WWE Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber months later , looking amazing in both matches , his Main Event Push would end at Extreme Rules after R - Truth ( who had recently turned heel ) attacked Morrison preventing him from winning the title . After a summer of inactivity ( thanks to a neck injury ) Morrison returned twice ( the first time Truth attacked him before he could compete ) . After returning a second time , Morrison would defeat R - Truth 3 times . After his feud with Truth ended , Morrison would go on a 3 - month losing streak which ended in October after he defeated Dolph Ziggler . He would have his second - to - final match at Survivor Series , losing to Ziggler for the US Championship . After this event , it was announced that WWE wouldn ' t extend Morrison ' s contract due to his continuing neck problems . Morrison had his final WWE appearance on November 28 , 2011 , losing to The Miz when he hit a Skull - Crushing Finale on the entrance ramp . The following day , it was announced that Morrison ' s character would be gone . However , John Laurnitus ( the VP of talent Relations and current GM of Raw ) said he would re - sign Morrison after his neck was fully healed within a year . On December 2 , 2011 , Henigan ' s profile was moved to the Alumni Roster . Hennigan later announced on his Twitter he would be going into semi - retirement due to his recent neck injuries . In June 2014 , the Staff of WWE . com made an appeal to Morrison to return to WWE so that he could join the Shield and replace Seth Rollins . Independent circuit ( 2012 – present ) . After leaving WWE , Hennigan began using his real name for wrestling shows . On his first post - WWE wrestling appearance , Hennigan rekindled an old feud facing off against Shelton Benjamin in the main event of the World Wrestling Fan Xperience ( WWFX ) Champions Showcase Tour in Manila , Philippines on February 4 , 2012 . Hennigan won the match to become the inaugural WWFX Heavyweight Champion . On August 12 , 2012 , Hennigan appeared at Juggalo Championship Wrestling ' s Bloodymania 6 event , defeating Matt Hardy and Breyer Wellington in a three - way match . On January 25 , 2013 . Hennigan would make appearance as John Morrison once again at Dragon Gate USA ' s Open the Golden Gate , defeating Akira Tozawa in the main event of the show . On February 22 , Morrison defeated five other men to become the NGW World Champion at Next Generation Wrestling ' s first show . Hennigan took part in the WrestleMania weekend , wrestling for the Pro Wrestling Syndicate . On April 4 , Hennigan defeated Elijah Burke and on April 5 , Morrison defeated Japanese legend Jushin Thunder Liger in an " International Dream Match " at a Pro Wrestling Syndicate ( PWS ) event . On April 19 , Hennigan again defeated Sami Callihan in a no count - out , no disqualification falls count anywhere match at a 2CW event in Rome , New York . The next day , he defeated Kevin Steen at 2CW ' s first iPPV ( Living on the Edge VIII ) , in Watertown , New York . On June 21 , 2013 , Hennigan defeated Carlito Caribbean Cool in FWE Welcome to the Rumble II , winning the FWE Heavyweight Championship . The next day , Hennigan defended the title against Too Cold Scorpio at House of Hardcore 2 . On September 6 and 8 , Morrison wrestled against WWL World Heavyweight Champion Black Pain for the title , but he was defeated both times . On October 12 , 2013 , at FWE Grand Prix , Hennigan defeated Matt Morgan , retaining the FWE Heavyweight Championship . Lucha Underground ( 2014 – present ) . In September 2014 , it was reported that Hennigan had signed with the El Rey network ' s new television series , " Lucha Underground " , where he wrestled under the ring name Johnny Mundo . Mundo wrestled in the main event of the debut episode of " Lucha Underground " on October 29 , 2014 , defeating Prince Puma and winning one hundred thousand dollars , which was then taken away from him by promoter Dario Cueto , setting up several feuds . He then teamed with Prince Puma during the November 5 , 2014 episode , defeating Cortez Castro and Mr . Cisco . On the November 19 episode , Mundo defeated Big Ryck by disqualification after interference by Castro and Cisco . Mundo then defeated Prince Puma and Big Ryck in the main event of the December 10 , 2014 episode , which was a three - way ladder match , to finally win the hundred thousand dollars he was denied in the " Lucha UInderground " debut . On January 7 , 2015 , Mundo participated in a 20 - man battle royale ( called " Aztec Warfare " ) for the Lucha Underground Championship . He was the second " luchador " to enter the ring , but was the last man eliminated ( by Prince Puma , who thereby won the title ) . King Cuerno attacked Mundo on the February 4 , 2015 episode , beginning a feud between them ; the second installment took place on the episode which aired March 11 , 2015 , where Mundo and Cuerno wrestled in a Steel Cage match , which was won by Mundo . Other media . In 2009 , Hennigan appeared on two episodes of " Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader ? " , which were both aired on September 29 . Hennigan is the subject of a WWE DVD , called " John Morrison – Rock Star " , which was released on February 16 , 2010 . The DVD covers his career from his name change to John Morrison up until his Intercontinental Championship win in September 2009 . He appeared on an episode of " Destroy Build Destroy " on March 3 , 2010 . Hennigan was on the cover of " Muscle & Fitness " in June 2010 , with the issue also featuring an interview and photo shoot . Personal life . Hennigan has two sisters and grew up in Palos Verdes , where he attended high school . He graduated from the University of California , Davis in 2002 . Hennigan cites Shawn Michaels , Randy Savage , and Curt Hennig as his favorite wrestlers . Hennigan was in a long - term relationship with Melina Perez , his former on screen manager , but they have since broken up . The pair met during auditions for " Tough Enough III " , although she did not make the show . Hennigan is good friends with fellow professional wrestlers Randy Orton and Matt Cappotelli . 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 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 . As a result of the infraction , Hennigan was suspended for thirty days . On April 25 , Hennigan alongside with Melina came to Malaysia as special guest during TV3 special edition at Sunway Pyramid . During interview Hennigan state WWE is not to teach violence , but it is entertainment sport for family . Hennigan alongside Melina received positive reaction during came to Malaysia and state Malaysia is a beautiful and beloved country .