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Profile: Johnny Nitro
After being cut from the final thirteen on the second season of Tough Enough, John Hennigan returned in season three to win a WWE developmental contract. Following some training in Ohio Valley Wrestling, he debuted on Monday Night Raw in March 2004 as Johnny Blaze, sycophantic apprentice to General Manager Eric Bischoff. Due to copyright issues, the following week he was renamed Johnny Spade, before settling on Johnny Nitro the week after as a homage to the weekly WCW show created by Bischoff. Johnny even adopted the old Nitro theme music for his entrance, but was "fired" by the GM for losing to Eric's bothersome nephew Eugene on the June 7 edition of Raw.
During a feud with Tough Enough co-winner Matt Cappotelli in OVW, Nitro was joined by Joey Mercury and Melina to form MNM, a heel Hollywood A-list gimmick they would take to the SmackDown brand in 2005 upon Nitro's re-debut as a WWE Superstar. MNM instantly became cornerstones of the tag team division, winning the WWE Tag Team Titles three times in their first year.
Having met Melina during auditions for Tough Enough III, Nitro and his on-screen manager became a couple in real life. This affected the course of his career when, due to backstage heat surrounding Melina, WWE management decided to move both her and Nitro to the Raw brand, splitting them from Mercury. Storylinewise, MNM internally combusted at Judgment Day 2006 after losing the Tag Team Titles to Paul London and Brian Kendrick, with SmackDown GM Teddy Long "firing" Nitro and Melina later in the night.
As a singles competitor, Nitro won his first Intercontinental Title the following month at Vengeance, and remained a staple of the Raw midcard. Between mid-October 2006 and early January 2007 however, Nitro and Melina were involved in a feud with WWE Champion John Cena, also involving their "good friend" Kevin Federline. For much of the time leading up to Cena's New Year's Day match with K-Fed, Nitro and Melina would substitute for the absent rapper during matches and promos to keep the angle going, with Johnny acting as Kevin's trainer.
During this period, Nitro regained the Intercontinental Title from the man who beat him for it, Jeff Hardy, with the help of a ruling by old friend Eric Bischoff (who temporarily returned as GM for the night) on the November 6 edition of Monday Night Raw. The feud between Johnny and Jeff developed into a tag team rivalry, with Joey Mercury returning to MNM to wage war against the reunited Hardy Boyz, Matt and Jeff. MNM continued to team sporadically until Mercury was released by WWE in March 2007, leaving Nitro once again a strictly solo wrestler.
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