One of the most talked-about stories to emerge from the wrestling world in the past two weeks was that of the suspension of Rey Mysterio for abusing WWE’s infamous Wellness Policy. Many, including several writers and members of this site, have spoken at great lengths as to what happened and how Mysterio will be affected. They’ve detailed the situation much better than I ever could. So, instead, I’d like to talk about an unexpected result of the suspension, a fortuitous convergence of events that may signal the beginnings of superstardom for John Hennigan – known now to the WWE Universe as the Guru of Greatness, the Shaman of Sexy, the Friday Night Delight, John Morrison.
Hennigan broke into WWE through the third season of the MTV reality series Tough Enough (remember Maven? Yeah, me neither), winning the competition along with former OVW World Heavyweight Champion Matt Cappotelli. After spending some time in OVW and making an odd appearance here and there on WWE TV, Hennigan finally got an opportunity to show the world what he could do when he was made a permanent fixture on Raw – as Eric Bischoff’s assistant and protégé. Debuting first as Johnny Blaze, his name was changed a week later to Johnny Spade and then changed again three weeks later to Johnny Nitro. As you might expect, the character didn’t exactly rocket up the depth chart. Morrison lasted just over three months in that capacity, sent back down to OVW after losing a retirement match to Eugene of all people.
That indignity proved to be a blessing in disguise, however, as it was in OVW where Nitro gained Melina as a manager and teamed up with Joey Mercury to form the tag team MNM. The duo instantly gained fame when they were called up to the SmackDown! brand, defeating the team of Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio to win the WWE Tag Team Titles in their first match on WWE TV. Things only got brighter for Hennigan when he was given the opportunity to pursue a solo a career, as he and Melina turned on Mercury, split from the team and left for the Raw brand in May 2006.
Hennigan appeared to be set on the fast track to singles stardom, capturing the Intercontinental Title at Vengeance in June and holding onto the championship for ninety-nine days before losing it to Jeff Hardy on an episode of Raw in October. However, it was at that point that his momentum seemed to fade. After another short Intercontinental title reign, Hennigan was saddled with the likes of Kevin Federline during a feud with John Cena that went nowhere. He then reunited with Mercury to reform MNM, split up with him again, then teamed with Kenny Dykstra with a few weeks before being sent to ECW. When he left Raw he did so without Melina, who had become the WWE Women’s Champion and distanced herself from Hennigan.
Though the demotion seemed like a step back for Hennigan, it was in ECW where he came into his own as a performer. Shortly after debuting in ECW his gimmick was tweaked once more and he became the flashy, narcissistic showman known as John Morrison. The change in character came a few weeks after he captured the ECW World Championship, defeating CM Punk in a match for the vacant title just two weeks into his ECW tenure. After dropping the title to Punk just over two months later Morrison teamed up with fellow Tough Enough winner The Miz, who had also been in the ECW title picture. Though initially rivals, The Miz and Morrison proved to be a potent pair when, in their first match as a team, they won the WWE Tag Team Championship from the team of Matt Hardy and MVP on a November 2007 episode of SmackDown!
The duo proceeded to run roughshod over the rest of SmackDown!’s tag talent for much of the following year, racking up a staggering 250 days with the title before dropping the belts to the team of Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder at the 2008 Great American Bash in July. The Miz and Morrison wouldn’t be without gold for long, though, as they followed up a Slammy Award for Best Tag Team of the Year with a defeat of the team of CM Punk and Kofi Kingston to win the World Tag Team Championship on December 13th. After another lengthy run the team fell to The Colóns in a Tag Title Unification Match, and four months later, the team was split when the 2009 draft kept The Miz on Raw while sending Morrison to SmackDown! It was on that night that Morrison was given his first opportunity to become a full-fledged face, as The Miz attacked him immediately after learning that the team would be split.
Though Morrison engaged in a few brief spats with the likes of Shelton Benjamin and Chris Jericho, he seemed to float without a purpose in his second singles run, not really having any sort of storyline or feud to run with since returning to SmackDown! But it wasn’t too long before it became clear that WWE finally seemed ready to move Morrison to the next level. In the midst of CM Punk’s heel turn and his feud with Jeff Hardy Morrison scored not one but two clean wins over the World Champion, establishing himself as a force to be reckoned with. As Punk became more despised by the audience Morrison gained more and more face heat by associating with Hardy and coming to his aid after attacks made on him by Punk and the Hart Dynasty.
Morrison even earned himself a World Title shot while Hardy held the belt, and though he was defeated, the mutual respect shown before and after the match only helped to increase his standing among the fans and supplant his position as a worthy competitor to the title. All this is besides the fact that, since returning to SmackDown!, Morrison has been put over hard by the announce crew, described as a future superstar and compared to Shawn Michaels more than once.
All this goodwill came to a head when, in a fantastic match held on last Friday’s SmackDown!, John Morrison defeated Rey Mysterio to become the Intercontinental Champion for the third time. Anybody who knew Mysterio’s situation heading into the match had to be aware that he was dropping the belt, but the contest was so good that I couldn’t help but think a couple of times that he would somehow hang on to it. I applaud WWE for not only giving Mysterio and Morrison time to shine but also for not taking the easy way out and simply handing Ziggler the title seeing as how he was the number one contender heading into the night and was scheduled to face Mysterio for the championship at Breaking Point.
Now, nobody can say for sure that Morrison won’t simply drift into oblivion again once he eventually drops the title. After all, his first two reigns were mired in mediocrity and did little to advance his career. But the way they’ve been treating Morrison over the past few months, putting him over as a the next big thing, spouting his catchphrases, letting him get clean wins over established names – this time, I think they mean it.
There are a couple of things that need to be done for this to work. For one, Starship Pain has got to be scaled back to a regular move as opposed to a finisher. As fun as it is to watch, Morrison only connects with it properly about half the time and even then it doesn’t look like much of a knockout blow. Moonlight Drive, which has been oddly absent from Morrison’s matches recently, should be his go-to move. Secondly, he’s got to get some mic time. The man has natural charisma but is rarely given a chance to speak – admittedly, without anybody to feud with, there’s not a lot for him to talk about, but with Breaking Point coming up and Morrison scheduled to defend his title against Dolph Ziggler, that’s a obstacle that can be hurdled fairly easily.
Here’s how I see it happening – at the pay-per-view, Ziggler, enraged at Morrison for snatching away his chance to exact his revenge on Rey Mysterio, loses by disqualification after giving Morrison the beating of his life, which would not only create an instant hot feud but also give Morrison a huge dose of fan sympathy. On the next SmackDown!, Morrison shows vulnerability for the first time by limping to the ring and calling Ziggler out. The back-and-forth between those two would be incredible, and would serve to create another exciting and engaging element on what’s already a consistently entertaining show. Both men could benefit from a long, bitter feud over the title, which would not only elevate Morrison and Ziggler but the championship itself.
WWE has a golden opportunity before them to create a new star, and they seem poised to take advantage of it – let’s hope, for all our sakes, that they know what they’re doing.
