A former WWE star has revealed that the company were served a cease & desist for his original ring name.
Former WWE star John Morrison has performed under many monikers across his over 20 year career: John Hennigan, Johnny Mundo, Johnny Impact – and now Johnny TV in AEW.
His WWE run began with the name Johnny Nitro in mid 2004, however, as revealed in a sit down with former NXT announcer McKenzie Mitchell – that was not WWE’s original plan – with Nitro instead meant to debut as Jonny Blaze.
Unfortunately for WWE, a cease and desist warning from both Marvel and legendary Wu Tang Clan rapper Method Man put an end to those plans.
Morrison recalled his WWE debut and initial ring name struggles:
“I didn’t expect to get called up to the main roster so quickly. Johnny Nitro was Eric Bishoff’s apprentice, right? And I didn’t really know what I was doing in the ring yet.
“I was just kind of there every week, learning from Eric and Bruce. I started off as Johnny Blaze and introduced myself to Stone Cold Steve Austin as Johnny Blaze. We quickly got a cease and desist from Method Man and Ghost Rider, because it’s copyrighted.
“Then it was Johnny Spade, which I hated because there was a Johnny Spade already in OVW. My God, back to Louisville that week, he was all upset.
“And then, I asked if I could please change my name to Johnny Nitro. To honor Eric Bischoff, which kind of made sense. And I still like Nitro. I still wish my name had never changed and just stayed Johnny Nitro.”
Despite undergoing many name changes both in WWE and outside, Morrison revealed that he would have preferred to have kept one name rather than changing it so often, but did admit that the Johnny Nitro character was not the best.
“I would’ve evolved my look, but I think it would’ve been cool to have one name my entire career instead of this confusing myriad of names.
“Johnny Nitro was really more of like a backstage lackey, and I ended up having only a few matches. I came out to the WCW Nitro theme song.”
Morrison most recently competed on AEW TV during May 11 episode of Rampage, losing to PAC.
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