Follow Us on Tumblr

∇
troperville

∇
tools

∇
toys

SubpagesAwesome
Funny
Main
Wrestling
YMMV
main index

Narrative

Genre

Media

Topical Tropes

Other Categories

TV Tropes Org
new edits
workshops
reviews
YKTTW
tweets
random
to do
pm
add watch
drop watch
watchlist
profile
Wrestling: John Morrison
We, in fact, do have tropes in the Palace of Wisdom

"Hello, my name is John Morrison and if I had a nickel for everybody at Wrestlemania better looking then me......I'd have no nickels."

"Hi, I'm John Morrison and think so deep, I eat religion and crap out enlightenment."

John Randall Hennigan (born October 3, 1979) is an American professional wrestler better known by his ring name, John Morrison (and previously Johnny Nitro).

That Other Wiki has a rundown on his life and career.

Tropes associated with John Morrison include:

  • Alpha Bitch: Male example. John mocks those less attractive than himself (a.k.a. everybody else).
  • Alternate Company Equivalent: High-flying Mr. Fanservice that aren't famous for their mic ability? Are we talking about John or AJ Styles? AJ has even called him out for using a lot of his moves.
  • Archenemy: The Miz, CM Punk, Sheamus, and R-Truth.
  • Awesome, yet Impractical: His finisher Starship Pain is a tough move for Morrison to hit on a consistent basis due to the high degree of difficulty. It's not the split-legged corkscrew moonsault that gives him problems, it's a tendency to overshoot the opponent (either by his own doing or by improper position by the opponent) and barely graze him.
  • Badass
  • Beware the Nice Ones: On the 2-7-11 episode of RAW, Morrison, after celebrating a victory against a member of the New Nexus, was attacked from behind by New Nexus leader CM Punk, who pepper sprayed him in the face. Fast forward a week to the Valentine's Day 2011 episode of RAW, where he and R-Truth are in a tag-team match with Michael Mc Gillicutty and David Otunga from the New Nexus. When R-Truth finally tags him in, cue Morrison - whose face was still obviously swollen from the mace attack and whom the announcers were questioning whether he could even see enough to wrestle. Morrison hardly attempts to tap into the 'Parkour offense' for which he is so well known. Instead, he flies into a rage and starts beating on every member of Nexus he could get his hands on - even Mason Ryan, who wasn't in the match. After literally throwing R-Truth over the ring at the two other Nexus members to make sure they didn't interfere, he turns around, shouts, "I hope you're watching this, Punk!" and hits Michael Mc Gillicutty with a running knee smash right to the skull. After the pinfall victory, cue a shot of Morrison with his hair disheveled and an overall facial expression of which Edge would have been proud. Moral of the story: Do not piss John Morrison off.
  • Black Best Friend: He has his in R-Truth, they've even tag-teamed together under the Fan Nickname Truth and Wisdom.
  • Blond Guys are Evil: If he's a heel, and his name is Johnny Nitro.
  • Book Ends: Morrison's first and last match on Raw in 2011 were falls count anywhere, no DQ with the Miz. Both matches also involved a spot using the giant WWE logo on the entrance ramp.
  • Breakup Breakout: From MNM, which makes Joey Mercury his Garfunkel. On the other hand, he and his second notable tag partner, The Miz, have both attained similar levels of success thus far. Morrison's third notable partner, R-Truth, recently turned on him; although R-Truth's quickly become one of the best heels in WWE, the jury's still out on this one. (Especially since Morrison was injured soon afterward).
    • As far as the Miz/Morrison breakup goes, Miz has arguably become the more successful of the two, making Morrison the Jannetty this time around. 2011 saw this status ping-pong for Morrison - he started the year nearly subverting it by getting WWE Title matches with Miz but ended it firmly in Jannetty status with his being let go from WWE.
  • Captain Ersatz: A wrestling Jim Morrison impersonator?
  • Captain Obvious: The night he underwent a Re Tool into John Morrison
    "My name isn't Johnny Nitro."
  • Casanova
  • Catch Phrase: When doing The Dirt Sheet, he would begin each show with "Hi, my name is John Morrison and..." followed by something humorous. Look at this compilation. Also, "We don't [blank] at the Palace of Wisdom." For example, in the first episode they showed footage of Finlay dancing in the ring with Hornswoggle, and John's response was "We don't dance like that at the Palace of Wisdom."
  • Chivalrous Pervert: As a face.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Has a very... eccentric promo style.
  • Cool Shades: With Creepy Cool Crosses on them, Jerry Lawler wondered how he could see through them. They're in fact so cool, his mic skills noticeably improve when he's wearing them (which is why a lot of comedians wear sunglasses, so fans don't stare at them and throw them off their game).
  • Curbstomp Battle: His last match with The Miz was one. Morrison got in a few offensive moves, but Miz dominated the match, and after receiving a Skull Crushing Finale on the steel steps, the ref simply called for the bell rather than Miz pinning him.
  • Dance Battler: John uses some Capoeira-inspired moves, especially noticeable when he flairs before a leg drop.
  • Dark-Skinned Blonde: When he was Johnny Nitro, he had a disgustingly fake tan and dyed blond hair.
  • Deadpan Snarker: On the Dirt Sheet his lines were always delivered with a wonderfully dry tone.
  • Determinator: Has become an element of his matches during his recent push.
    • Particularly apparent at Elimination Chamber 2011. Despite being one of the first two guys out, and taking by far the most amounts of punishment, some of it self inflicted, he still managed to last until the last five minutes of the match.
  • Dirty Coward: Heel.
  • Distaff Counterpart: While not exactly the same, both he and ex-girlfriend Melina are known as rather limber, flexible, and acrobatic wrestlers. They're also both Tall, Dark and Handsome (OK, Melina ain't so tall), both have the ability to invalidate orientation, and even wear similar◊ring gear.◊
  • Dropped a Bridge on Him: Went from Number One contender at the beginning of the year, to something of a jobber at the end of it. All due to what happened during the WrestleMania period. Even his last match was something of a Curbstomp Battle.
  • Mr. Fanservice: Beyond those abs, he is sexy on many, many, many levels.
  • Everything's Better With Sparkles: Well his pants, coat, shades and abs are anyway.
  • Everything's Better with Spinning: His repertoire contains a corkscrew neckbreaker and shooting star press.
    • Don't forget his finisher Starship Pain: A split-leg corkscrew moonsault. Yeah, it's that awesome...if impractical. (see above entry)
  • Extremity Extremist: John almost always uses his legs, when he isn't jumping on people or throwing around the compulsory punches and clotheslines.
  • Facepalm: When his NXT Season 2 rookie Eli Cottonwood made the now infamous mustache promo, John was doing this.
  • Finishing Move: Currently, a split-legged moonsault called Starship Pain; previously, he had a superkick called the Nitro Blast and a spinning neckbreaker variant called the Moonlight Drive. Also, a Shining Wizard variant where he strikes with the knee instead of a full roundhouse kick.
  • Fridge Logic: If he is a Jim Morrison Ersatz, then why is his music an Expy of Jimi Hendrix instead of, you know, The Doors?
  • Fur and Loathing
  • Game Breaking Injury: R-Truth mentioned that after he beat up Morrison, he was sent to the hospital. This was an in-story explanation for writing off Morrison so he could get a pinched nerve in his neck fixed. When he returned, that neck became the in-story explanation for his absence instead.
  • Guile Hero: Has had his moments, like when he goaded R-Truth into putting his #1 contender status for the WWE Championship on the line by questioning Truth's fitness and conditioning. JoMo won the match, by the way, but...
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: Yeah, in hindsight it wasn't exactly smart to cost R-Truth his title shot, huh JoMo? You know, considering he's now made it his life mission to beat the crap out of you and screw you over at every possible opportunity.
  • Ho Yay: He and tag-team partner Mike "The Miz" Mizanin.
  • Hidden Depths: When John was on Tough Enough he was seen as a pretty boy gymnast that didn't really appreciate or care about the business, he's still willing to take the craziest bumps in WWE-PG and has worked out of being a Spot Monkey.
  • I Have the High Ground: One of the few homegrown ones WWE has.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: As a face, he mocks his enemies for their speech impediments, nationalities and other uncontrollable things.
  • Le Parkour: Which has been played up by the commentators a lot, check it out. It helps that the practice is actually part of his training
  • Lightning Bruiser: A very fast paced and flashy wrestler... who's also starting to need to take a crapload of punishment in order to be taken down.
  • Mad Libs Catch Phrase: "We don't allow (X) at the Palace of Wisdom."; "I'm John Morrison and (some random bit of trivia that probably isn't true)."
  • Man in a Kilt: Wore won to mock Drew McIntyre's Scottish heritage.
  • Meaningful Rename: Johnny Nitro, tag-team mainstay and member of MNM, becomes John Morrison soon after winning the ECW title. Notable because it's one of the few times WWE has acknowledged a name change on air. Their normal M.O. is to give a wrestler's previous name the Dis Continuity treatment.
  • Messianic Archetype: For a while he was feuding with CM Punk because while Punk was preaching about the importance of the material world, John promised a paradise.
  • Nice Guy: His current Face run basically consists of him sticking up for the little guy i.e, saving Santino from getting his ass kicked by Sheamus, kick-starting their minifeud.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Yeah, you know how R-Truth is now a completely insane heel? Morrison taking his title shot from him started that...
  • No Shirt, Long Jacket
  • One of Us: Even outside of his promos, he shows a knowledge and interest of not just pop culture but lesser known pieces. For instance, in his Twitter feed, he mentioned going to an art museum and seeing a piece that reminded him of Gir from Invader Zim.
  • Paparazzi: Until MNM disbanded, their entrance involved a red carpet and photographers.
  • One-Scene Wonder: He's been giving the performances of the night starting with Survivor Series '10.
  • Paying Their Dues: Subverted in that he underwent this AFTER becoming a star. After his and Melina's treatment of Trish Stratus that rubbed a lot of folks backstage the wrong way, in addition to Melina forcing her way out and Morrison's contract expiring, the WWE put him through the jobber ringer in order to see if he was loyal and committed to the company or was trying to Matt Hardy his way out with his behavior. A big upset win over Dolph Ziggler in November seemed to signal he was through the process... then he promptly lost a US title match against Ziggler at Survivor Series (to add insult to injury, it was a title shot that the crowd felt should've gone to Zack Ryder, and they let Morrison know it) and was unceremoniously beaten in his final match on Raw - a Curb-Stomp Battle at the hands of his former tag team partner The Miz.
  • Persona Non Grata: After jumping into a pool with his girlfriend Melina because it was her birthday, they both got banned from the Skybar (a Los Angeles nightclub).
  • Real Life Writes the Plot: Morrison initially losing out on the triple threat slot for Extreme Rules was a punishment from Morrison & Melina verbally trashing Trish Stratus. Eventually, he was given his spot back by winning it off of R-Truth, but then he also had to take time off due to a pinched nerve in his neck. Not exactly his finest April.
    • Morrison and the Miz's initial tag team title run taking place (at least when it did) was a result of WWE needing to write out Matt Hardy, one half of the previous champions, to take care of his appendix issues.
  • Real Men Wear Pink: Yes he wears sparkling glittery animal print longcoats, he's still a badass.
  • Red Baron: The Shaman of Sexy, The Monday/Tuesday/Thursday Night Delight (the day changes depending on show he's on), The Guru of Greatness, The Prince of Hardcore Parkour (as Michael Cole has dubbed him).
  • Redemption Demotion: His Heel Face Turn has not worked out so well, while he was a heel, his arrogant pretty boy meets pretentious rockstar gimmick made him many fans, as a face, he's floundered with finding an interesting character, though his burgeoning Le Parkour is a step in the right direction. In part, this is due to him being pretty Genre Savvy with pop culture and wrestling and snarky. As a heel, this meant he could poke fun at most anything. But faces generally don't do that sort of thing so his promo style got a little deflated- somewhat ironic considering his flashy wrestling style and move-set is much more suitable for a babyface.
    • Probably has something to do with the fact that his ECW On Sci-Fi promos and videos for The Dirt Sheet were his own ideas with him just goofing off and having fun with it, whereas his promos for the past two years...weren't.
  • Ricky Morton: Plays this role in singles matches, Morrison will injure himself doing some insane spot, heel will take advantage and savage Morrison's injury, than Morrison comes up with another, even more insane spot and grabs victory while making his opponent seem like a monster.
  • The Rival: The Miz, his former tag team partner. Back in ECW, when he was a heel, he feuded with CM Punk for a good length of time over the ECW Championship.
    • More recently, Sheamus.
  • Salt and Pepper: He's had an off and on partnership with R-Truth.
  • Self-Deprecation: In one Palace of Wisdom exclusive, he goes back and time...to meet up with his former persona Johnny Nitro. He basically tore down what was so awful about his former persona (the spray-on tan and the blonde hair specifically) and sarcastically states that if everyone was like him (Johnny Nitro), the world would be a better place.
  • Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: John rambles like hell on his promos.
  • Shout Out: The Flying Chuck
  • Spicy Latina: His girlfriend, Melina, widely considered to be one of the more talented divas, oh, and Even the Girls Want Her.
  • Spot Monkey: There have been some very hotly contested debates as to whether or not Morrison counts as a Spot Monkey. The general consensus is that he is one, but is much better than the usual example in that he actually has a sense of psychology. He did improve in that area in 2011, as noted in Wrestling Psychology below.
    • To elaborate, Morrison's psychology is extremely erratic, and fluctuates as to whether or not it's a major match. Are you watching Morrison on a PPV? Then you're going to get an awesome match with great high-spots and excellent psychology. TV? Enjoy your spot-fest!
  • Star Making Role: He was always fairly popular since his ECW reign and tag team with The Miz, but he didn't start really getting over with the crowd until his series of high quality matches with Sheamus in 2010, culminating in a ladder match at TLC, after which many are demanding he get a World Title run.
  • Take That: To Mike Adamle ("Hello. My name is John Morrison, and I may look like Tarzan, but I certainly don't hit like Jane.")
    • During his first tryout for Tough Enough 2, back when he was a lot cockier than he is now, he mentioned his background as a breakdancer and was asked if he can do a spinneroonie. He responded by asking what a spinneroonie was. T.E. judge Jim Ross questioned him on not knowing who Booker T is and if he was really a fan of the WWE. Morrison responded not by doing the spinneroonie, but doing the breakdance move Booker T based his trademark gesture on. This is not only a Take That to the judges, but possibly a Take That to Booker T himself. Needless to say, the judges didn't like his attitude and he didn't make the cut for T.E. 2.
  • Took a Level in Badass: A very strange example of this, John had been practicing Parkour for a while, but it was only in 2010 that WWE creative decided to turn that into a character point, turning bland babyface Morrison into Crazy Awesome But Practical athlete that puts on incredible matches.
  • Ted Baxter: Heel.
  • Those Two Bad Guys: John and The Miz.
  • Two Guys and a Girl: MNM, Which was Melina (his Real Life girlfriend), Johnny Nitro (his old name), and Joey Mercury (the Janetty).
  • Warrior Poet: Mostly his heel character, though a little bit creeps in as a face.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Got some backstage heat for giving the cold shoulder to Trish Stratus when they were having an angle together because he felt she took Melina's spot on the card at Wrestlemania XXVII. That he allegedly did it at Melina's insistence while she has cheated on him with other wrestlers in the past makes him look like a Henpecked Boyfriend as well.
  • When He Smiles: When he smiles, he looks even more Bishonen and around ten years younger.
  • Wouldn't Hit a Girl
  • Wrestling Psychology: Made a major improvement in this area in 2011, selling injuries like a pro and telling stories with his matches (see the Beware the Nice Ones entry), especially when it comes to his legs. During his Elimination Chamber match, he was either acting like Spider-Man or looking like his knee was about to explode.
    • The night after Elimination Chamber 2011, he and CM Punk faced each other in the opening match on Raw. They were the only two participants of the EC match who were selling the prior night's injuries, including limping and a general aura of soreness. (Although considering the beating both men took that previous night, you kind of have to wonder how much of that was selling.)
    • In the weeks immediately following his return from a legit neck injury, he has done exceptionally well at working that injury into his matches.
John LaurinaitisProfessional WrestlingKane
alternative title(s): John Morrison
new edits
workshops
edit page
view source
random
This wiki is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
Privacy Policy
54098
34