A former WWE champion has revealed how a backstage meeting with Vince McMahon led to one of the most recognisable name changes of his career.
Johnny TV, who has competed under numerous ring names across different promotions, recently explained how the transition from Johnny Nitro to John Morrison came about during his first run on the WWE main roster.
Speaking on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Morrison said the change stemmed from Vince McMahon’s long-standing dislike of the Nitro name, which reminded him of WCW’s flagship programme.
“When I won the ECW championship, I was Johnny Nitro,” Morrison said. “Prior to that, Vince had mentioned a few times that Johnny Nitro is not a champion’s name, or not a good name, ‘You got to change it.’ I said, ‘Why do you think that, Vince? Is it because it reminds you of WCW Monday Nitro?’ He said, ‘Yes.’”
Morrison captured the ECW Championship at Vengeance: Night of Champions in 2007. The match originally scheduled for the vacant title was set to feature CM Punk against Chris Benoit, but Benoit did not appear at the event, and Morrison was ultimately inserted into the bout, going on to win the championship.
When Did Vince McMahon Change Johnny Nitro To John Morrison?
According to Morrison, the name change happened almost immediately after that victory. Vince McMahon approached him the following week and instructed him to come up with a new ring name on the spot.
“The week after, Vince walked up to me in catering, which is rare, and said, ‘You’ve got to change your name,’” Morrison recalled. “He put a paper down on the table and a pen and said, ‘Just make a list of names.’ So I was really on the spot.”
Morrison said he began brainstorming names that fit the initials “M.M.” and drew inspiration from celebrity surnames while writing the list.
“I was like, maybe Johnny Brando, John Morrissey, John Morrison,” he said. “I couldn’t think of very many Ms, so I made a list of kind of like celebrity, Brando, Morrison, Johnny Brando, stuff like that.”
The first name on the list ultimately became the one that stuck.
“The first one that I’d written down was John Morrison, and a couple of hours later I handed this list to Vince,” he said. “He read the top and was like, ‘John Morrison, I like it. That’s it.’”
The name remained with Morrison throughout the remainder of his WWE career and became the identity most closely associated with him.
