MNM (professional wrestling)

MNM
Stable
Mitglieder	John Morrison John morrison Melina
Name(s)	MNM (Mercury, Nitro, Melina)
Billed heights	Mercury: 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) Nitro: 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Melina: 5 ft 4 in (1.63 m)
Combined billed weight	(Mercury, Nitro and Melina)
Billed from	Hollywood, California
Debut	2004
Disbanded	March 26, 2007

MNM was a professional wrestling stable in World Wrestling Entertainment that consisted of Joey Mercury (previously Joey Matthews), Johnny Nitro, and manager/valet Melina Perez. Though they broke up and reunited on one occasion, while together Mercury and Nitro were three time WWE Tag Team Champions and Melina was a one time WWE Women's Champion.

Their gimmick was that of a trio of Hollywood celebrities, complete with a red carpet ring entrance, that had them accompanied by "paparazzi". Their group name was derived from the first letter of Mercury and Nitro's last names, along with the first letter of Melina's first.

History

Ohio Valley Wrestling

MNM was first put together in the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) "farm territory" Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW). Melina Perez, Johnny Nitros actual girlfriend, was introduced into the company as his ex-girlfriend, now siding with Matt Cappotelli with whom Nitro was engaged in a feud. Almost immediately, however, Perez turned on Cappotelli and re-sided with Nitro. Together they introduced Joey Matthews to become MNM. While in OVW, Nitro and Matthews won the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship once, holding it for for over two months.

Smackdown!

All three members of MNM were called up to the main SmackDown! roster on April 14, 2005, with Matthews undergoing a name change to Joey Mercury. They made their debut during the first Carlito's Cabana interview segment "crashing" an interview between Carlito and WWE Tag Team Champion Rey Mysterio, attacking him to begin a feud with him and his partner, Eddie Guerrero over the Tag Team title. Two weeks later, in their debut match on the SmackDown! brand, they won the title from Mysterio and Guerrero after Guerrero walked out in the middle of the match. While Nitro and Mercury held the championship Melina got involved with Heidenreich, publicly mocking him and being the impetus for an attack on him by Nitro and Mercury. During the attack he was saved by a returning Road Warrior Animal, and together they challenged Mercury and Nitro at the Great American Bash, defeating them for the title.

The loss of the Tag Team Championship was seen as "bad publicity" by Melina so she introduced Jillian Hall, a (kayfabe) spin doctor to repair their image. Hall worked as something of a fourth member of MNM in addition to a "PR agent". In addition to her (kayfabe) getting them a cover article in SmackDown! Magazine she helped Melina in her running feud with Torrie Wilson and managed Nitro and Mercury against Booker T and Sharmell Sullivan. In September, Hall left the group to join JBL, who'd just lost a match to the much smaller Rey Mysterio.

On October 28, Mercury and Nitro were placed into a Fatal Fourway tag team match against the Mexicools (Super Crazy and Psicosis); William Regal & Paul Birchall; and the WWE Tag Team Champions L.O.D. 2005 (Heidenreich and Road Warrior Animal) and after The Dicks (Chad and James) interfered were able to hit Heidenreich with the Snapshot and win the title for a second time. This time they only held the belt for two months, losing them to a teaming of Batista and Rey Mysterio on December 16. Before the match where they lost the championship Melina attempted to convince Batista to cancel it by bribing him with sex, only to have him thank her for "the warm up". Two weeks later Mark Henry was added to the group as Melina's bodyguard, after she claimed she felt she had been sexually harassed and promptly helped MNM win the title back. Henry was only with the group a short time before his contract was (kayfabe) sold to Daivari.

Throughout April of 2006 MNM found themselves in a losing streak against the team of Paul London and Brian Kendrick. In in non-title tag team matches, singles matches, and even a six man tag match London and Kendrick seemed to always have Mercury and Nitro's number. At May's Judgment Day MNM were defeated by London and Kendrick again, but this time in a title match. after the Melina and Nitro turned on Mercury, assaulting him and breaking up MNM. Later in the same night Melina lost to former associate Jillian Hall in a match with a controversial ending, prompting her to complain to SmackDown! General Manager Theodore Long -- and eventually slap him -- which got both her and Nitro (kayfabe) fired from the brand, sending them to RAW. In actuality Mercury was about to begin serving a suspension for violating the WWE Wellness program.

Réunion

After a brief stint back in OVW, Joey Mercury returned to WWE, reuniting MNM, in late November 2006 to answer an open challenge put out by The Hardys (Matt and Jeff) for the December to Dismember pay-per-view. Back together they finally defeated London and Kendrick on an episode of SmackDown!, but lost to the Hardys at December to Dismember. MNM and the Hardys met again at Armageddon as part of a Fatal Four Way Ladder match, which also included the teams of Dave Taylor & William Regal and Paul London and Brian Kendrick. During the match, which saw London and Kendrick retain, Mercury was (legitimately) injured when he was stuck in the face with a ladder, necessitating a trip to the emergency room where his broken nose received 15 stitches. The facial injury was worked into the angle, and when Mercury returned (wearing a protective covering on his face) the rivalry between the teams intensified with MNM actively seeking to injure one or both of the Hardys, even going so far as to attack and Snapshot Matt on exposed concrete after a match.

On March 26, 2007, WWE.com announced the release of Joey Mercury, ending MNM as a tag team, though Nitro and Melina continued to be associated. For a short time Nitro took up with Kenny Dykstra as a partner, until the Supplemental Draft placed Nitro on the ECW brand, Dykstra on SmackDown!, and Melina on RAW.

In wrestling

• Finishing and siganture maneuvers

• Team Maneuvers

• Snapshot (Double team flapjack DDT) - Nitro & Mercury
• Simultaneous leg-drops to the throat and leg - Nitro & Mercury
• Double baseball-slide dropkick - Nitro & Mercury
• Assisted Enzuigiri (Mercury holds opponent, and Nitro performs a step-up enzuigiri)

• Joey Mercury

• Double underhook DDT
• Hangman's neckbreaker

• Johnny Nitro

• Standing shooting star press
• Superkick

• Melina

• Spinning hair-pull facebuster

• Ring entrance

• After their music starts playing, members of the "paparazzi" come out, placing a red carpet for MNM to walk on. As they're walking, the paparazzi takes photos of them in a typical Hollywood movie star fashion.
• The two male members of MNM usually wore genuine fur coats to the ring. As they take them off Melina suggestively rubs their six packs while removing the title belts from their pants, where they hang in an exaggerated phallic fashion.
• Melina has a signature entrance which involves her doing a split on the ring apron -- from the floor -- then bending forward and crawling under the bottom rope.

Championships and accomplishments

• Ohio Valley Wrestling

• OVW Southern Tag Team Championship (1 time)

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated

• Tag Team of the Year (2005)

• World Wrestling Entertainment

• WWE Tag Team Championship (Mercury and Nitro, 3 times)
• WWE Women's Championship (Melina, 1 time)