YMMV / John Morrison

• Awesome Music: "Now listen, this ain't no make believe..."
• Badass Decay: After returning to WWE in 2019 after a long and very fruitful run in Impact Wrestling and the indies, he redebuted in the big leagues as... The Miz's flunky, his "shocking return" taking the form of him answering a sulking Miz's dressing room door for him to say Miz didn't want to talk to anyone. Since then, the former Lucha Underground, AAA and Impact champion has, despite winning the SmackDown Tag Team Championships with Miz and putting on some great matches that prove he's Still Got It (especially his ladder match against Kofi Kingston and Jimmy Uso at WrestleMania 36), been treated as nothing more than a lower-mid-card comedy goof, even when Miz used the Money in the Bank briefcase to tease a cash-in on WWE Champion Drew McIntyre. In August of 2021, Miz finally turned heel by attacking Morrison, setting up Morrison as a face and possibly reversing the decay. However, the feud was cut short by Miz going on hiatus to join Dancing With The Stars and by November, Morrison got unceremoniously released due to budget cuts.
• Base-Breaking Character:
  • The IWC likes him enough, but they're pretty divided as to whether or not John Morrison actually deserves a main event push. It's mostly because half of them see Morrison as a Spot Monkey while the other half doesn't.
  • The debate about whether his relationship with Melina damaged his career. While causing some heated debates during its time, it seems to have become a moot point now, with both being remembered for their accomplishments once they broke up for good.
• Designated Villain: On Lucha Underground, particularly during his feud with El Patrón Alberto. El Patrón instigated it, continued to instigate more when Mundo tried to ignore him and got into a contender ship match because of his Triple A Mega Champion status while Mundo had been in Lucha Underground from the beginning and never got a shot since competing with Prince Puma to be the first champion. Once Mundo finally did something resembling a heel action, throwing El Patrón through Jefe Dario Cueto's office window, most viewers came to the conclusion Alberto had it coming, with it being seen as going slightly too far, but still understandable at worst. Of course, after that he just went full-blown scumbag heel anyway.
• Draco in Leather Pants: More like Draco in Liberace's old Jazzercise gear, but it still applies.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Morrison had a cult following online since his ECW Championship reign.
• 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?
• Growing the Beard: For some, Morrison got a lot better as a performer once he left WWE and joined the independent scene, particularly in Lucha Underground and TNA, improving himself as a wrestler over the years in his post-WWE career. And for many, his acting chops improved as well when he took part in shows like Survivor, some independent Direct-To-DVD films, and even a few fan-made productions where he got to star as Casey Jones and the Winter Soldier.
• Heartwarming in Hindsight: Morrison helping Maryse in the Money in the Bank Ladder match was a nice moment showcasing John as a decent guy in and of itself. But considering how Maryse eventually married John's best buddy both in-and-out-of-kayfabe, the Miz, John Morrison can truly in retrospect be considered a "best man" of sorts to Miz before Miz and Maryse even became a couple.
• Heartwarming Moments: John showed that he was a pretty decent guy by catching his rival Ted DiBiase's golddigger of a girlfriend, Maryse, who isn't too nice herself, and setting her down, putting off revenge and winning the Money in the Bank Ladder match just to do the right thing? It's good to see a face do something nice beyond praising the audience or looking better than the other guy.
• Ho Yay: He and tag team partner The Miz.
• Love to Hate: As a heel, especially partnering with The Miz.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • "John Morrison is Spider-Man" is a massive meme.
  • On a harsher note, the 2007 Vengeance event launched the "Hey Johnny Nitro. Who died so you could be champion?" meme.
• Most Wonderful Sound: The guitar riff from his WWE theme.
• Narm: Sorry Corey Graves, no matter how many times you say it, "Johnny Drip Drip" just does not sound anything less than stupid.
• Never Live It Down:
  • To some fans at least, Morrison has yet to live down the fact that he rose to main event status in WWE entirely because of the Chris Benoit double-murder and suicide.
  • While John Morrison alone is known as a good wrestler, bring up his long-term, on- and off-screen relationship with Melina, and the first thing one will probably hear is the gossip and rumors of her sleeping around with guys like Batista with his consent^note The "Melina" who Batista's most high profile affair was with is not the same one Morrison dated (it was apparently Milena Roucka, aka Rosa Mendes), but Batista has been defensive of a relationship with the Melina Morrison dated in interviews. Whether or not this just name confusion on everyone's part or a confession on Batista's part hasn't been sorted out for the general public that cares. The fact that there was actually a storyline on SmackDown in which it was implied (in no uncertain terms) that Melina slept with Batista in exchange for Batista to not go after MNM (which he still did anyway) does not help clear things up.
  • A lesser degree with Taya Valkyrie, mostly because Mundo remaining on the next AAA show following a supposed controversy (AAA stripping Valkyrie of their women's championship and her supposedly quitting as a result) meant his visible involvement was almost certainly part of an angle, albeit a confusing angle seemingly designed to put the spotlight more on Vampiro than the challengers to Mundo's belts, but in this case a convoluted angle is preferred to another burnt bridge.
• One-Scene Wonder: He's been giving the performances of the night starting with Survivor Series '10.
• Replacement Scrappy:
  • After some called Morrison the next Shawn Michaels, the Internet exploded in rage at the comparison.
  • Played straight in Vengeance: Night of Champions 2007, when he replaced Chris Benoit.
  • In one his last matches in the company, he was shoehorned into a United States Title match against Dolph Ziggler instead of Zack Ryder, who was almost as over as CM Punk at the time. Morrison got shouted down with "We Want Ryder" chants.
• Shocking Moments: He's, more or less, the benchmark of shocking moments in the PG Era:
  • Top rope moonsault with a ladder? Holy shit...
  • Drew such a reaction from trainer Al Snow when he pulled off his standing SSP during his run on the reality show WWE Tough Enough 3.
  • Royal Rumble 2011. Morrison gets flung from the ring, grabs the barricade, and manages to run along it back to the ring without his feet touching the ground once. Fans are already calling it the "Ninja Spot".
  • The 1-31-11 episode of RAW featured a mini-Royal Rumble that saw Morrison avoid elimination in ways never seen before - including suspending himself off the ground by hooking the insteps of his feet around the bottom ring rope and hanging... without using his hands.
  • His performance at the 2011 Elimination Chamber proved once and for all John Morrison shouldn't be wrestling... he should be out fighting crime.
  • Coming out of Miz's dressing room on the first SmackDown in 2020, revealing he had returned to WWE after 8 years.