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THE FIRST AEW JOKER REVEALED TO BE FORMER WWE STAR

John Hennigan, billed as Johnny Elite, was revealed to be the Joker for the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament tonight on AEW Dynamite.

Hennigan, 42 years old, had a long run with WWE after winning the third season of their Tough Enough reality series, performing for the promotion through 2011 as John Morrison.    During his first run with the company, he held the WWE Intercontinental Championship, the WWE version of the ECW title and had several WWE Tag Team title reigns with Joey Mercury.   During the second, he reprised his tandem with the Miz, working for the company from 2019 through last year when he was released.

Hennigan was also one of the top stars in the El Rey Network's Lucha Underground promotion, performing as Johnny Mundo and holding the Lucha Underground Championship.  In Mexico, Hennigan held the AAA Mega Championship as well as their Cruiserweight title.   

Hennigan migrated to Impact Wrestling in 2017, where he, as Johnny Impact held the promotion's top title and had been one of the cornerstones of the company.    He departed after the July 2019 Slammiversary PPV and had really found himself in the promotion with his "Mayor of Slamtown" persona.

Outside of professional wrestling in recent years, Hennigan has also cultivated quite an acting resume in both independent films and TV series over the last several years.   He co-wrote, executive produced and starred in the independent film Boone the Bounty Hunter, which was released in 2017.  Hennigan appeared in the first season of Netflix's GLOW and appeared in Russell Madness, Sharknado 5 and Hercules Reborn, among other films.  Hennigan has a new short horror film The Iron Sheik Massacre set for in the future.

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