The Spirit Squad was an American professional wrestling stable in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) consisting of Kenny, Mikey, Johnny, Mitch, and Nicky. The team's ring personas were those of an all-male cheerleading squad. Before forming the group, all members competed in OVW, WWE's developmental territory, where they were once opponents. In January 2006, the Spirit Squad made their television debut on the Raw brand. Three months later, the team won the World Tag Team Championship and, by "executive decision", were all collectively recognized as champions and internally decided which two defended the championship at any given time. Their reign marked the first time five wrestlers had been simultaneously recognized as World Tag Team Champions. After losing the tag team championship in November 2006, the team disbanded. Kenny remained on WWE television regularly, Nicky, Mikey and Johnny returned to OVW, and Mitch was released from his WWE contract in May 2007. By 2009, Nicky would be repackaged as Dolph Ziggler and the rest of the group was released from WWE. From 2016 to 2019, Kenny and Mikey reunited as a duo and made appearances for WWE, Major League Wrestling (MLW), and the independent circuit. In 2021, Kenny returned to WWE as a trainer. Concept The idea for the Spirit Squad came directly from WWE chairman Vince McMahon. Originally, the group was scheduled to be made up of four wrestlers from WWE's developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW); Ken Doane, Nick Mitchell, Nick Nemeth and Elijah Burke. Burke, however, turned down McMahon's offer to join the Spirit Squad, feeling that he could not perform the acrobatics required from members of the group, and chose to remain in OVW. Burke was replaced in the Spirit Squad by Johnny Jeter and Mike Mondo. The five members were given new ring names Kenny, Johnny, Mitch, Nicky and Mikey. History Formation The Spirit Squad made their first appearances in WWE at house shows and in dark matches. On January 23, 2006, they had their television debut, when they appeared on Raw and helped Jonathan Coachman win a Royal Rumble qualifying match against Jerry "The King" Lawler by performing cheers for Coachman and distracting Lawler. In subsequent weeks, the team was hired by several wrestlers to perform cheers for them. They eventually became a part of the ongoing scripted feud between WWE chairman Vince McMahon and Shawn Michaels. The villainous McMahon ordered the Squad to perform disrespectful