Evidence for bipolar resistive switching is reported in individual metal-oxide-metal (MOM) nanowires in the system Au-NiO-Au, and a plausible mechanism for the same is presented. The MOM nanowire architecture may be well suited for much needed fundamental studies of resistive switching because it provides (i) high-quality end-on contacts, (ii) control over the dimensions of the oxide, (iii) ability to synthesize a very large number of nearly identical nanowires in a wide variety of MOM systems, and (iv) elimination of substrate-induced strain effects.