| Matt Morgan | |
|---|---|
| Ring name(s) | Beast (American Gladiators) Gomorrah[1] The Blueprint[1] Matt Morgan[1] |
| Billed height | 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) |
| Billed weight | 328 lb (149 kg)[2] |
| Born | September 10, 1976 [1] Fairfield, Connecticut[1] |
| Billed from | Fairfield, Connecticut[2] |
| Trained by | Bob Holly Al Snow[1] |
| Debut | 2002[1] |
Matthew Thomas Morgan (born September 10, 1976)[1] is an American professional wrestler, currently signed with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling as "The Blueprint" Matt Morgan. He is currently in his second reign as one half of the TNA World Tag Team Champions.
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After a successful high school basketball career at Fairfield High School in Connecticut, Morgan played Division I college basketball with Monmouth University at center position.[3] During Morgan's freshman year at the university, the Monmouth Hawks defeated Rider University to become the Northeast Conference champions. By winning the conference tournament, Morgan and the Hawks received an automatic bid to the 1996 NCAA tournament.
Of his trip to the tournament, Morgan said, "it was fun to be able to say that you actually played in the NCAA tournament and actually got some minutes. I didn’t score, but at least I got in as a freshman, which was cool."[4] Monmouth lost to Marquette University in the first round of the tournament by a final score of 68 - 44.[5] Following a coaching change at Monmouth, Morgan transferred to Chaminade University in Hawaii, where he finished his college basketball career and graduated magna cum laude.[6]
Morgan had professional tryouts with the NBA's Indiana Pacers and Toronto Raptors, but was not offered a contract by either team.
Morgan was first introduced to the World Wrestling Federation when he entered as part of its Tough Enough II program but left the show early due to an injury. In April 2002, Morgan signed a developmental deal with World Wrestling Federation (WWF), and was assigned to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW). He made his OVW debut on October 2, 2002 at the OVW TV Tapings as "The Blueprint" Matt Morgan teaming with Mark Jindrak, defeating Bane and Lance Cade.[7] He wrestled there sporadically (usually winning handicap matches)[8][9] until October 2003 when he was called up to the SmackDown brand.
He made his WWE debut on the October 30, 2003 episode of SmackDown! and was picked with the returning Nathan Jones by then General Manager of SmackDown!, Paul Heyman, to join Team Lesnar, which consisted of Matt Morgan, Nathan Jones, Brock Lesnar, Big Show and A-Train.[10] It was hinted that Matt Morgan and Nathan Jones would be a tag team, but their only tag team match was at the 2003 Survivor Series pay-per-view, when they took on Team Angle (not the stable introduced one year earlier, but a one-off combination of five wrestlers). They lost to Team Angle in a ten-person elimination tag team match at 2003 Survivor Series. Matt Morgan was eliminated by Kurt Angle after Kurt Angle gave Matt Morgan an Angle Slam.[11] Matt Morgan was then used to make run-ins along with the other members of Team Lesnar, helping Brock Lesnar against his opponents.
Very soon thereafter, Nathan Jones quit WWE, so Matt Morgan occasionally teamed with Brock Lesnar. He teamed up with Brock Lesnar, Big Show, and Rhyno in a four-on-two Handicap match against Chris Benoit and John Cena on the January 22, 2004 edition of SmackDown!, in a losing effort.[12] On January 25, 2004, he competed in the 2004 Royal Rumble match, in which the winner would get a title shot against their brand's champion at WrestleMania XX; he got rid of The Hurricane but was eliminated by Chris Benoit, who would go on to win the match and the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XX.[13]
Two nights later, Paul Heyman announced a second Royal Rumble match to air on television. This shortened match would only feature the Royal Rumble match participants from the SmackDown brand. But during the announcement, he claimed (accurately) that Matt Morgan had sustained a shoulder injury and he would be replaced by eventual match winner, Eddie Guerrero.
After Lesnar quit the WWE, Morgan was sent back to OVW for further development and experience, wrestling again as "The Blueprint" Matt Morgan and on April 14, 2004 he defeated Nick Dinsmore to become the OVW Heavyweight Champion.[14][15] He would hold the belt for almost six months before losing it to Chris Cage on October 13, 2004.[15] Since the stipulation was that if Morgan lost he would "never show his face again" in OVW, he began wearing a mask to the ring and tweaked his name to simply The Blueprint. He would regain the OVW Heavyweight Championship on April 13, 2005 at an OVW live event after defeating Elijah Burke, but lost the title 17 days later to Brent Albright on April 30 after Albright hit Morgan with a crowbar.[1]
Morgan returned to the WWE on the April 21, 2005 episode of SmackDown!, with a new gimmick as a stuttering big-man who was defensive over his speech disorder, and quickly defeated a then-unknown jobber, Zack Ryder.[16] On the May 19 episode of Smackdown!, he allied himself with Carlito Caribbean Cool and became his "backup".[17] Morgan helped Carlito defeat The Big Show at Judgment Day, using Lesnar's former finisher, the F-5.[18][19] This partnership ended when Carlito was drafted to Raw,[20] and Morgan was subsequently released by WWE on July 5, 2005.[21][22] His last match in the WWE was on the July 7, 2005 episode of SmackDown! against William Regal, although technically the match never took place as Morgan was attacked by The Mexicools before Regal ever got to the ring.[23]
Morgan toured with New Japan Pro Wrestling in late 2005, defeating Yuji Nagata in his debut match. He was being pushed as a "monster gaijin" and along with Brock Lesnar, was expected to become one of NJPW's top foreign wrestlers, but plans for this were abandoned when he decided to leave NJPW to go to All Japan Pro Wrestling. Morgan debuted in All Japan Pro Wrestling as a member of Taka Michinoku's foreigner-oriented RO&D faction. He and Mark Jindrak wrestled for HUSTLE as a tag team under the names of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Morgan also worked for NWE Wrestling in Italy and Rings of Europe in Austria, where he participated as the Monster Heel in a 20 Men Rumble Match. He and Joe Legend became allies but were unable to defeat Austrian Hero Big Van Walter in the end.
Morgan debuted in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) on the August 7, 2007 episode of TNA Today, appearing briefly in the background of a segment featuring Eric Young and Jeremy Borash.[1] On the August 9 episode of TNA Impact!, Morgan appeared alongside former TNA Management Director Jim Cornette, with TNA later identifying him as Cornette's "backup".[24] Morgan was the Special Enforcer in the Samoa Joe and Christian Cage match at Bound for Glory, preventing Christian's Coalition from interfering as Joe gave Cage his first true defeat in TNA.[25]
Morgan had to restrain Tomko and A.J. Styles on the October 18 edition of Impact! when they tried interfering in the main event helping Christian defeat Samoa Joe in a Fight For The Right Qualifying match.[1]
On the April 3, 2008 edition of TNA Impact!, it was revealed that Morgan allowed Team Tomko to add James Storm to their team, giving them a five-to-four advantage heading into Lockdown; however, at the end of the program, it was revealed that Morgan himself had joined Team Cage.[26] The next week, Jim Cornette relieved Morgan of his assistant duties to become a full-time wrestler. With Morgan joining Team Cage, he established himself as a fan favorite, and went back to his old OVW nickname, "The Blueprint". Morgan teamed up with Kip James at Sacrifice as a result of the Deuces Wild Tournament draw.[27] They failed to win the tag titles as James and Morgan could not get along long enough.[27] He then began to feud with The Rock 'n Rave Infection after defeating Jimmy Rave in less than two minutes on July 17.[28] Lance Rock immediately challenged Morgan to a match right there, and Morgan squashed him.[28]
In August 2008 Morgan entered a tag team up with Abyss. The storyline was an additional chapter in the "Abyss' humanisation" storyline. Since his return to television, Abyss had portrayed an emotionally vulnerable character, exaggerating the meaning behind every gesture he received. Abyss saw Morgan as his best friend, and was desperate not to displease him. But Abyss' new sensitivity made him more naive, thus causing him to make simple errors that cost the team matches. Through time, Morgan would go from understanding to frustrated over Abyss' errors. They feuded briefly with Team 3D. The duo defeated Team 3D at No Surrender, but lost at Bound for Glory IV in a Monster's Ball match for the TNA World Tag Team Championship, which Beer Money, Inc. won.[29][30] On the November 6 episode of Impact! Morgan and Abyss won a four team ladder match to earn a future TNA World Tag Team Championship match against Beer Money, Inc., which they lost at Final Resolution when Storm hit Abyss with brass knuckles when the referee was distracted.[31][32] They gained a third opportunity at the belts at Genesis in a three-way match against Beer Money, Inc. and then-champions Jay Lethal and Consequences Creed. During the match, Abyss accidentally knocked Morgan out with one of the championship belts, causing him to be pinned by Beer Money.[33]
On the following Impact!, the team fought against Lethal and Creed in a number one contenders match for the tag team championship, which ended with Morgan once again being pinned because of Abyss.[34] On the January 23 edition of Impact!, Morgan and Abyss battled Beer Money, Inc. in a non-title first blood match. Towards the end of the match, Morgan turned on Abyss after hitting him with a steel chair, causing him to bleed, giving Storm and Roode the win and turning heel in the process.[35] Abyss was so distraught over losing Morgan's friendship that he started having therapy sessions with his psychiatrist, Dr. Stevie at shows. At Against All Odds, Abyss defeated Morgan (who wrestled despite having a staph infection right to the bone of his shoulder) in a standard match.[1] Three weeks later, Morgan challenged Abyss to a Match of 10,000 Tacks at Destination X, which Abyss accepted the following week, after Morgan threatened his girlfriend Lauren.[1] Morgan defeated Abyss in the match after knocking him off the entrance ramp with his "Carbon Footprint" bicycle kick, onto two tables covered in tacks.[1] The feud ended at Lockdown, in a Doomsday Chamber of Blood Match, in which neither wrestler could be legally pinned were he not bleeding. Morgan won after interference by Abyss' psychiatrist, Dr. Stevie, by hitting Abyss with a back low blow and then a chokebomb onto a pile of tacks.[1] This ended the feud, with Abyss moving on to feuding with Dr. Stevie.
The following weeks Morgan began a campaign to convince the heel stable The Main Event Mafia to allow him to join them and become a member. He was aware that the current members of the Mafia were all former World Champions, but realising that Team 3D, Kip James and Al Snow had been invited into the Mafia (Team 3D refused, and James and Snow were rejected), Morgan felt he should have been invited too. Kurt Angle then hired Morgan to perform a series of tasks, constantly promising that the Mafia were considering inducting him. He faced Sting at Slammiversary, but was unable to defeat him and was thus barred from joining the Mafia.[36] At Victory Road he defeated Daniels to regain the Mafia's favour.[37] On the August 13, 2009, episode of Impact!, Morgan defeated A.J. Styles in the deciding match of a "Best of Three Series" to secure his place in a triple threat match at Hard Justice also involving Sting and Kurt Angle.[38] He lost at the event after Angle hit him with a steel chair.[39] At No Surrender competed in a re-match that also featured A.J. Styles and Hernandez, who used his "Feast or Fired" contract to include himself in the match, but was removed after a few minutes when he sustained an injury at the hands of Eric Young. During the match, Styles attempted a front flip senton from the apron onto Morgan outside of the ring, at the same moment Angle attempted to attack Morgan, but accidentally got struck by Styles instead. Morgan seemingly took this as a friendly gesture and agreed to assist Angle for the remainder of the match. But when Angle seemed set to win, Morgan turned on Angle and cost him the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, turning into a fan favorite in the process.[40] On the September 24, 2009, episode of Impact!, Morgan cemented his newfound disinterest in the Main Event Mafia when he teamed with Hernandez to defeat Kurt Angle and Eric Young, which also solidified his status as a face.[41] On the following impact, he teamed with former rival Abyss to defeat Kurt Angle and Mick Foley. Another week later, on the October 1 edition of impact, Matt Morgan defeated Eric Young. On October 5 Morgan announced on his twitter page that he had signed a new 5-year deal with TNA.[42] Morgan's feud with Angle culminated in a singles match at Bound for Glory, where despite Morgan's loss, he managed to gain Angle's respect.[43] This match practically ended the Main Event Mafia.
Since then Morgan teamed up with Hernandez and D'Angelo Dinero and moved on to feuding with Rhino and Team 3D, who accused TNA of favoring the younger talent of the company.[44] At Turning Point, Rhino and Team 3D defeated Morgan, Hernandez and Dinero in a street fight.[45] The next night, the two teams had a re-match which ended the same way after Jesse Neal returned and attacked Hernandez with a steel chair. It was announced that the both teams would face of at Final Resolution in an elimination match, but both teams were required to have four members. Team 3D immediately enlisted Neal, while Dinero pursued Suicide's help. Both teams fought in a regular tag match to determine an additional stipulation on the forthcoming match at Final Resolution. The match at Final Resolution would begin as a 4-on-1 handicap match, but the disadvantaged wrestler could have his partners join the match if he survived the first 5 minutes. Neal pinned Hernandez, meaning that Hernandez and his team would be disadvantaged at Final Resolution. At the pay-per-view Morgan, Hernandez, Dinero and Suicide defeated Jesse Neal, Team 3D and Rhino in an eight-man elimination tag team match, with Morgan scoring the deciding fall on Brother Ray.[46]
On the January 4, 2010, live, three hour, Monday night edition of Impact! Morgan and Hernandez defeated Dr. Stevie and Raven to become the number one contenders to the TNA World Tag Team Champions British Invasion (Brutus Magnus and Doug Williams) at Genesis.[47] At the pay-per-view Morgan and Hernandez defeated the British Invasion to win the TNA World Tag Team Championship, his first major championship.[48] At Against All Odds as part of the 8 Card Stud Tournament Morgan and Hernandez were forced to face each other in the first round. Morgan defeated Hernandez by taking advantage of his injured shoulder and pinning him, while grabbing a hold of his trunks. However, in the semifinals Morgan was defeated by the eventual winner of the entire tournament, D'Angelo Dinero.[49] At Destination X Morgan and Hernandez retained the Tag Team Titles in a match against Beer Money despite plenty of miscommunication between the two champions. After the match Morgan nailed Hernandez with the Carbon Footprint and left with both titles, turning heel in the process.[50] The following day on Impact! Morgan defeated Hernandez via referee stoppage after sandwiching his head between his boot and the ring post, putting him out of action indefinitely.[51] With Hernandez scheduled to miss months of action, Morgan declared himself the sole World Tag Team Champion on the April 5 edition of Impact! and TNA went along with this and recognized him as the sole Champion.[52] in addition to this he began to reference himself as "matt and morgan" making him seem as if he had split personality disorder. Morgan then went on to successfully defend the Tag Team Titles teaming with the likes of Amazing Red, Shark Boy and Jesse Neal as his partner, attacking each of them after the matches.[53][54][55] On the May 3 edition of Impact! it was announced that Morgan would defend the Tag Team Championship at Sacrifice against Jesse Neal and Shannon Moore, both of whom he had attacked in the two previous weeks, and that Hulk Hogan would decide his partner for the match.[56] On the May 13 edition of Impact! Morgan demanded to find out who his partner would be and when he did not get an answer, threatened to turn his match against Generation Me (Jeremy and Max Buck) into a bloodbath. However, Samoa Joe came to the ring to put a stop to this and gave Morgan the Muscle Buster. This led to The Band coming out and Kevin Nash cashing in his "Feast or Fired" contract, after which he pinned Morgan to make himself and Scott Hall the new TNA World Tag Team Champions.[57] On the June 3 edition of Impact!, Matt Morgan was distracted by somebody in the crowd which cost him a four-way match with Samoa Joe, Sting and the winner of the match, TNA World Heavyweight Champion Rob Van Dam. The camera's immediately showed what was distracting Morgan, but nobody could clearly see who it was, although Taz and Mike Tenay believed it to be Hernandez.[58] The following week, Hernandez made his official return by attacking Morgan. After the attack The Band gave the injured Morgan the rematch he had wanted for the World Tag Team Championship and easily defeated him to retain the title.[59] At Slammiversary VIII Morgan defeated Hernandez via disqualification, when Hernandez was disqualified for shoving the referee, when he had gotten enough of him reprimanding him for going after Morgan.[60] The following month at Victory Road Morgan was defeated by Hernandez in a Steel Cage match.[61]
On the July 15 edition of Impact! Morgan went to attack D'Angelo Dinero, after losing to him in a singles match, but was stopped by Mr. Anderson.[62] The following week Anderson defeated Morgan, who then attacked and bloodied him.[63] On the July 29 edition of Impact!, Morgan was involved in an altercation with Mr. Anderson and Jeff Hardy, during which two security guards, Gunner and Murphy, came out and attacked Hardy and Anderson. Later that night Morgan, Gunner, and Murphy were defeated in a three-on-two handicap match by Hardy and Anderson, after Morgan walked out during the match.[64] On the August 12 edition of Impact! Morgan joined Ric Flair's Fortune (originally spelled Fourtune) stable, as he, A.J. Styles, Kazarian, Robert Roode, James Storm and Douglas Williams attacked EV 2.0, a stable consisting of former Extreme Championship Wrestling performers.[65] At Bound for Glory Morgan, Styles, Kazarian, Roode and Storm were defeated in a Lethal Lockdown match by EV 2.0 members Tommy Dreamer, Raven, Rhino, Sabu and Stevie Richards.[66] On the following edition of Impact! Fortune formed an alliance with Hulk Hogan's and Eric Bischoff's new stable, Immortal.[67]
On the October 28 edition of Impact!, Morgan began showing signs of a face turn by showing concern for the concussed Mr. Anderson and trying to convince Eric Bischoff not to allow him to wrestle Jeff Jarrett in a chain match in the main event of the night. Morgan ended up taking Anderson's spot in the match, but was defeated after a low blow. After the match Fortune, minus Douglas Williams, turned on Morgan and beat him down, effectively turning him into a fan favorite.[68] The following week Morgan became the number one contender to TNA World Heavyweight Champion Jeff Hardy by attacking Bischoff and signing a contract, which was originally meant for Mr. Anderson, who was unable to attend the event due to his concussion.[69] At Turning Point Morgan failed in his attempt to win the TNA World Heavyweight Championship from Hardy. During the match Morgan seemingly scored a three count on Hardy, but this was missed by the referee of the match.[70][71] Due to the controversy surrounding the title match, Morgan was given a chance to earn another shot at the TNA World Heavyweight Championship on the following edition of Impact! in a three–on–one handicap match against Fortune members Douglas Williams, James Storm and Robert Roode. Morgan won the match, after Beer Money, Inc. abandoned Williams, but was afterwards laid out by Jeff Hardy.[71][72] On the November 18 edition of Impact! Morgan defeated Ric Flair in a singles match, after Douglas Williams turned on the rest of Fortune, when they interfered in the match. As a result, Morgan earned the right to choose a special guest referee for the match between himself and Hardy at Final Resolution.[73] On the December 2 edition of Impact! Morgan announced the returning Mr. Anderson as the special guest referee for his title match.[74] At Final Resolution Hardy defeated Morgan to once again retain the World Heavyweight Championship. During the match Anderson was knocked out during which Morgan seemingly had the match won, but when a replacement referee came to the ring, Hardy managed to pull himself together and pinned Morgan to win the match.[75]
At Genesis Morgan was defeated by Mr. Anderson in a number one contender's match.[76] On the February 10 edition of Impact!, Morgan received a shot at Anderson's TNA World Heavyweight Championship, but was defeated following interference from the returning Hernandez, who made his first TNA appearance in over six months.[77] On the March 3 edition of Impact! Morgan defeated Hernandez via disqualification.[78] On March 13 at Victory Road, Hernandez defeated Morgan in a First Blood match, after using fake blood on him, following a distraction from a planted fan, later identified as Anarquia, the newest member of Hernandez's Mexican America stable.[79] On April 17 at Lockdown, Morgan defeated Hernandez in a steel cage match to win the feud.[80] With his feud with Hernandez behind him, Morgan announced his intention of going for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship on the following edition of Impact!, but was interrupted by Scott Steiner who claimed to be next in line for the shot, before laying Morgan out with a low blow.[81] On June 12 at Slammiversary IX, Morgan defeated Steiner in a singles match.[82] Later that month, Morgan entered the Bound for Glory Series to determine a number one contender for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. On the July 21 edition of Impact Wrestling, Morgan won a four man ladder match to climb to number three spot in the tournament's rankings, however, just four days later it was reported that Morgan had torn his pectoral muscle, which would sideline him for six weeks, ending his participation in the tournament.[83][84][85] Over the following weeks, Morgan was on commentary for the Bound for Glory Series matches.[86][87] On August 29 it was reported that Morgan had been cleared to return to the ring.[88]
On the September 1 edition of Impact Wrestling, Morgan tried to stop Samoa Joe, who had vowed to ruin the Bound for Glory Series, but got kicked in the groin. Later in the evening, Morgan called out Joe and brawled with him, which ended with Joe again kicking Morgan in the groin, before hitting him in the arm with a steel chair.[89] On September 11 at No Surrender, Morgan defeated Joe in a grudge match.[90] On the following edition of Impact Wrestling, Joe defeated Morgan in a submission match.[91] On October 16 Bound for Glory , Morgan and Joe were defeated by Crimson in a three-way match.[92] On November 13 at Turning Point, Morgan wrestled Crimson to a double disqualification.[93] On the following edition of Impact Wrestling, Morgan and Crimson defeated Mexican America to win the TNA World Tag Team Championship.[94] On December 11 at Final Resolution, Morgan and Crimson successfully defended their title against D'Angelo Dinero and Devon.[95] Later that same month, Morgan took part in TNA's India project, Ring Ka King, defeating Scott Steiner in a tournament final to become the promotion's inaugural Heavyweight Champion.[96]
In 2008, Morgan accepted an offer to appear on the third series of American Gladiators as one of the Gladiators. Morgan, under the name Beast, made his Gladiator debut during the first night of the semi-finals in the joust. He defeated each of his two opponents in less than eight seconds.[97][98] On September 24, 2010, Morgan appeared on Fox television show The Good Guys, playing the role of a Russian mobster on an episode titled Vacation.[99][100] In November 2010 Morgan was a contestant on an all TNA week of Family Feud, teaming with Jay Lethal, Mick Foley, Mr. Anderson and Rob Van Dam against Angelina Love, Christy Hemme, Lacey Von Erich, Tara and Velvet Sky.[101] On June 30, 2011, Morgan was announced as being a part of the new season of MTV show Made.[102]
Morgan announced on a 2008 episode of TNA Impact! during the TNA Webography segment where TNA Superstars give an insight into their life that he has been married to his college sweetheart, a Hawaiian/Filipino woman named Larissa Vasper from Hawaii for four years.[103] During that Webography, he also announced that when he was five, he was diagnosed with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD),[103] which led to him getting involved with CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), a non-profit organization based out of Landover, Maryland.[104][105]
In an interview with Pro Wrestling Report on 540 ESPN Radio, he stated "I'm a big Jay-Z fan" and that "The Blueprint" moniker was inspired by the album of the same name.[106]
In August 2008, it was announced that Morgan would contribute a sample of his DNA to be launched into space as part of game designer Richard Garriott's "Operation Immortality" project.[107]