Former TNA star Matt Morgan recently appeared on The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast to discuss his last run in TNA, his feud with Bram, and if he has been approached to join GFW. Here are the highlights.
How was the atmosphere at TNA when he came in for his last run vs. Bram:
It was such an encapsulated type of experience because, what I saw is might have been everybody’s “A” game or best face or best foot forward because they knew they were getting me there for three hours, one day and four hours the day of the pay per view. So when you have a special guest come in or an older talent come in for one match, you are going to get everybody’s smiley face. You’re not going to get the sh*t end of the story, or hear all the drama, or hear “GOD this place sucks” but nor would I, I don’t think either. Everyone was just trying to catch up with what was going on and what I’ve been up to. These were people that were like family members to me and a lot of them ironically a week or two after I left a lot of those family members were leaving TNA anyway.
How did TNA approach him:
Here’s the thing, I’m retired retired. I love pro wrestling, I love watching it still and I’m always trying to catch up on Raw and NXT, especially NXT. Impact not as much and not because it’s an inferior show, I just honestly didn’t know what channel, I didn’t even know if I got Destination America and at this point I don’t have time to be looking around for sh*t like that. Every once in awhile I’d get a text or a call from “Big”, John Gaburick. He had a lot to do with me being on Tough Enough 2 and was a big believer of mine. He took over creative when I left TNA and we always wanted to work with one another obviously and he’s always trying to give me a little check in here and there to see if I’d be willing to come back and I think he figured out for sure that I was done with it, and he kind of stopped. But then he approached me with an idea for me to come back for just a one time only thing if I was interested and they were now filming again at Universal Studios, they were no longer on the road like they were when I left. They are twenty minuets from my house. More importantly, I wanted to say my son saw me wrestle live. In the long run what I am doing is best for my family of course. For that little braggadocios moment that my kid would never have had.
Has Jeff Jarrett recruited Morgan for Global Force Wrestling:
Yeah definitely. I remembered asking Jeff if he had heard that TNA had contacted me about coming back and Jeff is another guy that has always been a backer of mine to a degree and would always believe in me and give me that fair shake. So the day the Jeff called me, the same exact day he called me to do one of those House Shows for Global Force and this was awhile back like in March or April (2015) the same morning I had a voicemail from “Big” from TNA as well and I asked Jeff if he knew why “Big” would be calling me by any chance and are you in touch with TNA at all and he said he had no idea. I thought it was ironic that both of them called the same exact day and it’s been two years since I was on TV.
The Global Force/ TNA Relationship and having a co-branded invasion:
I just think that from Jeff’s perspective at the time there was zero brand awareness for what he has done with his amazing job and marketing campaign but as far as an “on television” presence there was zero. So to be able to get on a network and invade a company no matter who it is as long as it is national television it’s nothing but a koo and a win for him. With TNA I thought it was very foolish. Unless there was a long term plan to get back in bed with Jeff and go back to doing what he had done for TNA in the past as a booker or part owner then that’s a different story. I’m guessing that isn’t the case because TNA is no longer going to be on Destination America.
What was the biggest mistake as far as what he has seen with TNA business:
That stuff with Spike and I love him to death and he has done so much for me in this business, I love Hulk Hogan. That said with him and Eric (Bischoff) they spent so much money at TNA bringing in all these people and nothing affected the ratings. You could bring Jesus Christ to that show on Spike television and nothing was going to move that needle the way that people just assumed that needle could be moved because of star power. It just doesn’t happen overnight, not even months it takes years, that’s just the way it works. We spent all that money on those guys coming in and nothing really came of it and I’m sorry the 1.4 is not a big enough number for me to be impressed with those guys that we had on that January 4th (2010) show on Spike.
You can listen to the entire interview here:
