Wrestler of the Day – June 18: Matt Morgan

Time for a big man who never got a run that everyone that was always around the corner: Matt Morgan.

Morgan started in OVW in 2002 before being called up to the Smackdown roster in late 2003. He was one of the monsters Brock Lesnar brought in to help him at Survivor Series 2003.

Team Angle vs. Team Lesnar

Kurt Angle, Hardcore Holly, John Cena, Bradshaw, Chris Benoit
Brock Lesnar, Nathan Jones, Matt Morgan, Big Show, A-Train

Cena does a rap before the match about how big the other team is. This is one of Morgan’s few matches in WWE. From what I can find, he had 18 total matches, one of which was over a year after his previous one. Holly is here because Lesnar broke his neck and now Holly wants revenge. This would result in Hardcore Holly actually getting a world title match at the Rumble. Show is US Champion here.

Holly jumps Lesnar during his entrance and tries to put him into a full nelson, earning himself a DQ before the match ever starts. Back in the ring, Bradshaw and A-Train start things off with Bradshaw blocking a Vader Bomb and hitting the Clothesline for the elimination to tie us up. Bradshaw charges into a chokeslam from Show and is out 20 seconds later.

Cena comes in but can’t FU Show yet. Off to Brock but Cena takes his knee out. A quick rollup gets two and Cena does the same thing again. Off to Morgan who isn’t quite as polished as Lesnar. A side slam puts Cena down and it’s already off to Jones. Jones does some very basic choking and it’s back to Brock. Cena hits the Throwback on Brock and there’s the tag to Benoit (notice the pop).

Benoit pounds on Lesnar in the corner but it’s back to Big Show and there’s only so much Show can do with him. Show lifts Benoit into the air and drops him on his face while talking trash to Angle. The chokeslam is countered into the Crossface but Brock (who is Smackdown Champion here) makes the save. Show puts on an abdominal stretch of all things followed by the standing legdrop for two.

Angle gets a tag but the referee doesn’t see it. Back to Morgan for some skilled standing on Benoit’s throat. Benoit speeds things up and takes out Morgan’s knee before tagging in Angle. Kurt immediately rolls some Germans on Matt and everything breaks down. Angle Slam eliminates Morgan, the ankle lock eliminates Jones (who would quit in about two weeks and never be seen again) and the F5 takes out Kurt, all in the span of about 25 seconds.

This gets us down to Benoit and Cena vs. Lesnar and Big Show. Lesnar misses a charge in the corner and Benoit goes after the arm like a crazy man. Brock gets Benoit up for the F5 but Benoit counters into the Crossface. Show makes the save so Benoit puts it right back in, only to have Brock make the ropes. The third time though gets a rare tap from Brock as this match is flying by. That more or less makes Benoit the #1 contender.

It’s Benoit and Cena vs. Big Show now as the fans tell Lesnar that he tapped out. Benoit hits a top rope shoulder but can’t put on the Crossface. Cena gets a blind tag and there’s a chokeslam to Benoit. A chain to Show’s head and the FU are enough for the pin. Somehow Cena wouldn’t win the US Title from Show for almost six more months.

Rating: C. Not a great match here but to say it got the fans fired up is the understatement of the year. That FU at the end was the usual jaw dropping moment for Cena and while the rest of the match was pretty forgettable, the crowd is all ready to go now, which is the point of this kind of a match. Angle would turn heel and feud with Eddie soon into the new year.

Here’s a better match for him a few days later on Smackdown, November 20, 2003.

Matt Morgan vs. Shannon Moore

Moore literally only comes up to Matt’s chest. Morgan counters a tilt-a-whirl with ease and the beating is on. He slams Shannon down and destroys him with a big boot. More choking in the corner sets up a sitout powerbomb to end the massacre.

After spending almost all of 2004 in developmental, Morgan would go back and forth between OVW and Smackdown in 2005, including this match from June 16, 2005 on Smackdown.

Big Show vs. Matt Morgan

Morgan is Carlito’s bodyguard and fighting Carlito’s battles for him. Big Show nails some LOUD chops in the corner to start and Morgan is in early trouble. Carlito comes out for a distraction and Morgan sends Big Show to the floor with a knee to the back. Another knee drop gets two and we hit a chinlock. Big Show fights up with a kind of side slam to escape before easily winning a slugout. He knocks Morgan to the floor but gets sent into the steps. Morgan loads up the announce table but gets caught by the throat. Carlito nails Big show in the back with a chair for a DQ and no effect.

Rating: D+. The match was your standard battle of the giants but Big Show was clearly a few miles ahead of Morgan at this point. That being said, this is a few weeks after Morgan gave Big Show an F5 through the announce table so you would think he had already proven his worth.

None of this would matter as Morgan would be released about three weeks later. Morgan would wrestle in Japan and Europe until late 2007 when he would debut in TNA as Jim Cornette’s bodyguard. His first match in TNA would take place at Lockdown 2008.

Team Cage vs. Team Tomko

Christian, Nash, Sting, Rhino, Matt Morgan
Tomko, Bubba, D-Von, AJ Styles, James Storm

Remember that AJ is a comedy heel here so the talent is a bit one sided. Christian and AJ start as the smarks explode. Tomko teases being number one for his team but he sends AJ in instead. Now remember they’re going for five minutes and then after the coin toss whoever wins will have a two minute advantage and after that two minutes the losing team makes it 2-2.

That continues until all ten are in. Ten men are WAY too many but I love me some WarGames so this is fun. The heel team of course wins to continue the tradition. AJ is freaking amazing. He might be better at this point than he is now if you can believe that. AJ is dominating here and we have another heel coming. What is our future ECW Champion going to do???

Christian takes over for a bit but we get back to even as Brother Ray comes out. One of the beauties of this match is that you have seventeen minutes at least of wrestling before you get to the finale of the match. It’s a nice little break from those never ending matches that get rather boring.

Ray wears a Yankees jersey and remember we’re just outside of Boston (those teams hate each other for you non baseball fans). And Ray uses a Boston Crab. That’s just amusing. Rhyno ties us up. Didn’t they hate each other for like ever? The clock is ten kinds of screwed up now so it’s anyone’s guess how close they get to the right time. James Storm comes out maybe a minute and twenty seconds later. He’s got Jackie with him. Yeah I don’t care either.

He and Roode would hook up soon. For no explainable reason AJ climbs the cage and he and Christian fight on the top but Christian climbs down on the outside and gets knocked to the floor. Nash ties it up but Christian is still on the floor. He launches an AWESOME high cross body to Bubba and Storm. That was sweet looking. D-Von comes in after maybe a minute.

The clock is completely insane, but I can’t criticize it as the Royal Rumble is never anywhere close. I never remember a team that turns face or heel faster than 3D. I like the booking here as they’re letting the heels dominate when they’re way behind in talent but the booking is realistic. Matt Morgan comes in next and he’s as green as possible. He had been Cornette’s bodyguard forever but never got in the ring until here. We know it’s Tomko and Sting left so that’s no mystery.

There’s a lot of laying around here but you have to do that in a sense here as there are just too many people in there. AJ and Matt hook up for awhile which is a PPV main event someday if they quit messing around with Morgan. Oh that’s right: we need to have Hogan’s boys in the main event. Christian and Tomko go at it as the two captains which is always interesting.

D-Von is bleeding pretty well. The fans want Sting. Everyone stops to meet Sting but he pulls a 96 WarGames and beats them all up by himself. In a cool spot, Sting throws AJ up like for a back body drop but just kicks him in the balls instead. The roof with the weapons is lowered. Everybody grabs one as they have them on the roof too. Yeah they’re not even bothering trying to hide that they’re going up there.

Oh ok there’s a trap door so it’s more obvious. I kind of like that. Storm and Christian go up there which unclutters the ring a bit as it badly needs. There’s a bit hole in the roof which is kind of a cool visual. Nash and Morgan do a double chokeslam on 3D. AJ grabs a kendo stick and just massacres people with it. We have a table on the roof and AJ heads up there too so there are three up there and seven in the ring. AJ sets up a ladder ON TOP OF THE CAGE. Once he climbs it, he might be higher up than on top of the HIAC. I’m pretty sure he is.

As someone afraid of heights, that’s scary as all all goodness to me. Christian climbs up too and Storm shoves the ladder over. Nothing at all is happening in the cage mind you. They couldn’t have gone any further without a potential serious injury. And then Rhyno gores Storm for the pin. What the heck was that???? It’s like they ran out of time all of a sudden and said OH DANG end it.

Rating: B-. That’s mainly for the bad ending. There was no big dramatic moment or anything and they just had the Gore for the pin. I’m not wild on that at all. The ten people are just WAY too many for one ring. This should have been 3-3 or so and nothing more. Actually 4-4 could work. There were also far too many dead spots too.

This is definitely a good idea but it needs a lot of tweaking with the main thing being an adjustment to the amount of people. I’m probably shortchanging this a bit, but there were too many people and too much laying around doing nothing because of the confined space. The two ring, 8 man matches were always, well at least almost always, awesome because they found that balance. If TNA can do that then these matches go WAY up in value.

Morgan would team up with Abyss and challenge for the Tag Team Titles at Bound For Glory 2008.

Tag Titles: Matt Morgan/Abyss vs. Beer Money vs. Team 3D vs. LAX

This is Monster’s Ball and Beer Money have the belts. Steve McMichael of all people is the guest referee. He looks OLD too. The intros here are freaking ridiculous. Basically this is a four way street fight/hardcore match but I’m not sure if the pins have to be in the ring or not. WAY too many people in the ring here.

You know at this point, is Mongo the most successful singles wrestler in there? Ah that’s right Abyss is a former world champion. Not that we’re ever told that anymore or anything though. Bunch of high spots including a tope con hilo from Homicide. We break out the weapons and its really nothing special at all. Homicide has a fork for no apparent reason and stabs D-Von’s head with it.

Abyss is on his anti-weapons thing here. Cheese grater comes out as I feel like I’m on Emeril or something. That doesn’t sound bad actually as I’m a bit hungry. Bubba suplexes Hernandez from the middle rope and the fans want tables. Blockbuster by Roode which makes me smile a bit. Total weapons thing starts up here as Mongo steals the tacks from Storm.

Mongo is FAT. We get a football sequence complete with helmet and football and Beer Money goes down of course. Morgan does a big dive to the floor to take out a bunch of people. This is such a huge mess. Johnny Devine comes out and pops Abyss with a kendo stick a few times. Table and lighter fluid are brought in on the stage. Abyss goes through it off a double chokeslam from the Dudleys.

Homicide in control now. I’ve never seen this ring genius or whatever that he’s supposed to be. Sweet goodness Mongo counts slow. Sit out powerbomb by Hernandez gets two. Elevated Gringo Cutter gets two due to Jackie getting the save. Apparently the Dudleys and Morgan have like died or something. Ah there’s Morgan. Border Toss to Morgan as Bubba brings in a table.

Supermex makes the save for Homicide though as this is probably getting close to the end. Mongo helps lay out the tacks on the table and Hernandez hits a 3D on the table on the tacks but Beer Money runs in to steal the pin.

Rating: B-. It certainly was violent, but it was just a big long weapons match. This is the longest match of the night, getting over twenty minutes. Mongo hurt this a lot as he counted so slowly that it appeared that he was shortchanging everyone with the cadence of his counts. This was pretty good but at the same time it was nothing we hadn’t seen before. Also having 8 guys out there was just too much. Still fun though.

As you would expect, the team would split and have a bunch of gimmick matches against each other. Here they are at Destination X 2009 in a Match of 10,000 Thumbtacks.

Abyss vs. Matt Morgan

You win by throwing the other person into the tacks. What a novel concept indeed. Morgan jumps him to start and takes over. There is no sign of the tacks to start but I guess they’re coming later. Abyss chops him in the chest HARD and the crowd responds loudly. So much for the offense though as a clothesline puts him out on the floor.

Ah there are the tacks. They’re on big tables/boards and not really held down at all. Abyss sets them up in front of the stage while Morgan is down, only to get sent into the railing. Morgan, ever the scholar, tries for the cover and is told that it doesn’t work. I guess that wasn’t part of his, ahem, blueprint for the match?

Ok wait now there’s a pole with tacks in it? So you can put them in ANY set of tacks? Is this a tack scavenger hunt? Morgan gets in his face and talks some trash and escapes a chokeslam. We get the Umaga running hips to the head of Morgan in the corner. There’s another bag of tacks on another corner. You know Russo had SOMETHING to do with this. Abyss plays to the crowd and walks into a Carbon Footprint to take him down.

If it sounds like I’m bored it’s because I am. This is a very boring match because they aren’t really teasing the tacks at all and are just having a match where they keep grabbing more and more tacks. Lot blow by Abyss and he throws Morgan into a chair wedged between the ropes. Abyss finally tries a powerbomb into the tacks but gets reversed. He has to settle for the Black Hole Slam not into the tacks instead.

Here’s some glass to be put on top of the tacks. You know because we haven’t done this in awhile right? Morgan heads up the stage only to be caught in a chokeslam attempt. That of course doesn’t happen and Morgan knocks him into the tacks off the stage to finally end this match which felt like it lasted about 8 hours instead of 8 minutes.

Rating: D. This was one of the least interesting matches I can remember in a long time because no one thought Abyss had a chance of winning it. Boring match as they spent like a minute of the match teasing going into the tacks and that’s all there was to it. At least they let Abyss be in a weapons match as he was supposed to be.

Morgan was a hot enough act that he got a World Title shot at Hard Justice 2009.

TNA World Title: Kurt Angle vs. Sting vs. Matt Morgan

To waste more time, everyone gets the camera shot of them coming to the ring and then a video about them. Big match intros waste another few minutes. I guess wrestling doesn’t matter yet. Angle is SKINNY here, maybe weighing 170. Morgan and Angle work together to start but Angle gets caught quickly by Sting, getting us down to one on one. Everyone on the floor now and the brawl is on.

Sting works over Morgan, sending him into the railing a few times. Morgan’s wife is here apparently. The Mafia takes over again and the beating continues. Morgan is all like I told you I’d help. Sting again fights them off and takes over for like the third time in this match. Both guys get splashes and Morgan is sent to the floor. Suplex gets two on Kurt who wakes up and drills Sting to take over again.

We talk about AJ not being here and how he has a major announcement on Impact which was to be his retirement until Sting stepped in to save the day. Back in the ring the Angle Slam is countered into a Scorpion attempt but Morgan makes the save. Slam gets two. Ankle lock is reversed and it’s Morgan vs. Sting again. There are the corner elbows and Morgan just drops him instead of hitting a side slam which gets two.

Fallaway slam hits as Kurt really shouldn’t be down this long due to a reversed ankle lock. Angle pulls the top rope down to send Morgan to the floor and the not-exactly-giant isn’t happy. Morgan says the deal is over and hits the Carbon Footprint to take down Kurt on the floor. Well at least he has a reason to be down now. Kurt claims a shoulder injury now. There’s no one to count the pin that Morgan has on Sting now and Matt isn’t pleased.

Scorpion Death Drop in the ring and now Hebner is right there. Does that make Morgan Bret Hart some how? Now Kurt is holding his neck. Make up your crazy mind already dude. Morgan takes Sting’s head off with the kick and Hebner is slow getting there again, only for Kurt to pull him out. “You screwed Matt!” Kurt brings in a chair and takes both guys down with chair shots, good for the pin on Morgan to retain.

Rating: C. Just a triple threat here as not a lot was really accomplished here. Morgan gets screwed over again and Kurt is still champion. Sting of course will keep fighting and that’s about it. The match was just ok and nothing special in the slightest. Not a horrible match or anything but nothing that you couldn’t see on any other show.

Next up was a tag team with Hernandez because they were both big and strong. They got a title shot at Genesis 2010.

Tag Titles: British Invasion vs. Hernandez/Matt Morgan

The stupidity of just putting two big names like these guys into a team astounds me but whatever. If nothing else they’re most likely getting the tag titles off of the worthless British Invasion, although putting them on two guys thrown together and called a tag team? That’s nothing WWE would ever do, nope.

Hernandez is wearing a shirt here so it looks like he’s wrestling in a one piece swimsuit. It’s fairly obvious that we’re getting new champions here but at least they’re giving us a bit of drama first and letting the Invasion have some credibility. The problem here is that other than Williams we have three power guys and Williams isn’t in the match much either. Oh and Nick Hogan is here too. This is idiotic at this point.

They make fun of the vintage joke, because no one has ever done that before. Williams gets a jumping back elbow from the top which makes this a much better match already. Morgan FINALLY hits the chokeslam that he’s been trying to get all match. The problem with this match is apparent as either face is able to beat up both champions on his own. What’s the point of something like that? The bicycle kick from Morgan hits and it’s so hard that Magnus jumped before it connected. That’s very impressive.

Rating: C. This was average. The title change was more or less a given and there’s nothing at all wrong with that. Sometimes you have to have it go one way or the other and that’s what this did here. It’s not bad but it was more of a formality than anything else and it came off pretty well.

I’ll skip over the split and Morgan becoming the Tag Team Champions (yes he said it like that) by himself. Hernandez would win most of the matches in their feud so we’ll skip ahead to Turning Point 2010 when Morgan got another World Title shot.

TNA World Title: Matt Morgan vs. Jeff Hardy

Wow I want this show to end very badly. Hardy of course gets a big face reaction. Why does Russo always have to insist on trying to turn the most over faces in the company heel (and by that I mean STING)? Morgan overpowers him to start of course. Hardy keeps stalling a lot as he can’t buy a heel reaction if his life depends on it.

Hardy tries to work on Morgan’s knee as he slows things way down. This is weird to see to put it mildly. More knee work and Jeff of course covers. Mornga makes his comeback with pure power but his knee is still hurting him. Jeff gets a DDT for two and no one cares. To say Jeff is the more popular of these two is a huge understatement. Chokeslam gets two.

Hardy gets a low blow and Twist of Hate to ZERO reaction from the crowd. Everyone knew he wasn’t winning with it and no one cared. Oh listen to that Hardy chant. Russo, please, understand this: THE MEGA FACES ARE MEGA FACES BECAUSE PEOPLE LIKE THEM! They screw something up BAD or this was supposed to be a screwjob spot as Morgan takes his head off with the bicycle kick and covers for two but the referee just stops counting even though there was no kickout. He says two as Jeff merely raised his foot which is apparently a kickout. That looked awful and everyone was confused.

A second Twist out of nowhere gets two again to another lack of reaction. And then a few seconds later Hardy gets a Whisper in the Wind and a third Twist of Hate to end it and keep the title. Morgan looked like a jobber to the stars here. Fourtune and Immortal come out to celebrate the victory to end the show, complete with champagne, beer and confetti. Oh and it’s red and yellow of course. Oh and Flair gets iced.

Rating: F. This was the main event of the Pay Per View. This match is nowhere near as good as I’ve made it sound which may sound conceited but it’s true. Hardy as a heel is more or less a failure as EVERYONE LOVES HIM STILL. This isn’t 1996 and he isn’t Hulk Hogan which is what they’re going for. Back then the fans wanted to boo Hogan but were wanting a reason. That worked wonders.

Morgan would go back to fighting Hernandez for no apparent reason, including this match at Lockdown 2011.

Hernandez vs. Matt Morgan

Battle of the giants here even though one of the giants is 6’2. I’m not sure how well that plays but they both look big so it works out fine. Anarquia reaches through the cage to pull Morgan’s leg and give Hernandez the advantage. Hernandez hammers away and we hit the nerve hold. Dude get your racial stereotypes straight. That’s a Samoan move.

Basically they’re having a regular match in a cage which is part of the problem with this show every year. Running shoulder in the corner by Hernandez and he poses a lot again. Either Morgan is legit hurt or Hernandez is really stupid as he’s walked around for about 30 seconds now. Morgan pops up with a discus lariat to put both guys down for a bit.

Here’s Morgan’s comeback which is just ok. Backdrop suplex gets two. Hernandez ends that with something like a headbutt to the ribs for two. Morgan avoids a charge to send Hernandez into the cage. The girls climb up on the cage as does Anarquia. Down goes the dude and Hernandez tries to come off the top. Morgan catches him with a really bad looking Carbon Footpring to end this.

Rating: D. Boring match here again as nothing worked in it again. Morgan never got anything going for the most part and the ending was weak looking. Again though the right guy won and hopefully that ends the feud. Boring match again as one more time I’m glad I didn’t go to this show.

Morgan would hook up with Crimson and win the Tag Team Titles, which would be defended at Final Resolution 2011.

Tag Titles: Crimson/Matt Morgan vs. D-Von/D’Angelo Dinero

Crimson vs. Pope gets us going here with Crimson using his cravate with the knees to take over. Morgan comes in and he wants D-Von. That isn’t the best idea in the world as D-Von takes over with his usual stuff. Back to Red Man vs. Pope with the street preacher who never preaches taking over. STO gets two but he gets speared down quickly. An exploder suplex gets the same.

Morgan hits the fallaway slam for two as well as a side slam. Pope finally gets in a DDT to put both guys down and brings in D-Von off the not-hot tag. A neckbreaker and headbutt off the top get two on Crimson. Everything breaks down and there’s a spinebuster to Crimson. Top rope elbow from Pope gets two. A double chokeslam from the champions keep the titles on them at 9:33.

Rating: D. Again, this was BORING. There’s no heat on any of these matches because their build has been horrible or non-existent. This D-Von vs. Pope stuff has been going on since June and it’s still not getting anywhere. That’s one of TNA’s problems: they take forever to get anywhere which is what’s going on with this. That and no one cares about D-Von in 2011 but that goes without saying.

It’s been quite a lot of TNA so far so let’s go to India. From the first Ring Ka King show.

Ring Ka King Heavyweight Title Tournament: Sir Brutus Magnus vs. Matt Morgan

Magnus runs to the corner to start. Morgan gets his hands on him and throws him around with ease. Magnus gets sent to the floor and it’s time for a chase scene. Morgan misses a corner splash and Magnus takes over. A slam attempt fails as Morgan falls onto him for two. Off to an abdominal stretch by Magnus which Morgan easily escapes and starts his comeback. He beats Magnus up and hits a chokeslam, followed by the Carbon Footprint for the pin at 5:14.

Rating: D. This was a really basic and boring power match. I’ve seen far worse but there really isn’t anything going on here. Morgan looks like a force though which is the point of this. Not terrible but if Magnus is supposed to be the top heel in the company or at least the mouthpiece for it (no sign of him being a coward yet) shouldn’t he be treated as something better than a jobber to the stars like he was here?

Morgan would leave the company for most of the summer in 2012 before returning as Joey Ryan’s bodyguard. They would challenge for the Tag Team Titles at Genesis 2013.

Tag Titles: Matt Morgan/Joey Ryan vs. Chavo Guerrero/Hernandez

Chavo and Hernandez are defending and I’m glad to see this match get done first as it’s probably the least interesting one on the card for me. I just don’t care about either team at all. Chavo and Joey get things going with the champion taking him into the corner to start, only to get caught in a slingshot to send him into Morgan’s forearm. Off to the big man who almost immediately tags Ryan in again.

Joey dropkicks Guerrero down but like an idiot won’t cover. Chavo rolls into the corner for the tag to Hernandez who hits a BIG backdrop (Keneley can’t remember what to call it) before facing off with Hernandez. Joey blasts Hernandez in the back to allow Morgan to take over. Off to Joey for some chest rubbing and a front facelock. Morgan comes back in for a single shot and it’s back to Ryan again.

Morgan’s discus lariat keeps Hernandez down and he laughs at Hernandez for not being able to tag out. Hernandez finally avoids a charge in the corner from Ryan and makes the tag, but naturally the referee doesn’t see it. Morgan and Ryan tag in and out some more to beat on SuperMex with Matt holding Hernandez up for Ryan to pound away. Joey hooks a lame neck crank which Hernandez easily breaks and follows up with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker.

Hot tag brings in Chavo to clean house with Three Amigos on Ryan. Everything breaks down and Chavo staggers Morgan with a missile dropkick. The champs hit a double dropkick to send Morgan staggering over Ryan before Hernandez hits a SICK (and mostly botched) sitout powerbomb on Joey. The Frog Splash retains the titles at 11:30.

Rating: C. The match was fine aside from Ryan nearly having his neck broken. Ryan and Morgan have no reason to be together and I’m hoping the team gets split up after tonight. Morgan has the potential to be a big star in Aces and 8’s but instead, they’re just wasting him on a guy who is basically a comedy act. Nothing to see here and not a great choice for an opener.

We’ll wrap it up with a match from Impact on May 2, 2013.

Matt Morgan vs. Sting

The winner gets Bully Ray at Slammiversary. Morgan pounds away in the corner as Taz talks about how great he is in Aces and 8’s. Matt hits him with some hard clotheslines and right hands followed by a chokeslam for two. Back with Morgan ramming Sting into the barricade before heading back inside for some choking. Sting fights back on the floor with some shots into the barricade and steps. We head inside again but Sting walks into the side slam for two.

Morgan misses an elbow drop and gets caught by the Stinger Splash in the corner. Matt fights back with the rapid fire elbows and the Carbon Footprint….for two. Another Footprint hits the buckle and there’s the Scorpion Deathlock. Matt is in big trouble but never taps out. He finally makes the rope so Sting puts the hold right back on. Morgan blacks out from the pain to send Sting to Slammiversary at 13:07.

Rating: D+. As soon as I heard this match announced, I knew Sting was getting the title shot. Why did I know that? Because that’s what happens in TNA. No matter what your other options may be, at the end of the day it’s going to be Sting getting the title shot no matter what. People have been BEGGING to see Morgan elevated for years now, but let’s go with Sting again because he and Hogan have to cowboy up and fight the bikers, because that’s what people (and by that I mean Sting and Hogan) want to see.

That match sums up TNA and Morgan’s career in a nutshell: he could have been the next big thing but he was always passed over. I saw the potential in Morgan but never to the level that a lot of other people saw. He could have been a good monster but I didn’t buy him as the face of a promotion. Still though, he had a good look and could throw a good kick so what more do you need?

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