- 03/18/2010 (10:40:22 am)
- Bob Mulrenin
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Broadcast Live & Worldwide On The Monday Night Mayhem Radio Network
One-half of the TNA World Tag Team Champions, "The Blueprint" Matt Morgan, was one of the special guests on this week's live edition (03/15/09) of Monday Night Mayhem (presented by ReelWrestling.com), hosted by The Big Mosh, Blade, & "The Chairman Of The Board" Todd Vincent. You can feel The Mayhem live & in streaming audio every Monday night (at 7PM ET/6PM CT), exclusively on The Monday Night Mayhem Radio Network (www.MondayNightMayhem.com, www.AudioWrestling.com, www.Hybrident.tv, www.ITunes.com, www.Facebook.com/MondayNightMayhem, www.Twitter.com/FeelTheMayhem, & www.MySpace.com/MondayNightMayhem).
"The Blueprint" Matt Morgan/Monday Night Mayhem Interview (MNM Podcast On ITunes): http://www.mondaynightmayhemarchives.com/mar10/031510.mp3
On the transformation of his on-air persona into a cocky character while teaming with Hernandez as the TNA World Tag Team Champions: "As far as my cocky character it's like this, they had no plans on making me a babyface after my series with Kurt Angle. They had no intention whatsoever, but what started to happen slowly but surely is Kurt is so good at being a heel, that people just loathe him. When he's a heel, people hate him, and he's the best in the world at what he does...he really is. That & people started to get my character. Whether it was cocky or not, they started to get it, and I'll be the first to tell you, I'm very cocky when it comes to sports & pro wrestling is no different. When I first started in TNA, I had a babyface run for a little while with Abyss as a tag team, and that was good, but my character wasn't really showing. I was holding back a lot of my natural persona & natural cockiness, and I think that was confusing for fans who wanted to get behind me."
The current TNA locker room, as a result of all the new faces showing up in the company: So far everyone who has come in has been cool. Time will tell as far as the gist of our overall locker room is. That's something people take into concern when a lot of new people come in. When one or two come in, that's one thing, but when five or ten come in, that could change a locker room dynamic awfully fast, but not fast enough where I could tell it to you right now whether it's changed. Individually dealing with these people, I couldn't deal with any better people, and I don't know Dixie Carter would hire anybody who would rock our locker room. Morale is very important to her despite what fans may say. She wants us to have a good workplace to come to, and she wants us to be excited when we come there, and I don't think that's a hard request for people to fill. You should be happy to come work at TNA, and I think she wants people that is going to come to work with a smile on their face who actually want to be there, not people who are bitching about how they are booked, or being cancerous to our locker room, or say they are not getting paid this or that. I don't think you are going to last long if that is your attitude in our locker room, and so far, I haven't seen any of that."
TNA iMPACT's move to Monday nights, the ratings on their first head-to-head Monday night with WWE Monday Night RAW, & Dixie Carter having "balls of steel": "That's a tough one, because time is gonna tell. Time will tell as far as this goes being on Monday nights. My owner, she has balls of steel as far as taking risks & chances. And I remember as a wrestling fan what I liked during the WCW/WWE battles was the chances being taken, the storyline pushing the envelope risks especially. I'm just excited ours has the belief in the wrestlers, and that's first & foremost. We don't have a owner that craps on us, and talks down to us, and makes us walk around on eggshells. We have a owner that wants every single one of us to make a lot of money & be successful, because collectively, she'll be successful because the company will be on top by that point. All I can tell fans of TNA is wait & see. Just take a wait & see approach and come along on the journey with us, because we are the first wrestling company that's giving you an option & a choice, and not jamming things down your throat and telling you 'This is what you like.' I think it's egotistical & rude, and we don't do that."
The attitude within TNA since the arrivals of Hulk Hogan & Eric Bischoff: "For me personally, I love it. They came on board full bore with a positive vibe...a positive attitude, and you could sense it. When I talk to Terry or Eric, you get a vibe. You get a vibe from certain people, you get a vibe of whether they are in this to win it, or whether they're here to make a quick paycheck and bounce. The vibe I get from both of them is they wanna come in here and make a lot of us household names to be honest, and I'm going along for the journey. I believe Hulk Hogan; I don't believe he is a liar, and I believe what he says. As it pertains to myself, I have no doubt he is going to help me get to the promised land. And with Eric, I love watching when Eric is watching the actual product. I'll watch him watch the screen and making notes & mental notes on what they could do different. So it's pretty cool to see that he's constantly trying to change our product to improve it, because we can't stay the way we are now. We are a ever-evolving product, and to have someone with a vision like Eric is gonna be huge."
His message to those within World Wrestling Entertainment about TNA Wrestling & the competition that has begun: "Let's all make money...period. Step your game up, because I know we are, and then in the long run, everyone is going to make money. Any wrestler, including in the WWE, wants us to do well. Of course they want us to do well, because everyone wants another place as a option to work. What's the first thing you hear with guys that were in the WWE and came to TNA (not the guys that came here and flamed out quick, but those guys that have been here for two to three years), what's the first thing you hear? The locker room dynamic is hugely different, the boss is different, and the schedule is easier. But most importantly, the guys are willing to help each other. Guys are willing to put each other over to create a new star, and that happens weekly."
More is contained in this exclusive interview with "The Blueprint" Matt Morgan, including why he chose to sign a five-year contract with TNA Wrestling instead of going back to the WWE or Japan, his response to those who feel that a split between himself & Hernandez is inevitable (and thus, losing the TNA World Tag Team Titles in the process), if he was upset about not being on last Monday's iMPACT for TNA's first night of head-to-head competition with WWE Monday Night RAW, how important his charitable work/endeavors are to him, & so much more! Follow Matt on Twitter at http://www.Twitter.com/TNAMattMorgan, and be sure to check out this Thursday night's replay of TNA iMPACT on Spike TV (beginning @ 9PM ET/8PM CT), along with Sunday night's Destination X Pay-Per-View. Call your local cable or satellite provider to purchase TNA Wrestling's version of "March Madness," or log onto http://www.TNAWrestling.com for more details!
Davey Richards Previews ROH's Returns To Detroit/Toronto And Discusses His Situation On Parting Ways With Evolve/Re-signing With Ring Of Honor, The Transformation Of "The American Dragon" Bryan Danielson Into Daniel Bryan (And His Work On WWE NXT), & The Rumors Of Charlie Haas Heading To ROH
Courtesy: www.MondayNightMayhem.com
Davey Richards/Monday Night Mayhem Interview (MNM Podcast On ITunes): http://www.mondaynightmayhemarchives.com/mar10/031510.mp3
What it is like for him to be part of Ring Of Honor with so much going on in the company: "It's home, and that's the best way I could put it. Ring Of Honor is the perfect fit for me & my style, and I'm part of the best tag team, and I get to work with what I think is the best locker room full of guys. Going to Charlotte (for "The Big Bang" Pay-Per-View)...I actually lived in Charlotte for a little while, so that'll be great to return there. WrestleMania weekend is always a big weekend for us. I had a match being part of last WrestleMania weekend, so I'm hoping to continue that streak. I'm just looking forward to everything, and it's going to be an honor to be there."
His goals in the company going forward into the spring/summer: "As far as my immediate goals, just putting on the best matches I can & staying healthy. One of my biggest goals of The American Wolves was really not for me at all. It was to help someone who I thought was underrated (Eddie Edwards) and give him some spotlight. I think people are just realizing now how good he is, so that was one of the top goals of forming The American Wolves, and I feel like we've done that. At this point I'm part of a machine, and the machine is Ring of Honor, and I just wanna have the best matches I can and show people that hard work pays off."
His thoughts on the company's flagship television program, Ring Of Honor On HDNet, and what advice would he give to a new fan of the promotion: "The best I can answer this is I've always considered Ring Of Honor as a place that doesn't have to hype itself & explain itself, because it really is what you see is what you get. No one can touch our in-ring wrestling, and if people just give us the opportunity to sit back & watch, we're not gonna try to throw 500 characters & 500 punch lines at them. We are the best wrestling company, and we just want people to sit & enjoy what they came to see which is just professional wrestling. So the best way I can answer that is at Ring Of Honor, the wrestling speaks for itself."
The rumors of Charlie Haas potentially signing with Ring Of Honor: "I'm always down to work new talent and test myself. I think Charlie would be accepted. Ring Of Honor is a place where there isn't a negative connotation coming in. If you can hang & you could go, then that's the bottom line. Charlie was an amateur wrestler, Charlie's an athlete; he's not a bodybuilder, Charlie's a wrestler, so I think Ring Of Honor would be a great place for him. I would love to see him in there, and I think he could swim, but the final decision is up to him: whether he's gonna put in the time to shift into fifth gear & go the extra mile -- that's what it takes to be in Ring Of Honor, but I definitely thinks he has it in him."
The transformation of former ROH World Champion, "The American Dragon" Bryan Danielson into Daniel Bryan & his work so far on WWE NXT: "I actually have never seen the program. I haven't watched wrestling on television is quite sometime, so I haven't really seen it. But I don't have to see the program; we're talking about Bryan Danielson. He was the one who wanted me to start calling myself 'the best in the world,' but I know my place, and I know I'm nowhere as good Bryan. And if anyone in the world can get themselves over & get to that next level, it's Bryan. That's really a no-brainer. He could be king of the wrestling world tomorrow and it would not surprise me one bit, so I think he will be fine."
More is contained in this exclusive interview with Davey Richards, including the reasons why he chose to part ways with EVOLVE & re-sign with Ring Of Honor, if a rematch could be in the plans with his American Wolves partner (Eddie Edwards) for the ROH World Television Championship, his thoughts on the pool of talented performers & future stars within ROH, how it feels to be going back to Canada this weekend for the promotion's return north of the border in Mississauga, & why he foresees 2010 as being his final year in the business. For more details on Ring Of Honor's forthcoming events in the Detroit & Toronto areas, what's ROH has in store for the wrestling world as part of WrestleMania weekend, & the complete lowdown on "The Big Bang" IPPV in Charlotte (including ticket information on all events), log onto http://www.ROHWrestling.com. Check out Davey's official website & MySpace page (located respectively at http://www.D-Richards.net & http://www.MySpace.com/Davey015).



