“I’m Done” – Why Former SmackDown Name Turned Down WWE Return Offer
A veteran wrestler came close to returning to WWE after success in TNA, but then decided to turn down the offer.
Matt Morgan was a former WWE superstar who was hired in the early 2000s and received a mild push in WWE, but didn’t go as far as many people thought he could go.
One of Morgan’s biggest matches was being on Brock Lesnar’s 2003 Survivor Series team with Lesnar, Big Show, A-Train, and Nathan Jones. Morgan is a legit 7-footer, so he was there to prove he belonged with the other giants on his team.
The former basketball player Morgan was released by WWE in the summer of 2005. Two years later, Morgan signed with TNA and went on to have a successful 6-year run until his release in the summer of 2013.
In TNA, Morgan wrestled all the big names in the company and competed for some of the major championships, but never won singles gold. Morgan was a 2-time TNA Tag Team Champion, though.
After his TNA run ended, Morgan wrestled sparingly and retired as a wrestler a few years later, in part because he became a father to his son Jackson. Morgan spoke about this with Wrestling Life Online and his mindset after becoming a dad.
“I thought I’d go through it. Like for example, when I was graduating college, I was no longer going to be a basketball player. That had been my whole identity up until then. I had this weird crisis going on of what am I going to be known as now? Just the big tall, big jacked guy? What am I gonna be known as?
It was a weird thing to try to get used to, and I thought I’d go through it even worse with pro wrestling, that being my identity for 12 years. And now I retire, what am I? And then once I had Jackson, that’s what changed everything in my head.
It just completely changed everything completely. I didn’t have that identity crisis I thought I was going to have because I threw everything I could into the being the dad. And then when he gets diagnosed two and a half years later after being born – his diagnosis is technically moderate to severe on the ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) spectrum – all my eggs in that basket obviously.”
Matt Morgan Turned Down WWE Return And Explained It To Vince McMahon
As the interview continued, Matt Morgan revealed that after his TNA run ended, he received an offer from WWE to return at the 2014 Royal Rumble, a few weeks after his wife, Larissa, gave birth to their son, Jackson, in early January.
“And here’s what a lot of fans don’t know. How about this one for timing? I was scheduled to go back to WWE for Royal Rumble as a surprise entrant, January 2014. And it was January 20-something, if I remember correctly. They were going to let me be The Blueprint everything. I was so pumped.
He gets delivered into the delivery room and I get a chance to hold him, and that’s what I’m saying literally the switch goes off, I’m done. I need to be a dad now.
So I call Vince, and I tell him what’s happening, how long it took us. It took us like over a decade to even have him. Failed seven bouts of IVF with ICSIs (Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection). Seven. It did not work. So imagine all of that and getting a chance to come back, and then I decide not to.
So it wasn’t just stepping away, it was stepping away when I was supposed to debut in WWE as The Blueprint Matt Morgan, that originated in OVW, believe it or not.”
Matt Morgan would go on to explain to WWE’s former Chairman Vince McMahon that he declined the contract offer, and he had to explain why to Vince.
“I thought it was going to be a lot tougher, but it wasn’t. When I told him, he was thinking, well, if you don’t want to come back, just say it. ‘No, no, no, no, I really wanted to come back.’ I got new gear made, new boots, everything. I wanted to change up my look a little but stick with The Blueprint persona.
The way I explained it to him was it took us over a decade to get here, and now I have this little guy in my hands right now for the very first time; this is after holding my son. I called him from the hospital and said, ‘Is there any way I can get out of this? I hate to say it this way, but not come?’ And his first issue was, ok what happens, you going back to TNA or something, Japan? No, I’m done. I’m not going anywhere. I might to a couple indie shots here or there, but I’m done.
And he was like, ‘I wish you all the luck. I think that’s incredible. I think it’s a very responsible decision by you and I’m pretty impressed, and I just want to say good luck.’”
In his current life, Morgan is the City Commissioner of Longwood, Florida while spending time with his wife and son.
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