Tuesday 9 April 2013

The Future of the Blueprint: Matt Morgan in TNA



The future of Matt Morgan in Impact Wrestling


By Ben Woodburn (@WrestleBox1)

Since returning to Impact screens a few months ago by kicking Al Snow’s teeth into the tenth row Matt Morgan has looked better than ever before and looks set to do great things with his new found persona and energy. It’s no secret that Matt Morgan is one of my favourite wrestlers although he does have his detractors and his critics but how willing are TNA to push him as one of their top guys? If they do push him how well will he do? Where exactly does the DNA of TNA stand?

In recent weeks Matt Morgan has vowed to ‘correct Hulk Hogan’s mistakes’ he started with the man of a 1000 facial expressions Joseph Park and his sights now look to be set on Sting after the pair's verbal exchange on the March 28th edition of Impact. This will hopefully lead to a match at Slammiversary between the two. Looking beyond that he may well be moving on to arguably Hogan’s biggest mistake the World Heavyweight Champion Bully Ray. After Slammiversary and his highly anticipated match with Jeff Hardy Bully Ray will have to face the winner of the Bound for Glory Series who could well be the Blueprint. However he may not challenge for the World Heavyweight Title at all and instead opt to join the Aces ‘N Eights and would be a brilliantly natural fit into the much maligned stable although this is unlikely in my opinion given he seems to be playing the loner at the moment. For now though I would just like to see him destroy a different member of the roster each week and get billed as a monster heel and as a ‘means to an end’ of ending the Aces ‘N Eights forever.

Whilst his wrestling ability and capacity to deliver on the microphone may have occasionally be called into question in the past in his latest his run he seems to have really picked up his game. Most wrestlers seem to deliver better promos when they are heels in my experience and Morgan seems to be no exception utilising his gruffest voice to greater effect than ever before. Looks wise Morgan has always been great, he has immense size and is also in great shape but let’s be honest that beard has taken him to a whole new level of badassery, something that doesn’t always work for everyone (hint hint Daniel Bryan). The final aspect of the Blueprint is his in ring work, which still leaves a bit to be desired although at 7 foot and 300 pounds its astonishing he moves as quickly as he does at times. Additionally he does make good use of the power game with the Chokeslam and the Hellevator and the Carbon Footprint is an effective looking finisher.

During his last run in the World Heavyweight Title scene alongside Jeff Hardy and Mr Anderson I thought he made an extremely good account of himself despite never getting his hands on the title itself. Consistent performances, the pinnacle of which was his fantastic No 1. Contenders match with Mr Anderson at the Genesis PPV of 2011, (Watch it here http://www.youtube.co/watch?v=b4A1jK2N6VY) cemented him in my mind as a man capable of main event quality performances. Taking into account his last run in the spotlight and the recent improvements he’s made I for one am hugely looking forwards to seeing what TNA decide to do with him.

And Finally…
Huge congratulations to Dolph Ziggler on finally capturing the World Heavyweight Championship after a several months of being absolutely buried by the bookers. One only has to look at the reaction in the arena and on social media to see how appreciated Ziggsie is in the wrestling world and here’s hoping he’ll have a title reign to eclipse that of Punk’s recent epic stint. After his victory on Raw he said that “I’ve been too damn good for too damn long” I could not have said it better myself.

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