By: Kevin Hashiro, Chaminade Sports Information Director

Beast. The Blueprint. Those were the monikers Matt Morgan used during a decade-long career with World Wrestling Entertainment and Total Nonstop Action, the two giants in professional wrestling. But before being a household name in the squared circle, he was known as a Chaminade University men’s basketball player.
 
The story of the former WWE/TNA star began from his home in the Northeast United States. The native of Fairfield, Connecticut began his collegiate basketball career at NCAA Division I Monmouth University in New Jersey where he played for two years which included the school’s first-ever trip to the NCAA Division I Tournament in 1996.
 
But a coaching change meant a new system as well as newer recruits.
 
“I saw the writing on the wall,” Morgan recalled.
 
So he scoured for a new home, going to the transaction pages and putting out the word to coaches on who might be interested in a 6-foot-10, 260-pound center. One of those who called was Al Walker, who was Chaminade’s head coach at the time.
 
“When he called, it wasn’t brain surgery about the destination,” said Morgan, who tried to convince Walker to fly him out first to get a feel for the campus. “It didn’t work. He wasn’t going to fall for a recruiting trip.”
 
Recruiting trip or no, Morgan decided that coming to the middle of the Pacific Ocean was where he wanted to go. But upon arriving to the campus, he admitted that he was greeted with disappointment with a much smaller campus and population.
 
“It was more a culture shock than anything,” he said. “Here I am a sarcastic Northeastern guy and everyone there took me literally. And I was the minority. It took me a semester to get adjusted.”
 
On the court, Morgan played in two Maui Invitational tournaments. His first-ever game in Lahaina was in 1997 against Duke University, the top ranked team in the nation. “They were starting five freshman who were McDonald’s All-Americans including (future NBA standouts) Shane Battier and Elton Brand and William Avery who became the NBA’s No. 1 draft pick,” he said. “(Brand) guarded me and I guarded him.” The following year, he played against Syracuse.
 
It was in one of Morgan’s communications classes that he met a person that would have a profound impact on his life. He met Larissa Vasper, a Kamehameha-Kapalama graduate and a Silverswords softball player (who still owns several Chaminade home run records) who helped him adjustment through life in Hawai‘i and eventually, a romance blossomed.
 
Morgan received his degree in communications in 2000, graduating in the top five of his class. Following commencement, he took Larissa back home to Connecticut to be with his family. And much like how it was for him, it was a culture shock for her, having been born and raised in the islands.
 
Morgan sold cars for Enterprise Car Sales in Connecticut after returning home. He also was a bouncer at a local bar. One night, he was asked by a person there if he were interested in pro wrestling, to which he replied, “Yes.”
 
As luck would have it, that person turned out to be a writer for WWE Magazine. “He said he would possibly introduce me to Vince McMahon,” Morgan said. “We would have to go to the gym on Friday nights at WWE Headquarters and he could get me in to do this. So I went every Friday night and worked out in the gym, hoping we could time it with one of the times he would be there.”
 
Six months’ worth of Friday evenings later, Morgan’s patience finally paid off. During a workout session, McMahon arrived at the gym and he finally got to meet the CEO of WWE. “He gave me some contacts to call if I was interested and so I did that.”
 
Morgan still had pro basketball opportunities, getting tryouts from the Toronto Raptors and Indiana Pacers. But “I got bit by the wrestling bug and even during my NBA tryouts, I had wrestling on my mind,” he recalled.
 
Following his basketball tryouts, Morgan took his first shot inside the ring and was one of the performers on WWE’s reality show “Tough Enough” where aspiring wrestlers get a shot of securing a much sought-after contract with the WWE. But during the show, a torn ACL put him on the shelf. Despite the setback, he returned and still signed a three-year contract with WWE.
 
From there, Morgan and Vasper, now his fiancé, went to Louisville, Ky., training in WWE’s developmental territory, Ohio Valley Wrestling in October 2002. It was at OVW that he became “The Blueprint.”
 
A year later, the call came and Morgan was sent up to WWE and placed in their SmackDown! brand of WWE television. Over the next year, he battled and aligned with some of the industry’s biggest stars including Brock Lesnar, Kurt Angle and John Cena.
 
Morgan returned to OVW in 2004 and eventually became the promotion’s heavyweight champion. Morgan eventually returned to SmackDown! in his second WWE stint in April 2005 before leaving the company in July that year.
 
After spending the next two years in promotions in Japan and Europe, Morgan returned to the United States, this time with TNA in August 2007.
 
A year later, Morgan was given an opportunity to be on NBC’s American Gladiators, taking the name “Beast.” Now, at a strapping 7-feet and 310 pounds, he was the biggest Gladiator in program history. Morgan relished the chance. “As an athlete, I had free reign to crush people,” he said. “And at my size, I was undefeated.”
  
He would compete in TNA for the better part of six years, winning the TNA World Tag Team title twice as well as having several opportunities at the TNA World Heavyweight Championship.
 
In the modern age of pro wrestling, character persona and mic skills are just as – if not perhaps even more – important than in-ring abilities. And it also means speaking in front of thousands of fans in packed arenas.
 
“One of the reasons I was not intimidated of speaking in front of 18,000-plus people live in arenas and millions watching me around the world on TV in the wrestling ring on the microphone was absolutely, positively because of my coming to Jesus moment when I met Melba Kopp, my public speaking professor at Chaminade,” he said. “I went from being a very-timid-in-front-of-large-groups type of guy to being the most confident speaker in front of anybody and everybody after taking her course. It instilled confidence in me that I was actually a natural at it, especially on topics I have passion for.”
 
Morgan recalled facing some of the biggest stars in his 12-year WWE/TNA career and mentioned 1996 Olympic gold medalist and former world heavyweight champion Kurt Angle as his favorite person to mix it up in the ring with. “We put on some of the best matches possible and were put into several main events.”
 
He also enjoyed working with Ric Flair and doing promos with Hulk Hogan in TNA, where the Hulkster was a “face” (fan favorite) manager and Morgan was a “heel” (villain) character. “It was great working with him,” he said. “I watched him when I was growing up. We did a whole year of work and that was a lot of fun. It was probably some of my favorite times in pro wrestling.”
 
All the while, Morgan and Larissa, now his wife, were trying to start a family. After 10 years, Larissa got pregnant in 2013 and he realized that life was taking a turn. “Wrestling means being on the road constantly,” Morgan said. “Now that she was pregnant, I needed to be home as much as possible.” Morgan left TNA in the summer of 2013 and wrestled on the independent circuit, where there are lesser time and travel demands.
 
Larissa gave birth on January 7, 2014, to a son, Jackson, which represented another turning point in Morgan’s career. “Once I held Jackson, I knew that I needed to be retired,” he said.
 
But Morgan now had the task to find a career that would satisfy his competitive spirit. “I was very goal-oriented,” he said. “Now at 38-years-old, I have no goals and it’s always important to have goals.” But it was also important that a new career involved something that would allow him to be with his family every day.
 
Morgan eventually landed a job in sales for a medical device company in Florida where he also serves as a regional manager. Having name-recognition also helped in that the person who interviewed and eventually hired him was a big pro wrestling fan, despite the former WWE/TNA star having very little sales experience in the field.
 
“My boss really believed in me,” Morgan said. “I would do whatever it took to learn the business. My boss really helped me to learn.” And having that competitiveness was also a driving force.
 
“Sales gives me the same satisfaction that sports gave me,” he said. “I need to be No. 1; ping-pong or the pool with the family; I have to be No. 1. I’ve always needed that.”
 
And although he remained retired from pro wrestling, Morgan made a one-time return to the TNA ring at its Slammiversary pay-per-view in June 2015. The match gave Jackson the chance to see his dad in action inside the squared circle.
 
Morgan has also been involved in several projects. One was the “Immortality Drive” in which his digitally-sequenced DNA has been preserved in a micro-chip in the event of an Earth-wide catastrophe which would wipe out humans. Others who have given DNA for the project include physicist Stephen Hawking and night-time talk show host and comedian Stephen Colbert.
 
Morgan has also been an advocate for the non-profit group CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). The organization has special meaning for Morgan as he was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) at age 5. However, he never let it stop him as he graduated from Chaminade Summa Cum Laude, which he says is one of his proudest life moments.
 
Overcoming odds and obstacles has certainly helped shape Matt Morgan into the man he is today, truly a “Blueprint” for everyone to follow.