In 1997, the WWE Universe laid its eyes on The Big Red Monster, Kane, for the very first time. During The Undertaker’s Hell in a Cell match with Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker’s brother, who was presumed dead, finally made his appearance accompanied by Paul Bearer. As he approached the ring, he ripped the cell’s gate off its hinges and stood face-to-face with his on-screen brother, The Undertaker.
At that point, The Undertaker looked shell-shocked. Right after Kane’s pyro exploded, The Big Red Machine hit the Deadman with the Tombstone. This allowed Shawn Michaels to capitalize and get a pinfall win over the Undertaker. Over the years, Kane established himself as one of the most dreaded monsters in WWE, alongside his brother.
While the duo faced each other on many occasions, they even formed the most powerful tag team in WWE, known as The Brothers of Destruction. However, there was once a plan in place to introduce a third brother to the equation. However, the plans never came to fruition.
Matt Morgan reveals he was almost booked as the brother of Kane and The Undertaker
Speaking with Chris Van Vliet on his Insight podcast, former WWE superstar Matt Morgan revealed how he was almost booked to play the gimmick of Kane’s masked brother, Abel. Back when Morgan wrestled for WWE’s development territory, OVW, he was managed by Jim Cornette.
While Morgan was privy to the pitch of him playing the character of masked Abel, Cornette was unaware. According to Morgan, Stephanie McMahon and Johnny Ace wanted Morgan to wear a mask to start preparing for the character but as soon as Cornette caught wind of the idea, he made sure that it was scrapped.
November 14 2011 Matt Morgan and Crimson TNA tag team champs pic.twitter.com/nuai0lMEl5
— I’m not in the key demo (@dannybentley60) November 14, 2021
“And so, I remember Jim Cornette just being like, what? What are you doing? He’s like our top babyface champion. Why have you got to wear this? This is stupid, like, totally put me over. And I’ll always be grateful to Jimmy for that. I love Jimmy. And anyway, so they put me in this stupid mask, and Jimmy found a way to make it work because he’s freaking brilliant.”
Hey friend, That’s Matt Morgan with Angle in TNA pic.twitter.com/lZSdbYJemh
— Kira Knight (@KiraKnight80) March 3, 2020
Morgan further heaped praise on Jim Cornette for pulling strings to prevent the disastrous gimmick from making it to WWE TV. By the looks of it, it’s conspicuous that Matt Morgan is happy that the disaster was averted, but it would still be interesting to see how WWE would have introduced the character of Abel on TV in hindsight. Matt Morgan finally made his debut on WWE as one of the powerhouse superstars in 2003.
Matt Morgan recalls turning down his return to WWE
During his first run with the Stamford-based company, Morgan did not have much success. In fact, he was one of the many wasted talents who was poorly booked. Unsatisfied with his stuttering gimmick, Morgan parted ways with the company in 2005. Shortly after, he debuted in TNA as the Blueprint.
It was in TNA that Morgan finally got the push he deserved. Speaking on CVV’s Insight, Morgan recalled turning away from his WWE return in the 2014 Royal Rumble.
Matt Morgan’s “Stutter” pic.twitter.com/bzUmLR2N5N
— WWE Gimmicks That Just Didn’t Workout (@DidntWorkoutWWE) February 8, 2023
“When he was born, and I held him for the first time, the switch went off in my head,” Morgan said. “I was done. Again, I’m not going back on the road. I need to be a dad. I need to be home here with my son.”
According to him, the birth of his baby boy motivated him to focus more on being a dad rather than a wrestler. Interestingly, Morgan was going to be introduced as the Blueprint in WWE.
However, the former TNA star did not budge and turned the offer down. The 46-year-old has traded his wrestling gear for a corporate suit as he serves as a City Commissioner in Longwood, Florida.
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