Matt Morgan Discusses Drawing From Within & Overcoming ADHD

The Miami Herald has a new article featuring quotes from Matt Morgan to promote Sunday’s TNA Victory Road pay-per-view. In it, Morgan discusses drawing from within and overcoming ADHD. Below is an excerpt:

“I went from 1st grade to 6th grade in different learning disabled classes,” Morgan said. “I got kicked out of four different schools between 1st and 3rd grade for all different stuff, because a lot of these teachers and principals didn’t have classrooms for learning disabled. They just had normal, mainstream classrooms.

“So they thought I had behavioral issues, when in reality, some kids are starving for attention, and I would do anything it took to keep their attention. I’m talking some crazy, outlandish things.

“Once we were able to handle my ADD, we used the path Behavior Modification. They put me into a learning disabled classroom that had cubicles. So any time it was time for me to study in a situation where I needed to retain information or memorize to take a test the next day, I would do so in a cubicle, where I had no choice but to either pay attention or stare at brown walls. That’s not very enlightening and not very entertaining.

“I had some learning disabled teachers as well who helped keep me on task and gave me 1-on-1 attention when it was time to retain information and move me along at a pace someone my age should be.

“Once we got a handle on that, and we realized Behavior Modification — not pharmaceuticals — was the way for me to go. The rest was history. From 6th grade on, I was nothing short of first honors. In middle school, I got first honors. In high school, I got first honors. I almost got Valedictorian. In college, I graduated magna cum laude [great honors].”

His ADD did not effect his in-ring work or promos in WWE, OVW, All Japan, New Japan, HUSTLE, Ring Ka King, TNA. Morgan revealed his ADD during a TNA (outside the ring) profile on SpikeTV.

“[Former TNA writer] Vince Russo said, “I had no idea you had ADD. Really? You’re a smart guy. I had no idea,’” Morgan explained. “I said, ‘Vince, it has nothing to do with being intelligent or not. It just means I can’t focus on things for long periods of time, unless I’m interested in it.’

“Take wrestling for instance. I’m very interested in it. I’ve been a fan since I was 6-years-old. So that’s something I’m never going to have a problem focusing on, and that’s what’s cool about pro wrestling, because if you’re in the middle of a match, you can’t just sit there and start daydreaming and wondering, ‘Hey, what’s that guy doing out there eating popcorn in the third row? I wonder if it’s good…’ Boom… You get your face taken off by Samoa Joe.

“You can’t do that, obviously, if you enjoy your life [Morgan chuckled].”

He continued: “Anytime you have an ADD kid that’s in a situation with sports — where there are very quick rewards for hard work — I think they’re going to be successful 10 out of 10 times in that environment.”

Click here to read the article in its entirety.

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