TNA Star Matt Morgan Ready to Flex Muscle in Acting World

There's no doubt that Matt Morgan fits right into wrestling at first glance, standing 7-foot-1 and weighing in at over 300 pounds of chiseled muscle. But the TNA Wrestling star is also looking to branch out into acting.

On Friday night, he'll play the role of a Russian convict named Sasha on the FOX action-comedy "The Good Guys" (9 p.m. ET/8:00 p.m. CT).

"They wanted a big, grizzled, jacked up guy that can pull off this Sasha Salka -- that's the Russian guy's name, this character -- and I got a call from (TNA president) Dixie Carter and TNA and they let me know that they've been trying to get my name out there more and more to get acting spots to help draw attention to our company," said Morgan on the "Between The Ropes" radio show.

"It's something fun doing that and something that does come natural. The more and more time I put into it, the more and more natural it's becoming for me."

Morgan admits that he wants to do wrestling and acting at the same job and plans on having an acting career even after his days in the ring are over. But he has no plans on leaving the squared circle any time soon.

"I love wrestling and until I start to lose the passion for wrestling ... it's the same thing that happened to me with basketball. When I started to lose passion to play basketball, I really busted my a** and I could have sat on the bench in the NBA somewhere. I was losing the passion to play. I wanted to play. That's the kind of person I am and that wasn't going to happen for me."

"I dealt with that the way athletes deal with that -- you move on and you find something that you're passionate about. Pro wrestling was something I watched growing up. I always liked it, had no clue how to get involved in it and once I did, it's like what every wrestler says -- we get hooked."

Right now in TNA, "The Blueprint" is part of the group "Fortune" which includes the likes of A.J. Styles, Kazarian, Beer Money and the legendary Ric Flair. For him, it's part of a great learning experience being side-by-side with arguably the greatest pro wrestler of all time.

"You can be wrestling for 50 years, you can still learn from Ric Flair."
-- Matt Morgan "You can be wrestling for 50 years, you can still learn from Ric Flair," said Morgan. "I don't care how damn good you are. That's what all of us are doing to be quite honest. That's not some PC answer -- it's the truth. Ric gives a crap about us and when we go over our segments and when we do certain things, Ric is all about positioning us into the forefront."

Morgan admits that he is a wrestling junkie, watching everything he can get his hands on. But it's not just current wrestling either as every night he pulls out tapes of other big guys and legends to study to help him improve. He believes it is paying off now and that some day he will be a world champion.

"I have zero doubt of that. It's just the matter of telling the proper story. This is just a small chapter within the Matt Morgan story and it's very imperative that you do every single chapter to the best of your ability so when you get to that final couple of chapters, the fans are sucked in that much more."

"I've got to admit, I thought by now I would -- I don't want to say be the heavyweight champion -- be around that picture. The good thing about the way the company does use me is I'm really only one or two matches away from those types of situations and that's the way you have to look at it."