Last Monday, John Morrison returned to WWE, coming off of the shelf due to a neck injury, to confront his former friend and tag team partner R-Truth. SLAM! Wrestling sat down with the “Shaman of Sexy” to talk about his recovery, and what exactly he has in store for Truth when the two of them finally meet in the ring.
Though no formal announcement has been made yet, it’s safe to assume that the confrontation will take place at SummerSlam on August 14.
“Absolutely, Truth and I have some unfinished business,” Morrison told SLAM! Wrestling, during an exclusive one-on-one at the Viewers Choice Canada offices in Toronto last week. “I’m really excited to beat him up.”
In Morrison’s view, SummerSlam, which takes place in his hometown of Los Angeles, would be the perfect place for the match, as it would even further emphasize how much a favourite he is, and how despised Truth is among the WWE Universe.
“Truth has got a lot of steam,” Morrison said about his nemesis. “He’s really done well as far as getting a lot of people to really despise him. Especially since he was so likable before. When he would come out and do the What’s Up, everyone used to love to sing along. But now he’s done such a complete 180 flip. I’m looking forward to getting him in the ring.”
In addition to resolving that storyline, competing at SummerSlam would also represent a symbolic end to Morrison’s recovery from the pinched nerve in his neck that had sidelined him for the past few months. Symbolic, since it’s hard to say whether or not he has actually physically fully healed.
“I’m coming back before I’m 100% healed,” he disclosed. “With nerve injuries, it’s really weird. My doctor said that from (the week leading up to his return), I could be 100% healed in the next three weeks or the next year. It’s kind of a mysterious injury … mysterious and provocative. Which fits with me,” he laughed, “because that’s kind of how I roll.”
Notwithstanding, one thing that he did know is that he wanted to return. “I was like, ‘I can’t wait a year,’ so I made the decision to come back — and be careful — but come back to doing what I love.”
And doing means doing it without any hesitation or compromising of his unique and exciting in-ring style. That’s one thing that Morrison said he would not give up.
“I thought about that, but I came to the conclusion that I don’t want to change the way that I do things, because that’s who I am. That’s the style that I developed my whole career, and it’s not something I want to change. I want to push myself to the limit and see if I can still hang with everything I’ve done in the past. So far I’ve been able to without making any drastic changes. I’m hoping over the next few months I’ll recover. I don’t feel that I’ve lost a step, and I don’t think that I’m going to.”
If there was any doubt, it was eliminated when he walked through the curtain on Monday to a raucous reception.
“You never really lose the feelings of goosebumps and excitement that you get performing in front of the WWE Universe. When you come back, you remember how cool it is to be able to do what we do, to perform in front of an arena full of thousands of screaming fans. That’s what really hit home to me, when I was out there in front of everybody, and I remembered how awesome it was.”
His match at this past week’s Smackdown helped him sustain that feeling, and Morrison predicts that the momentum will continue as the weeks, and matches, go by.
“When I get to show Truth what I really think about him, I think that it will be the best match of the night,” he predicted. “Whether it’s on Raw, SummerSlam, Night of Champions, or WrestleMania, I really do believe that whole-heartedly. It’s going to be really good.”
WWE SummerSlam will air on pay-per-view on Viewers Choice Canada on August 14.
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