All Liv Morgan could do was sit and stew as she recuperated at home after suffering the first serious injury of her career.
The New Jersey native missed six months last year with a dislocated shoulder, which also required surgery on his labrum, rotator cuff and biceps, an injury that was attributed to a Rhea Ripley attack on WWE television. .
During her time away from action, she watched her former tag team partner Ripley rise to new levels of superstardom in WWE.
“Here I am at home and I really hate it,” Morgan said.
That sparked the idea for a revenge tour for Liv Morgan, who returned as the 30th entry in this year's Women's Royal Rumble.
Eight months later, I'm one win away from fully completing the story.
Morgan, 30, is scheduled to defend her WWE Women's World Championship against Ripley on Oct. 5 in Atlanta at Bad Blood (6 p.m., Peacock) as her on-screen boyfriend Dominik Mysterio locks her in an in-ring shark cage. It is being Morgan won their final match at SummerSlam with help from Mysterio. This will be WWE's first match in the Shark Cage in seven years.
“It’s interesting to be on the other side.” [Ripley’s stardom] And I'm going to build my own superstar status,'' Morgan said.
In an industry where few people go home unscathed, Morgan believes his injury “paid off” and knew he needed to “level up” mentally upon his return. She used the time off to truly evaluate herself for the first time since joining WWE nearly 10 years ago.
Her return marked the best performance of her career, including defeating Becky Lynch at King & Queen of the Ring in May to win her second world title and successfully defend it against her in a steel cage. brought about.
Her love triangle storyline with Mysterio, Ripley, and Judgment Day allowed her to find the on-screen persona she feels most comfortable with in WWE.
Morgan said it was “very liberating” to be able to go on set and not have to worry about what the audience thought of him.
“When I was cute little Liv, I had to be picky about what I did and what I said,” she said. “It's much easier to have people hate you than to have them love you and have them love you naturally. It's so much fun. It's so freeing because nothing matters. It doesn't really matter in the end. , just knowing that releases something.”
Mysterio, suspended above the ring in a shark cage, plays out the character's storyline, which will see him spend a short period of time in prison at the end of 2022.
“This guy is traumatized by the shark cage, he's in prison again, he's afraid of heights and he's also claustrophobic. My goal is to get him there as quickly as possible,” Morgan said. said.
In addition to seducing Mysterio on screen, Morgan replaced Ripley in Judgment Day, giving her her first serious ally since her days with The Riot Squad, which disbanded in 2019. He and Mysterio teamed up with Ripley. and Damien Priest at the Berlin bash last month.
“Absolutely not,” Morgan said. “Being a solo competitor, everything you do is focused on you. If you succeed, you're successful; if you fail, you're a failure. In a faction, you share that responsibility with everyone else.”
The latest addition to the story is Jey Uso, the new Intercontinental Champion and one of WWE's most over-the-top stars, who is flirting with Ripley as part of the story. Morgan said the addition of Uso is a welcome move because he is “so loved as much as we hate him for meddling in our business.”
“If it's enough for him to get Leah to stop obsessing over Daddy Dom, I'm all for it,” Morgan said. “Stay out of my business. Get Rhea out of our hair. It's becoming very obsessive and stalker-like, clinging to Stage 5 at this point.
“You have [Raw GM] Adam [Pearce] Will she agree to the terms just to keep Dominic away? are you kidding? do you still love him? So, yes, Jay, come and remove all her attention, because I'm ready to move on. ”
Morgan said she believes the success of this story could have a long-term impact on creatives at the top of the women's division. For nearly a decade, WWE hasn't done much melodramatic storytelling among its women's world champions, nor has it done much to let them share the screen with their male champions.
“I think it's great to know that you can do both and show that,” Morgan said. “Yes, I get to be the Women's Champion and have a storyline that revolves around my championship, but I also get to bring these elements that a lot of people who grew up watching WWE loved.
“They loved romance, chaos, and love triangles. Who doesn't love a good love story? Usually it's just one or the other, so it's great to be able to combine these. So maybe Having a story that doesn't revolve around a championship is special in its own way.”
It was done while reminding the audience of the Attitude Era, but other than a few skimpy outfits at SummerSlam and Morgan's make-out session with Mysterio, it didn't push the envelope.
“At the end of the day, we're PG, so the fact that we've been able to tell these stories, you know, push the envelope a little bit more than we've done in the past few years, is… “It's exciting for the fans, and it's exciting as performers to dive into the art form and storytelling that we're doing,” Morgan said. “After all, this is a PG product, so I know what to expect from the job.”
Morgan's character caught Mysterio's attention by showing him a level of attention that he did not receive during his on-screen relationship with Ripley's more domineering and possessive character. Morgan gave him a plate of chicken nuggets, his favorite food, a PS5, and a TV to play it on. She added, “There's probably a lot more where that came from.”
Being an extravagant gift-giver is no different in Morgan's own real-life relationships, where he gifted his significant other a 90-inch flat screen and vacations, including a vacation to Hawaii. spoke.
“I'm a little extravagant,'' Morgan said. “My love language isn't receiving, but the way I show love is to give gifts, and I'm a very gift-giver.'' ”
After watching Ripley rise to the top of the women's division, the gift Morgan wanted to give her challenger at Bad Blood was yet another loss.
“It would feel really good to beat her at Bad Blood,” Morgan said. “It doesn't matter how big a star she is.”
On TKO's decision to reduce the number of WWE live events in 2025:
“House shows are so much fun and so intimate, so it's sad to see them go away a little bit,” Morgan said. “House shows are really about the love of the game. House shows are about the love of the art of professional wrestling, performing with the fans, and interacting with them on a more intimate level.
“For me, too, when I was doing all the live events in 2017, ’18, and ’19, I feel like it was great to get a lot of repeat customers with love events like this. I am so much better because of what I got.
“It's sad to see this apply to new guys and girls who don't get that experience and wouldn't be able to get that experience at a live event, but that's the reality. It's always fun to go home. We love spending so much time away from family and friends, but we love live events.”
