WWE’s Liv Morgan on Rhea Ripley and Dominik Mysterio’s “liberating” story on Bad Blood

All Liv Morgan could do was sit at home and stew while she recovered from the first serious injury of her career.

The New Jersey native missed six months last year with a dislocated shoulder and also required labrum, rotator cuff and biceps surgery for an injury attributed on WWE television to an attack by Rhea Ripley.

While she was out of action, she watched as Ripley – her former tag team partner – rose to a new level of superstardom in the WWE.

“This is my home and I absolutely hate it,” Morgan said.

This sparked the idea of ​​a revenge tour for Liv Morgan following her return as the 30th entrant in this year’s Women’s Royal Rumble

Eight months later, she’s one win away from truly completing the storyline.

Morgan, 30, will defend her WWE Women’s World Championship against Ripley at Bad Blood in Atlanta on October 5 (6 p.m., Peacock), while on-screen love interest Dominik Mysterio is locked in a shark cage above the ring. Morgan won their last meeting at SummerSlam with help from Mysterio. It will be WWE’s first Shark Cage match in seven years.

“It’s interesting to be on the other side [Ripley’s stardom] and I’m building my superstar status on my own,” said Morgan.

Morgan, who viewed her injury as “paying her debt” in an industry that leaves few unscathed, knew she would have to mentally push herself “to a higher level” upon her return. She used the time off to truly evaluate herself for the first time since joining WWE almost a decade ago.

Her return brought the best run of her career, including defeating Becky Lynch at King and Queen of the Ring in May for her second world championship and successfully defending it against her in the steel cage.

The love triangle story with Mysterio, Ripley and The Judgment Day has allowed her to find the on-screen role she feels most comfortable with in WWE.

Morgan was able to go out there no longer caring what the audience thought of her and calls it “so liberating.”

“When I was sweet little Liv, you had to be specific about the things you did and said,” she said. “It’s so much easier for people to hate you than to make people love you and love you naturally. It’s so much fun. There’s so much freedom because it just doesn’t matter. Ultimately it doesn’t matter, and there’s something liberating about knowing that.”

The fact that Mysterio is hanging in a shark cage above the ring alludes to his character’s storyline, which will have to spend a short time in prison at the end of 2022.

“The trauma this man has from shark cages, being back behind bars, plus he’s so afraid of heights and he’s also claustrophobic. My goal is to get him there as quickly as possible,” Morgan said.

In addition to seducing Mysterio on screen, Morgan replaced Ripley in The Judgment Day, giving her a full-fledged faction to work with for the first time since her time with The Riott Squad, which disbanded in 2019. He and Mysterio teamed up against Ripley and Damian Priest at the Bash in Berlin last month.

“It’s very different,” Morgan said. “As a lone wolf, everything you do is focused on you. If you succeed, you succeed, and if you fail, you fail. In a faction you share this responsibility with everyone else.”

The latest ingredient added to the story is Jey Uso, the new Intercontinental Champion and one of WWE’s biggest stars, who has been flirting with Ripley as part of the story. Morgan called Uso’s addition a welcome dynamic because he is “loved as much as we hate him right now for interfering in our business.”

“If it’s enough to get Rhea to stop being so obsessed with my daddy Dom, then I’m all for it,” Morgan said. “Just stay out of my business. Please get Rhea out of our hair. It becomes very obsessive and stalkerish, clinging to stage five at this point.

“You did [Raw GM] Adam [Pearce] to agree to an entire clause just to keep Dominik away? Are you kidding? Are you still in love with him? So yeah, Jey, please come and take all her attention away because I’m ready to move on.”

Morgan said she believes the story’s success could have long-term effects on creativity at the top of the women’s division. Over the past nearly decade, WWE has rarely told its female world champions soap opera-style stories or had them share the screen with their male counterparts to any significant extent.

“I think it’s cool to know and show that we can do both,” Morgan said. “Yes, I can be a women’s champion and have a story around my championship, but also bring in elements that a lot of people who watched WWE as a kid loved.

“They loved the romance, they loved the mess, the love triangle. Who doesn’t love a good love story? It was cool to be able to bring those together because usually it’s one or the other. So it’s special in its own way to have a story that maybe doesn’t focus so much on the championship.”

This comes as audiences are reminded of the Attitude Era – although aside from a few revealing outfits and Morgan’s make-out session with Mysterio at SummerSlam, it didn’t go too far.

“At the end of the day, we’re a PG, so the fact that we were able to tell these stories, you know, push boundaries a little bit more than we’ve done in the last few years was exciting for the fans and Als.” “As artists, it’s exciting to immerse ourselves in the art form and storytelling that we do,” Morgan said. “At the end of the day, it’s a PG product, so I know what to expect at work.”

Morgan’s character caught Mysterio’s attention by giving him a level of attention that he did not get during his on-screen relationship with Ripley’s more dominant and possessive character. Morgan gave him plates of his favorite food, chicken nuggets, a PS5 and a TV to play on. She added: “There will be a lot more where this came from.”

An extravagant gift-giver is something Morgan has exhibited in her own real-life relationships, where she says she has given significant others 90-inch flat screens and vacations, including one to Hawaii.

“I’m kind of flamboyant,” Morgan said. “My love language is not receiving, but how I show love is I love giving gifts and I’m such a gift giver.”

After watching Ripley rise to the top of the women’s division, the gift Morgan wants to give her challenger in Bad Blood is another loss.

“Man, it’s going to feel so good to destroy them on Bad Blood,” Morgan said. “It doesn’t matter how big a star she is.”

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On TKO’s decision to reduce the number of WWE live events in 2025:

“I’m sad to see them disappear a little bit because the house shows are so much fun and so much more intimate,” Morgan said. “House shows are really for the love of the game. House shows are about the love of the art of wrestling, performing, being with the fans and interacting with them on a more intimate level.

“For me too, I feel like I was doing well, having so many repeats at these love events in 2017, ’18, ’19, that I attended every single live event. But it helped me get a lot better because I got all those calls.

“I’m sorry to see that happen to the newer guys and gals who won’t be able to have that experience and have those reps under that belt at live events, but that’s how it is. Time at home is always nice. We spend so much time away from family and friends, which is nice, but I love live events.”