Liv Morgan claimed her second Women’s World Championship on Saturday at King and Queen of the Ring 2024. Although it feels well deserved, with both fans and fellow wrestlers sharing their happiness for Morgan, will WWE be able to avoid the same errors of her first reign?
Long-term, will this run cement Morgan into the top tier of WWE’s women’s division? Or when she eventually loses the championship, will the cycle repeat itself?
Dirty
When Liv Morgan returned at the Royal Rumble from injury wearing Christina Aguilera-inspired gear, part of me thought that was an apt visual metaphor. At times throughout Morgan’s WWE career, it’s felt like the company in the past did her dirty. Morgan had developed a cult following as far back as NXT Black and Gold.
As a member of The Riott Squad, Morgan slowly became a standout. Nevertheless, the group faced issues with one-dimensional booking as heels, breakup and then reunion, which made building fictional momentum and the chance for fans to connect with Morgan’s character difficult. WWE’s 2020 documentary, Liv Forever (a recap/analysis can be found here), exposed two things.
First, it revealed Morgan’s true underdog story. Going from high school dropout to WWE wrestler gave credibility to Liv’s fans and the belief that her resilience, dedication, and drive translated into her on-screen character. Even when faced with the prospect of a creative dead-end or worse, creative mismanagement, Liv has risen above becoming stigmatized.
Think about those abandoned vignettes in 2019. Or the revelation during the Lana/Lashley wedding that Liv was having a secret relationship with Lana. Both went nowhere.
Consequently, the frustrating nature of WWE creative at the time when plans changed at the last minute and wrestlers like Morgan, stuck in limbo, met disappointment and self-doubt regularly. The waiting until creative has something for you. Yet, Morgan, despite tears, wasn’t going to give up.
Glistens But Not Gold
Prior to Morgan’s big win at King and Queen of the Ring, Morgan has stood front and center before. She has held the Women’s Championship once before, is the only woman to have two pinfall victories over Ronda Rousey, and is a two-time Women’s Tag Team Champion and a Money in the Bank winner. However, wrestling promotions have historically shown fans that numerous accolades don’t trump consistent booking.
Honors alone do not cement someone as a star. WWE’s Women’s Tag Team Championship history has a diminished aura and low ceiling of expectations. Although riding high on momentum with the Money in the Bank briefcase, Morgan’s championship victory over Rousey and her subsequent fluke victory undermined Morgan’s underdog presentation.
Like with Rey Mysterio and the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, Morgan was presented as owing more to luck than skill. Likewise, her champion’s persona was paper-thin. It seemed inevitable that soon, Morgan was going to lose the championship to Ronda. She did, with her reign lasting 98 days.
Keep in mind that the creative guard had changed by this point. That fluke win came under the start of Triple H’s reign (other overlaps between Triple H’s and Vince McMahon’s booking strategies can be found here).
Although some at that time doubted that Morgan had the potential to be a main event player in the women’s division, Morgan’s fans kept the faith. Given Morgan was able to overcome previous creative setbacks and how she entered the business by making the most of an interaction with a WWE superstar, some knew it was a matter of time.
The Revenge Tour Finally Comes to Town
At the Royal Rumble, Morgan returned with a good showing in the titular match. As one of several women who were able to maximize their minutes, Liv came so close, but again, like the previous year with Rhea Ripley, she was the last eliminated.
Rather than a setback, this fit perfectly into the narrative of Morgan’s “Revenge Tour”. Bayley could challenge Iyo Sky and Elimination Chamber could set up Morgan’s match with Rhea.
Morgan’s desire to get vengeance on her former tag team partner, who had put her on the shelf the previous summer, was an obvious storyline. Liv wanted to take from Ripley the championship that Morgan, as the justified heel, felt could have been hers if she won the Rumble instead.
Nonetheless, Morgan lost to Becky Lynch at the final hurdle. Although Morgan had been somewhat promoted from always being the bride’s maid rather than the secret lover of the bride, if this was a long-term storyline booking plan, there was one logical oversight.
Why wait? Although perhaps wanting to be the one to take the championship from Rhea, why wait to attack Rhea directly after WrestleMania 40 on the Raw after ‘Mania? Especially given the assault on Ripley was super effective. Why not make Mami’s life the Rumble onwards? Become a pest and force herself into the Women’s Championship picture at or before ‘Mania?
Like buying a ticket for a pop star’s big tour, the “Revenge Tour” had a lot of hype, and sold lots of t-shirts, but meandered traveling elsewhere before the big day arrived. For Morgan’s fans, Saturday was a great feel-good day. Nonetheless, in the long term, the tour’s over. Morgan needs to work on the follow-up album.
The Problem of Coming Up Short
Coming up short in three big matches this year: the Royal Rumble, the Elimination Chamber, and then the battle royal for Ripley relinquished Women’s Championship created another issue. As a storytelling device, this kind of pattern has been used effectively to build babyfaces to help take them to the next level. AEW used this structure with Darby Allin overcoming Cody Rhodes to win the TNT Championship.
Conversely, Morgan has been presented as a heel, against Rhea Ripley who has been received for months with babyface reactions. For a heel, coming up short three times could give the impression of being a perpetual loser. To some degree, Morgan, like in the past with her character work and resilience may have defied this stigma, depending on your subjective opinion.
Alternatively, from a storyline perspective, it not only built up to the payoff in Saudi Arabia. It also allowed Morgan to begin manipulating Dominik Mysterio while Mami is away. But like coming up short, there is a larger flaw in this storyline.
The inevitable blowoff is Liv Morgan vs. Rhea Ripley. This isn’t an issue. It already feels it like this could be built into a strong women’s storyline.
The manipulation of Dirty Dom, a tease of something with Finn Balor, which may intersect with the current instability of The Judgement Day could present WWE dovetailing storylines in a way AEW has been doing since it’s inception.
Attempts at clever background and social media storytelling have met with fan engagement. Like Morgan and Dom being seen together in the background of behind-the-scenes segments on Raw. Or how Mysterio’s prior claims of intending to cost Liv her championship opportunity were undermined by him liking Liv’s victory post on Instagram.
It’s All About Rhea
The issue is that Liv Morgan’s Revenge Tour and the story arc are solely obsessed and revolve around Rhea Ripley to the point that Liv and her championship run could become secondary in the long term.
Despite an injury, Ripley remains the most over and popular woman in WWE. Her aura is unmatched in this new era. Reactions to Ripley on social media captures the attention of fans and non-fans alike. The likelihood is that when Ripley returns, she will sooner or later defeat Liv and reclaim her championship.
WWE has found a deep well to keep revisiting faction-based tension. Teases of splits within the Judgement Day have happened before. Right now, Damien Priest looks to be struggling to keep control.
It has and is generating engagement. It’s allowing WWE fans to invest and experience wish fulfilment with consistency and stability that not long ago seemed impossible.
Being able to predict or invest in where these stories might go is still a luxury rather than a standard. Even pundits and podcasters, like ex-WWE wrestler Bully Ray fantasy book with a sense of confidence in the prospect of Morgan taking Ripley’s championship, her man, and her faction to help build an epic showdown.
The problem goes beyond the risk of repeating The Bloodline “civil war” on SmackDown. If Morgan’s reign becomes a vehicle for Ripley’s return as a conquering babyface, where does this leave Morgan afterward?
More Than Revenge
Don’t forget, this championship reign, as far as we are aware, is a happy accident. Like elsewhere in Morgan’s life, she’s taken advantage of an opportunity. With very little material, Morgan has proven before that she can do a lot.
It might have been me as a casual WWE watcher, but The Revenge Tour felt like there was a whiff of Rusev Day about it. Not a one-to-one comparison, but in the sense that it felt early on like something Morgan manifested herself into existence. Differently, creative embraced and encouraged it.
Even if Liv does take everything from Ripley – her title, her man, her faction – what defining features of this run will be hers?
What Liv Morgan needs long-term is more than revenge. Morgan needs an extra layer or two to her character to make her more than a cut-out of the old WWE stereotype of a Jezebel, manipulating a male wrestler/s to get what she wants. There is time to experiment and try things out, as AEW has done with Toni Storm to define her “Timeless” persona.
There is the potential to make Morgan more than Ripley’s most memorable challenger. Potentially a long-term career rival if WWE thinks as highly of Morgan as her fans do. What Morgan lacks in size and physicality to Ripley could be made up of intelligence and personality.
Another method could be subverting expectations further. Rather than take over, what about dismantling The Judgement Day? What about Morgan becoming the leader of her own faction? Or using Morgan’s intelligence to convince the Raw women’s locker room against Ripley given her previous run of dominance.
Beyond the Result
The end result will likely be Ripley regains the championship. This isn’t wrong or too predictable because it makes sense. There is definitely money to be made from the angle and in the chase.
Whether or not long-term WWE wants to elevate Morgan permanently to the upper level of WWE’s women’s division is unknown. Some fans think she should be given that opportunity.
This isn’t to suggest Morgan can achieve the same level of success as Ripley. Morgan is a different type of athlete, a different personality with her own set of skills. Some would argue Morgan’s full potential has not yet been utilized.
If given the microphone and a clear direction, the follow up tour might outsell its predecessor.
