Liv Morgan has quietly become one of WWE’s most entertaining characters in 2024, with her heel run alongside ‘Daddy Dom’ being very well-thought-out from the start. Her ‘Revenge Tour’ became more than just a catchphrase as she really did upend her rival Rhea Ripley’s life in a very cunning and evil way.
Liv Morgan and Rhea Ripley are having the WWE storyline of the year on Raw, but what about the other women?
After years of main roster toil, it is good to see a performer of Morgan’s talents finally put it all together as she has always had the potential to do so. The turnaround in her performance is a credit to herself but also the work that has been put in by WWE to promote her as a big star within the company.
Liv Morgan Has Always Been Popular With WWE Fans
Liv Morgan Has Had Several Ups And Downs In WWE
- Liv Morgan debuted on the main roster as part of The Riott Squad in 2017.
- Morgan won Money in the Bank and became SmackDown Women’s Champion in 2022.
- Liv missed the second half of 2023 due to an injury.
Ever since she appeared on the main roster as part of the Riott Squad, it was clear that Morgan had the potential to become a breakout star within the division. Her innate charisma and decent in-ring work served her well during the early years, as she would find limited success as a tag and singles performer.
After teaming with then feuding against Rhea Ripley in 2022, Morgan was poised to finally breakout as a singles star and would win the SmackDown Women’s Championship from Ronda Rousey after cashing in her Money in the Bank opportunity. Her crowning moment was well-received by fans who were rooting for Liv, but her title run and feud with Rousey was handled terribly, knocking her back down the card.
An iron-women performance alongside rival Ripley in the 2023 Royal Rumble, where both performers lasted over an hour in the match, helped recover some momentum for Morgan. She would win the tag titles alongside Raquel Rodriguez, but an injury forced her off screens for the rest of the year, culminating an up and down couple of years for Morgan as a babyface.
WWE were right to go with Liv as a breakout babyface star, as she had gained organic support from the audience whilst continuing to improve as an all-round performer, but she did get lost in the shuffle more than once throughout this time.
Liv Morgan’s Character Work Has Changed Her Trajectory
The ‘Revenge Tour’ Has Been Great For Liv Morgan
- The ‘Revenge Tour’ began when Liv injured Rhea Ripley, forcing her to vacate the title.
- Morgan won the vacant World Women’s Championship by defeating Becky Lynch in May.
- Her feud with Ripley involved Liv stealing ‘Dirty Dom’ Mysterio and joining Judgment Day.
Morgan’s relationship and rivalry with Rhea Ripley has been key to her continued improvement stemming back to when they first teamed together in 2022. Whilst Ripley was becoming the dominant Women’s Champion as part of the Judgment Day, Liv had to watch from the sidelines recovering from an injury that, in kayfabe, Rhea had caused.
It was clear towards the end of her title reign that Rhea was poised to turn face due to how popular she was, but WWE needed an interesting way to have her go about it. It may have been by accident due to an injury the champion had suffered, but having Morgan transition into a heel role and take Rhea’s title was the beginning of a masterstroke in plot development from WWE.
Despite being tremendous talents, some current WWE wrestlers’ characters have grown stale and desperately need a character change.
Liv’s heel character immediately felt more natural than her previous babyface performances, and her ‘Revenge Tour’ would only continue to get better as she began targeting Domminik Mysterio and nudging her way into Judgment Day. Morgan played the heel role perfectly, with Rhea now having the perfect excuse to turn face in the eyes of the audience, which was a win-win for both performers.
Raw Has Established A Strong Women’s Division
The Main Event Picture For WWE’s Women Has Been Strong For A Few Years Now
Much can be said about WWE’s overall output when it comes to booking women, as there is an argument to be made that Triple H could put a bit more effort into helping the mid-card be a bit stronger. However, the main event scenes on both Raw and SmackDown, particularly the former, have been going well for a number of years now. With Raw being especially strong, this has helped performers like Liv Morgan and Rhea Ripley establish themselves in a division usually occupied by one of the Horsewomen, or maybe Asuka or Ronda Rousey. Alongside Bianca Belair, Morgan and Ripley now belong at the top of the card on most given nights, which is a credit to the booking as WWE has managed to create a new generation of female stars.
Hopefully, the ‘Revenge Tour’ continues to go strong throughout the rest of the year, with the reintroduction of Raquel Rodriguez at Bad Blood being a smart twist from WWE. Morgan will have to showcase her talents with performers other than Ripley to prove that she has the staying power as a champion in the division, but so far so good.
It will be interesting to see what women will be poised to break out next, with Tiffany Stratton being on the cusp of winning her first title and a load of talented performers in NXT waiting for their main roster shot. Liv Morgan has shown how important character work is in getting over, so hopefully, more wrestlers can follow her lead.
