| Liv Morgan | |
|---|---|
Morgan in 2022 | |
| Birth name | Gionna Jene Daddio |
| Born | June 8, 1994 Morristown, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Gionna Daddio[1] Liv Morgan[2] Marley[3] |
| Billed height | 5 ft 3 in (160 cm)[4] |
| Billed from | Elmwood Park, New Jersey[4] |
| Trained by | WWE Performance Center |
| Debut | June 27, 2015 |
Gionna Jene Daddio (born June 8, 1994) is an American professional wrestler. She is currently signed to WWE, where she performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Liv Morgan and is the current SmackDown Women's Champion in her first reign.
In 2014, Daddio signed a contract with WWE and was assigned to the WWE Performance Center, later appearing in NXT under the Liv Morgan name. She was promoted to the main roster in 2017 and was paired with Ruby Riott and Sarah Logan to form the stable The Riott Squad. After the stable disbanded in 2019, Morgan became a singles competitor. After a few months of her singles run, she reunited with the returning Riott, who had been out of action for months with a shoulder injury, to reform the Riott Squad, now as a duo rather than a trio due to the release of Logan. Morgan and Riott performed together until Riott's release in 2021. In 2022, Morgan won the Women's Money in the Bank ladder match and would cash in the same night, defeating Ronda Rousey to win the SmackDown Women's Championship, the first title in her wrestling career.
Gionna Jene Daddio was born in Morristown, New Jersey,[5] on June 8, 1994.[6] She was raised in nearby Elmwood Park, New Jersey.[6][7] She has four older brothers and a sister; following the death of Daddio's father, her mother raised all six children as a single mother.[8] Daddio is a longtime fan of professional wrestling, and would participate in backyard wrestling with her siblings.[8] She has described the matches as core to start her foray into wrestling:
I would literally take pedigrees and powerbombs like it was my job. I always pretended to be Lita. All the Divas were so glamorous and girly, and I was such a tomboy and didn't have nice clothes. When I saw Lita come out in baggy pants and sneakers, wrestling the boys, I thought she was the coolest thing ever. I related to her.[8]
Daddio was a former competitive cheerleader,[4] and worked and modelled for the restaurant chain Hooters.[9][10]
In 2014, after being discovered at Joe DeFranco's gym in Wyckoff, New Jersey,[8] Daddio signed a contract with WWE, assigning her to their developmental territory, NXT in October 2014.[9] She made her first televised appearance at the NXT TakeOver: Rival event on February 11, 2015, as a planted fan, who jumped on Tyler Breeze during his ring entrance.[11] She later appeared at NXT TakeOver: Unstoppable on May 20, again as part of Breeze's entrance.[12] In October 2015, she briefly worked under the ring name Marley,[3] debuting on the November 4 episode of NXT, where she worked as a jobber and lost to Eva Marie.[13]
On the December 2 episode of NXT, Daddio made her return under the new ring name Liv Morgan, losing to Emma.[2] On the January 13, 2016, episode of NXT, Morgan competed in a battle royal to determine the number one contender to Bayley's NXT Women's Championship, which was won by Carmella.[14] On the August 31 episode of NXT, Morgan picked up her first televised singles win, defeating Aliyah.[15] She later began a rivalry with The Iconic Duo (Billie Kay and Peyton Royce), with both women confronting her following her match, leading to a match between Morgan and Kay two weeks later, which Kay won after interference by Royce.[16] She then competed against Royce on the November 16 episode of NXT, which ended in a disqualification after Kay interfered in the match, attacking Morgan and Aliyah until Ember Moon made the save.[17] The three faced off in a six-person tag team match against Kay, Royce, and Daria Berenato on the November 23 episode of NXT, with Morgan's team coming out victorious.[18]
|
Main article: The Riott Squad |
On the November 21, 2017 episode of SmackDown Live, Morgan made her main roster debut alongside Ruby Riott and Sarah Logan, attacking both Becky Lynch and Naomi, establishing themselves as heels in the process. On the same night, they interrupted a match between SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair and Natalya, then proceeded to attack both of them.[19] The following week on SmackDown Live, the trio, now called "The Riott Squad", made their in-ring debuts for the brand, defeating Flair, Naomi, and Natalya in a six-woman tag team match.[20] On January 28, 2018, Morgan participated in the first women's Royal Rumble match at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view as the eleventh entrant, but was eliminated by Michelle McCool.[21] Morgan made her WrestleMania debut at WrestleMania 34 by participating in the 20-woman WrestleMania Women's Battle Royal, but failed to win the match.[22]
On April 16, The Riott Squad were drafted to Raw brand as part of the 2018 Superstar Shake-Up, and caused the match between Bayley and Sasha Banks to end in a no contest.[23] In the inaugural all women's pay-per-view Evolution, The Riott Squad lost to Natalya, Bayley and Sasha Banks.[24][25] On January 27, 2019, at Royal Rumble, Morgan participated in the women's Royal Rumble match, only to be the first to be eliminated after lasting 8 seconds, setting the record for the shortest time in the women's Royal Rumble match.[26] Morgan and Logan competed in a six-team Elimination Chamber match for the inaugural WWE Women's Tag Team Championship at the namesake pay-per-view, where they were the third team eliminated by Nia Jax and Tamina.[27] Morgan competed at WrestleMania 35 in a Women's battle royal match that was eventually won by Carmella.[28]
On April 16, Morgan was moved to the SmackDown brand as part of the Superstar Shake-up, effectively dissolving The Riott Squad in the process.[29][30] On the July 16 episode of SmackDown Live, Morgan turned face when she confronted Charlotte Flair and faced her in a match, in which Morgan lost by submission.[31]
On the October 14 episode of Raw, Morgan was the final overall pick of the year's draft, being drafted back to the Raw brand.[32] Throughout the month of December, vignettes aired promoting Morgan's return.[33][34] Morgan returned to television on the December 30 episode of Raw, during Bobby Lashley and Lana's storyline wedding, interrupting the proceedings and professing her love for Lana.[35] After Lana subsequently attacked her, she aligned herself with Rusev, who had been feuding with Lana and Lashley, thus cementing her face turn.[36] Morgan defeated Lana on the January 27, 2020, episode of Raw, doing so once again the following week. After her feud with Lana ended, Morgan entered a feud with her former Riott Squad teammate Ruby Riott who turned on her upon returning. On the March 2 episode of Raw, Morgan defeated Riott with Sarah Logan as the special guest referee.[37] At Elimination Chamber on March 8, Morgan entered her second Elimination chamber match, during which she was eliminated by eventual winner Shayna Baszler.[38] On the WrestleMania 36 pre-show, Morgan defeated Natalya in singles competition.[39] After WrestleMania, Morgan continued her feud with Riott and defeated her on the April 20 and 27 episodes of Raw respectively.[40][41]
After Morgan lost to Natalya on the June 22 episode of Raw, Ruby Riott attempted to console Morgan backstage after her loss, which she rebuffed.[42] On the August 3 episode of Raw, Riott asked Morgan to join her in reforming the Riott Squad, only to be interrupted by The IIconics, who mocked the two; this led to a tag team match where Morgan and Riott defeated The IIconics.[43] At Payback, Morgan and Riott (now officially known as The Riott Squad again) defeated The IIconics and once more the following night on Raw, forcing The IIconics to disband, per stipulation.[44]
As part of the 2020 Draft in October, both Morgan and Riott were drafted to the SmackDown brand.[45] She would go on to win a fatal four-way match during her first night on SmackDown after the Draft to qualify for the women's team at Survivor Series,[46][47] in which she and her brand partners lost.[48] They challenged for a shot at the Women's Tag Team Championship on the first night of WrestleMania 37, but failed to win the match.[49] Riott was released by WWE on June 2, 2021, effectively disbanding The Riott Squad for the second time.[50]
On the June 4 episode of SmackDown, Morgan returned to singles competition by facing Carmella in a losing effort, but defeated her the following week. She competed in the Money in the Bank ladder match at the eponymous event, but failed to win the match.[51] At Extreme Rules, Morgan defeated Carmella in the pre-show.[52]
As part of the 2021 Draft, Morgan was drafted to the Raw brand.[53][54] In October, Morgan entered the Queen's Crown tournament, where she lost to Carmella in the first round.[55] On the November 8 episode of Raw, Morgan won a fatal 5-way match to earn a shot at the Raw Women's Championship, which was held by Becky Lynch. Morgan would then receive her title match against Lynch on the December 6 episode of Raw, where Lynch retained the title.[56] Morgan failed to win the title in a rematch at WWE Day 1.[57] She participated in the Royal Rumble match at the namesake event on January 19, 2022, entering at #6 but was eliminated by Brie Bella.[58] At Elimination Chamber, Morgan entered the Elimination Chamber match for a Raw Women's Championship match at WrestleMania 38, eliminating Doudrop but was eliminated by Alexa Bliss.[59] In March, Morgan began teaming with Rhea Ripley, challenging for the Women's Tag Team Championship in a fatal four-way tag team match on the second night of WrestleMania 38, but failed to win the titles.[60] On the April 18 episode of Raw, they faced the new champions Sasha Banks and Naomi for the titles, but lost, and after the match, Ripley would attack Morgan thus ending their partnership.[61] At Hell in a Cell on June 5, she teamed up with AJ Styles and Finn Bálor to face The Judgment Day (Edge, Damian Priest and Rhea Ripley) in a six-person mixed tag team match, but lost.[62]
On the June 13 episode of Raw, Morgan teamed with Alexa Bliss to defeat Doudrop and Nikki A.S.H. in a tag team match to qualify for the women's Money in the Bank ladder match.[63] At the event on July 2, Morgan won the Money in the Bank contract, granting her a women's championship match at any time of her choosing. Later that night, following the SmackDown Women's Championship match between Natalya and Ronda Rousey, Morgan cashed in her contract on the latter to win the title, making her the third woman, alongside Alexa Bliss and Bayley, to successfully cash-in the Money in the Bank contract the same night after winning it, and the fifth woman to successfully cash-in the contract overall.[64] At SummerSlam on July 30, Morgan controversially retained the title in a rematch against Rousey; Morgan tapped out to Rousey's armbar, but the referee had counted Rousey's shoulders down, giving the pinfall win to Morgan. After the match, both Morgan and the referee were attacked by Rousey.
Morgan made her video game debut as a playable character in WWE 2K19,[65] and later appeared in WWE 2K20,[66] WWE 2K Battlegrounds,[67] and WWE 2K22.[68]
In November 2020, Daddio confirmed in a screenshot on Twitter that she had taken up a course to become a real estate agent at the Bob Hogue School of Real Estate.[69]
In February 2021, it was revealed that Daddio was in a relationship with fellow wrestler Bo Dallas, with the two living on a farm and starting a real estate business to prepare for life after professional wrestling.[70]
