This Sunday will see the women’s division main event WrestleMania for the first time in history. It also plays host for the second annual WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal.
The Asbury Press Park Press spoke with Sonya Deville and Liv Morgan regarding their upcoming opportunitym and LGBTQ representation. They also speculated about the women’s division in a post WrestleMania 35 world.
“We Have Contributed To The Changing Landscape Of The Women’s Division”
Looking back on their accomplishments in the women’s division, they highlighted the first-ever women’s Elimination Chamber match. Deville believes that “we ourselves [her and Liv Morgan] have contributed to the changing landscape of the women’s division, and that’s a personal goal of mine to continue to do.”
She emphasised that she wants “[…] the women’s division to have that legitimacy, I want it to have that intensity and the aggressiveness, and I feel like that’s where I personally can contribute.”
Deville broached the subject of her acting as a representative of the LGBTQ community. She is the first openly lesbian competitor in WWE.
“Being a part of the LGBTQ community myself, it’s another passion of mine to let my fan base know that I represent another demographic in the WWE,” Deville said. “[…] we are diverse and it’s OK to be you. And that’s kind of another message I’d like to spread while I have this platform.”
She shared her hope to see more LGBTQ sports entertainers represented and supported by fans of the WWE Universe.
“I’ve seen it grow over the past five years in the world in general since I’ve been out myself since I came out on WWE ‘Tough Enough’ three and a half years ago, whatever it was,” she said. “So absolutely I’m super-confident that it’s going in an amazing direction and I’m happy to be someone who can spread that positivity.”
“That’s The Goal For Every Kind Of Woman”
Looking to this Sunday’s main event, Liv Morgan states that there is now a new goal for women. One that Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, and Ronda Rousey have made more achievable than ever before.
“That’s the goal for every kind of woman,” Morgan said, “to know that (for) this show that has only had men close out, you guys are good enough, you guys are important enough, you guys made enough of an impact to where you have earned and you have deserved to close out the biggest show of the year.”
WrestleMania 35 will go down in MetLife Stadium this Sunday from East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Ronda Rousey recently set the pro wrestling world abuzz with her damning words towards the WWE Universe. Uploading a video to her YouTube channel, the “Rowdy” one would live up to her name, ripping into fans, the WWE, and other members of the WWE roster. She would commit what many fans and those in the industry consider a cardinal sin by referring to pro wrestling as fake.
“Wrestling is scripted,” she stated, emphatically. “It’s made up, it’s not real. None of those b****** can f****** touch me. The end.”
Her words have clearly affected a number of WWE Superstars, as members of the roster took to their social media accounts in order to address Ronda’s comments.
“You Were Untouchable. Now? Not So Much”
Charlotte Flair, Ronda Rousey’s scheduled opponent at WrestleMania 35, chimed in with her rebuttal via Twitter, writing:
“Can someone please remind Captain Badass here that her last two fights before coming to WWE ended with her unconscious and sobbing in the cage?
Four years ago, you were untouchable. Now? Not so much.
You’re a class act, @RondaRousey”
Can someone please remind Captain Badass here that her last two fights before coming to WWE ended with her unconscious and sobbing in the cage?
Four years ago, you were untouchable. Now? Not so much.
The two are currently slated to clash come April 7th. Before that, however, Charlotte Flair will be competing against Becky Lynch at Fastlane. Stephanie McMahon recently added the stipulation that if Lynch emerges victorious tomorrow night, she will be added to the championship match at ‘Mania, making it a triple threat affair.
She wasn’t the only one to take issue with Rousey, however. Both Liv Morgan and Rusev also expressed their thoughts on the video.
Morgan would reflect that “my body is sore all the time … that’s not fake. That’s real.”
Ronda’s words have clearly disgruntled a number of people in the industry, but the question remains: just how much of a shoot is it? It will be interesting to see if there is any sort of ramification for her vocal, and public, breaking of kayfabe.
The most recent episode of Total Bellas aired on the E! Network on Sunday night and during the show, they covered an interesting topic. This was about Brie Bella injuring Liv Morgan back in September during an episode of Monday Night RAW.
In the episode of the reality show, Brie did a voiceover where she stated, “Oh my Gosh, I just kicked Liv in the face. All I can think about ‘are you okay Liv?’” The Bella Twin would continue by stating that she never hurt anyone during her 12 years of wrestling, which led to footage of Nikki telling Brie that Liv didn’t have broken bones.
Bella got down on herself before stating “It’s wrestling, it’s professional wrestling.” Footage also showed Brie consoling Liv backstage. Here are the highlights from the episode:
At the time, Bella received a lot of negative comments as well as support from the wrestling world after kicking Morgan in the face which resulted in her being knocked out during their six-woman tag team match that saw The Bella Twins and Natalya take on Morgan, Ruby Riott and Sarah Logan.
The spot happened when Brie started to connect with the Yes Kicks that was started by her husband, Daniel Bryan. When she was landing chest kicks, she accidentally rocked Morgan’s head with two brutal strikes. This led to Morgan attempting to get back to her corner but fell down to the mat a few times.
Back in September, Brie Bella, Nikki Bella, and Natalya teamed up for a Six-Woman Tag Team match. They faced The Riott Squad (Liv Morgan, Ruby Riott, and Sarah Logan) on an episode of Monday Night RAW from the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado. During the match, Brie Bella knocked Morgan out cold by hitting her with some of her husband, Daniel Bryan’s, signature kicks.
A pair of kicks hit Morgan in the face and she folded over unconscious. Liv tried to get back to her corner but was stumbling and didn’t look to realize where she was:
Eventually, Morgan was taken to the back and the match continued as a Tag Team bout. Bella received a lot of online hate after the botched spot. It turns out, the incident even forced her into a “deep depression.”
Bella had this to say about how she reacted to the ordeal in an interview with Digital Spy:
“Yes, it definitely is, because first off it’s crazy how I’ve been wrestling for 12 years and one of my major mistakes in the ring I get judged so harshly on. We’re not perfect, no one’s perfect, you know how many people have been injured in the ring? But for some reason I was like showcased in such a way of like, this evil person, and ‘look what she’s done’ and I got bullied really bad.
“I wanted to run into a cave and you’ll see, I don’t think people have ever seen me break down as bad as they will during the whole Liv situation. I went into deep depression, I didn’t know if I was going to be able to go back to work.
“All the horrible things people were saying about me, I felt a thousand times worse than the things they thought of me and I really had to sit down and think to myself, ‘Brie, you’re a mother’ and if Birdie was in this situation would you want her to feel this bad or would you want her to stand up to it and be like ‘Screw you guys?’
“I made a mistake and she’s not badly injured and you know what, this is our business, this is what we all signed up for. Everyone’s going to see backstage even how Liv and I were with each other. Out in the WWE ring, we have to play so much, bad guy, good guy, don’t talk to your competitors, but backstage you’ll see that we’re all really close and it affects us.
“We never want to go out there and hurt each other so when it happens it’s emotional. But people are going to hear my side of the story and my voice and how it’s about damn time that trolls stopped going on the internet and bullying everyone.”
What do you think about Bella saying she was depressed after injuring Liv Morgan?
Last night on Raw, Natalya came to defend Ronda Rousey from a 2-on-1 attack from Nia Jax and Tamina. As she was running to the ring, however, she was ambushed by all 3 members of the Riott Squad. The attack led some to question where the group had been hiding.
Riott Squad member, Liv Morgan, revealed their hiding spot was under the ring earlier this morning on Twitter. The group wore black hoodies and pants in order to get under the ring unseen.
The Riott Squad recently celebrated their 1-year anniversary on the main roster. It’s been a successful year for the trio who have found themselves in rivalries with the Bellas, Ronda Rousey, and now Natalya.
Their rivalry with Natalya began earlier this month when Ruby Riott broke Natalya’s father’s sunglasses during a 6-person tag. Natalya defeated Riott last week in single’s competition.
To commemorate a successful first year on the main roster, the 3 Superstars each got matching tattoos on the back of their neck. The Riott Squad brought a WWE camera crew with them as they got the tattoos done. The tattoos are of the date of the group’s main roster debut, 11-21-17.
Morgan’s year wasn’t all positive, however. She was knocked out on an episode of Monday Night Raw last month. Morgan took a Yes Kick from Brie Bella right to the face and was later diagnosed with a concussion. She was cleared in time for her match at Super Show-Down. She had the following to say to the Mirror in the UK.
“I’m 100% cleared by the WWE doctors; they took great care of me. They have a very extensive concussion protocol, which we followed 100% and luckily I am feeling fantastic and we are ready to win.”
Two weeks ago on Monday Night RAW, Liv Morgan suffered a nasty injury on live WWE TV. During a match between The Bella Twins & Natalya against The Riott Squadd, Morgan was knocked unconscious. Brie Bella hit Morgan in the face with a “YES! Kick” and Morgan crumbled over and knocked out.
Morgan was dragged to her corner and tagged out of the match. She jumped back in and participated in a Triple Suplex before being taken to the back and undergoing medical attention. SmackDown Live General Manager Paige took to former WWE ring announcer Lilian Garcia’s podcast, Chasing Glory, to offer her thoughts. The former Divas Champion doesn’t think Brie would ever intentionally hurt anyone:
“I feel so bad for Brie,” Paige said. “She’s never hurt anyone, it’s the first time she hurt some and she gets blamed for it? Come on dude, it’s an accident. Liv doesn’t blame her. The thing I didn’t like about it is the fact her teammates brought her back in the ring to do a suplex when everyone knew she was knocked out. That’s the thing I don’t like.”
Paige then criticized The Riott Squad for not taking care of their partner better:
“Ruby and Sarah, take care of your teammate. You see that she got hurt, don’t let her back in the ring again. Referee, don’t let her back in the ring again.”
Liv Morgan then took to Twitter, seemingly responding to Paige’s podcast comments and firing back at her:
Ivory responded, “Can I have a year to get in shape, first?!” Bayley then said, “How about I give you until Oct. 28?” — Evolution takes place on October 28.
There’s a personal connection between the two as Bayley met Ivory when she was 12 years old and the then-WWE star asked her if she’s going to see her in the ring one day.
“I remember having the opportunity to meet Ivory as a kid, and she was the first woman’s wrestler that I met. She looked at me and said, ‘I’m going to see you in the ring one day aren’t I?'” Bayley said in an interview earlier this year.
“I took that sign that I was going to make it and then I met her again at Wrestlemania 30 or 31 as a member of the WWE roster and told her that story.”
– At WWE Super Show-Down in Melbourne, Australia, Raw Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey and The Bella Twins beat The Riott Squad in a Six-Woman Tag Team Match. The match ended in a unique fashion as Rousey made Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan submit simultaneously to a double armbar. Rousey took to Instagram on Sunday to thank Australia, The Bella Twins and even The Riott Squad.
Rousey wrote, “Yesterday moved me to my core. Thank you Melbourne. Thank you Australia. Thank you everyone who smiled back at me at #WWESSD … thank you @thenikkibella and @thebriebella for having my back in the ring last night…. And thank you #RiotSquad @rubyriottwwe @sarahloganwwe @yaonlylivvonce for being the force we had to reckon with.”
The Riott Squad debuted on Smackdown Live on November 21st, 2017. On the same night, The Squad assaulted the likes of Naomi, Becky Lynch, Natalya, and Charlotte Flair. The Riott Squad was apart of the Superstar Shakeup and moved to Monday Night Raw. On Raw, they feuded with the likes of Ember Moon, Sasha Banks, and Bayley.
The Riott Squad will face The Bellas and Ronda Rousey in six women tag action at the Super-Showdown PPV tomorrow. The card for the PPV goes as followed:
Final WWE Super Show-Down Card
Triple H (with Shawn Michaels in his corner) vs. The Undertaker (with Kane in his corner)
#1 Contender’s Match: Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz
WWE Champion AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe – No Count Outs, No Disqualifications, There Must Be a Winner
John Cena and Bobby Lashley vs. Elias and Kevin Owens
The Shield (Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns) vs. Braun Strowman, Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre – Six-Man Tag Team Match
WWE SmackDown Champion Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair
Ronda Rousey & The Bella Twins vs. The Riott Squad – Six-Woman Tag Team Match
WWE Cruiserweight Champion Cedric Alexander vs. Buddy Murphy
Following a week full of rumors and speculations, Riott Squad member Liv Morgan finally got cleared to compete at the upcoming Super Show Down event yesterday.
After the news broke out, The Mirror spoke with the trio, and during the interview, they talked about their upcoming bout against the Bella Twins and Ronda Rousey and more.
Talking about her injury, Morgan said that she is 100% cleared by the WWE doctors and she went on to praise the medical staff, saying that they took great care of her:
“I’m 100% cleared by the WWE doctors; they took great care of me. They have a very extensive concussion protocol, which we followed 100% and luckily I am feeling fantastic and we are ready to win.”
Continuing on the topic, Liv also commented on their upcoming match claiming that they’d teach their opponents a lesson and teach them whose locker room this is.
Liv Morgan suffered a concussion after she received some botched Yes kicks from Brie Bella during the September 24th episode of Raw.
Brie received a lot of criticism after the incident online, but stars like Daniel Bryan, Corey Graves, and Tommy Dreamer have since defended the former Champion.
Liv Morgan, along with Ruby Riott and Sarah Logan is now scheduled to face The Bella Twins and Raw Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey at the upcoming Super Show Down event this Saturday.
Despite being knocked unconscious and suffering a subsequent concussion due to Brie Bella’s errant ‘Yes Kicks’ during the September 24th episode of Monday Night Raw, it’s been revealed that Liv Morgan has now been cleared to compete.
According to the Wrestling Observer, Morgan underwent testing backstage this past Monday and has been officially cleared for this Saturday’s Super Show-Down event in Melbourne, Australia.
Liv Morgan was present this past weekend at the WWE Live Events, though she did not take any bumps as she was only permitted limited contact.
A lot has been made over the ‘Yes Kicks’ that led the Riott Squad member to suffer a concussion, with Brie Bella candidly pushing back at the negative comments she found herself confronted with.
Her husband, Daniel Bryan, would also speak up, defending Brie against the wave of ‘cyber bullies’ that she had encountered since the event.
Liv Morgan is now set to compete this Saturday with her fellow Riot Squad members, Ruby Riott and Sarah Logan, against the team of “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey and The Bella Twins, Nikki and Brie.
WWE Super Show-Down
WWE Championship Match: AJ Styles (c) vs. Samoa Joe
#1 Contenders Match: The Miz vs. Daniel Bryan
WWE Cruiserweight Championship Match: Cedric Alexander (c) vs. Buddy Murphy
WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship Match: Becky Lynch (c) vs. Charlotte Flair
SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match: The New Day (c) vs. The Bar
Triple H (w/Shawn Michaels) vs. The Undertaker (w/Kane)
John Cena and Bobby Lashley vs. Elias and Kevin Owens
The Shield vs. Braun Strowman, Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre
The Bella Twins and RAW Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey vs. The Riott Squad
Daniel Bryan is standing by his wife’s side and pointing out that accidents happen in professional wrestling matches all the time.
Over the past two weeks, Bryan’s spouse Brie Bella has been receiving a relentless amount of criticism after she accidentally kicked Liv Morgan in the head twice in a row, nearly knocking her unconscious and ultimately causing her to have a concussion.
Immediately after the incident happened, Bella posted an apology on Twitter while sending Morgan her well wishes after the accidental kicked nearly knocked her out.
More recently, Bella has taken to Instagram where she wrote a lengthy post about cyberbullying, undoubtedly aimed at the amount of criticism she’s faced since the incident with Morgan in the ring a couple of weeks ago.
Now Bryan is going on the offensive to defend his wife and also point out that accidents happen in the ring constantly — and even he’s been the perpetrator in the past.
“I am proud of how strong my wife is. After accidentally injuring Liv Morgan last week, the first time Bri’s ever hurt another performer, she’s been subject to a constant barrage of social media attacks. Almost every wrestler has accidentally hurt someone but rarely do you see this kind of hate when it happens. For example, I concussed Randy Orton in 2012 after hitting him with what was supposed to be a chair to the back. Unfortunately part of the side hit him in the back of the head, and he was forced to miss a PPV. In 2009 in our last match against each other, I concussed Nigel McGuinness after doing a dive into him in the crowd, where his head hit the floor. And there are others.
“As for the Yes kicks, two weeks ago I accidentally kicked Andrade directly in the head due to a miscommunication on my part. I feel fortunate that he was ok, because there are few feelings worse than hurting someone. Despite all of that, never did I receive the backlash Bri did this week. With all the negative things said about my wife, nobody was harder on her than she was on herself. Thank you to the many people who reached out to support her, both publicly and privately. We all wish Liv Morgan a speedy recovery.”
Bryan ended his post with the hash tag ‘cyberbullying’, referencing back to his wife’s post on the subject on Instagram.
WWE had previously confirmed that Morgan suffered a concussion from the incident but outside of that, there’s been no other statement about Bella’s in ring performance.
By all accounts, she will still be a very active member of the roster with a high profile match coming up this weekend at ‘WWE Super Show-Down’ when she teams with her sister Nikki and former UFC champion Ronda Rousey is a six-person tag match against the Riott Squad — with Liv Morgan still currently scheduled to perform as well.
Last week on Monday Night Raw, Liv Morgan took a botched Yes kick from Brie Bella in the face, resulting in a concussion. The question many were asking heading into the weekend then was would Morgan make her scheduled appearances on WWE’s house shows?
Appearing At Live Events
Reports are in and Liv Morgan did indeed appear at the WWE live events this past weekend but in the corner for the Riott Squad. She was substituted for in the ring by Alicia Fox.
While it seems that Morgan is not cleared to wrestle yet, she has been cleared to travel and appear at ringside. Similar to Alexa Bliss, Liv Morgan may just be appearing in a temporary manager role until she has been cleared by WWE doctors.
WWE Super-Showdown
As of right now, The Bellas and Ronda Rousey are advertised to take on all members of the Riott Squad at WWE Super-Showdown in Melbourne, Australia this Saturday. Although, the match could change due to Morgan not being cleared to compete.
If the recent weekend live events are any indicators, the card could be changed to The Bellas and Ronda Rousey vs Ruby Riott, Sarah Logan, and Alicia Fox with Liv Morgan in their corner. For that occur, however, Morgan would have to be given the green light for the long flight to Australia. Airplane travel has been known to worsen the effects of concussions so the fact Morgan has been traveling with the Raw brand should be seen as a good sign.
This past Monday on RAW, professional wrestling fans witnessed a rather disturbing moment. A Six-Woman Tag Team match took place between The Bella Twins and Natalya versus The Riott Squad. During the match, Brie Bella hit Liv Morgan with a series of YES! Kicks.
One of the kicks, however, hit Morgan square in the face. Morgan went limp and folded over, seemingly unconscious. Bella later dragged Morgan over to her corner and she was tagged out of the match. During the commercial break, Morgan was taken backstage to receive medical attention.
X-Pac’s Take
Former WWE star Sean “X-Pac” Waltman took to his podcast, X-Pac 12360, and offered his thoughts. Here’s what he had to say:
“The natural instinct when you get concussed, when you get knocked out, as soon as you come up is to get up and fight and keep going,” said Waltman. “It’s a really weird experience because you all of a sudden are laying on the ground and there’s this déjà vu thing. Happens every time I have a concussion. Even last year in the U.K, I got knocked out and it was the same thing all of a sudden I am on the ground on the mat having déjà vu going through my head.
“It’s a tough call in a situation like that on live TV and everyone is in the moment. I saw a clip of that and to me it just looks like the last one caught her because she was registering the kicks when she would get kicked. It was just their timing, it got messed up, it looked like to me. And as she was coming back down from registering the kick she got kicked with the last one. It looked like just the last one is what knocked her out to me.
“Sh-t happens, and no one means to do that… I am not gonna fault anyone for not doing anything if wasn’t part of protocol. However, this might be a good learning experience to start training the referees on what to do… That would be something I am pretty sure they’re already talking about.”
What do you make of Waltman’s comments regarding Morgan and Bella?
Liv Morgan had a scary moment during a contest that happened on this week’s episode of WWE Monday Night RAW in Denver, CO at the Pepsi Center on the USA Network. She teamed up with Ruby Riott and Sarah Logan to take on Nikki & Brie Bella, and Natalya in a six-woman tag team match. During the match, Brie appeared to knock out Morgan after landing two accidental kicks to the face.
Fans picked up on the spot as there have been videos posted online of it. It all started once Brie started to connect with the Yes Kicks that was started by her husband, Daniel Bryan. However, when she was landing chest kicks, she accidentally rocked Morgan’s head with two brutal strikes. This led to Morgan attempting to get back to her corner but fell down to the mat a few times and this led to fans noticing something was wrong with her.
This is when Logan eventually pulled her out of the ring and took her ringside where a medic checked on her. The good news is that Morgan made her way back into the ring for another spot but quickly rolled out to the ringside area afterward to continue getting checked out.
Every match on #Raw is an opportunity for us to entertain our fans. Our intentions as @WWE Superstars is to win the match, never injure our opponents. Thinking about @YaOnlyLivvOnce tonight. ?? -B
WWE has already announced that the Riott Squad is set to face The Bella Twins again, this time with Ronda Rousey as their partner at the upcoming WWE Super Show-Down event that takes place on Saturday, October 6, 2018 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in Melbourne, Australia.
In a video posted on Instagram this afternoon, Raw General Manager Kurt Angle announced two more matches for Raw tomorrow night in Jacksonville, Florida.
https://instagram.com/p/BmGnKyrAvj1/
In a rematch from last week, Sasha Banks and Bayley will take on The Riott Squad (Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan). Banks and Bayley scored the win after putting Morgan down with a combination of a Backstabber into a Bayley-to-Belly.
After picking up a win over “Woken” Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt on Raw last week, Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder said they’re the best team on the planet. The Revival will take on Raw Tag Team Champions The B-Team tomorrow night on Raw.
Two other matches have already been announced for Raw tomorrow night. Ronda Rousey will go one-on-one with Alicia Fox as she competes on Raw for the first time ever, and Bobby Roode takes on Mojo Rawley.
WWE United States Champion Jeff Hardy posted a video on Instagram that referenced his old fan favorite “No More Words” theme song that he used from 2008 to 2009. Fans have been calling for Hardy to revert back to this theme song on social media lately since he’s receiving a singles push on SmackDown Live:
Liv Morgan & Sonya Deville Exchange Words On Twitter
Liv Morgan recently took to Twitter to poke fun at SmackDown Live General Manager Paige telling Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose that Absolution is dead. Morgan is currently a member of Monday Night RAW’s six-woman stable The Riott Squad.
This led to a brief exchange of insults between Morgan and Deville. At one point Morgan even called Deville “lousy Ronda Rousey.” Check it out here below:
WWE Superstar Liv Morgan recently did an interview with NorthJersey.com prior to WrestleMania 34 earlier this month. Morgan first discussed her run in NXT and needing to prove herself before making the jump up to the main roster:
“I spent three years in NXT doing whatever I could to be better and be noticed. It was a lot of hard work and proving yourself. So, I don’t want to say it was quick. Looking back, it feels like it was a blink of an eye, and it’s amazing. It’s been amazing to come from WWE Performance Center and now to be on SmackDown Live. Thinking about that itself is insane, because it doesn’t feel real.”
Now Morgan has a home on SmackDown Live and is a part of the Riott Squad. Although currently with a faction, Morgan hopes to capture the SmackDown Live Women’s Title on her own one day:
“I want to be the SmackDown women’s champion. I want to be the longest-reigning SmackDown women’s champion. I don’t set a limit for myself. I want the respect. Who doesn’t want it all?”
Morgan had a rough upbringing after losing her father at a young age. She wants to be a role model to young girls the way WWE Hall Of Famer Lita was to her:
“I grew up in an unstable environment. If you look at my life on paper, I shouldn’t be here. WWE was the only thing that made me and my brothers happy. Watching Lita, I’d see this red-haired chick with baggy pants and sneakers, and she’s wrestling with the boys and is a tomboy. I was such a tomboy growing up. I liked baggy pants and sneakers. Even today, I wear tights and wear sneakers. Just looking at Lita, I felt like she could be my friend.
“She was someone I related to. That’s all I want to do for girls growing up. I want them to see me and think, ‘Liv can be my friend.’ So, if I’m anyone’s role model, it’d be very cool. I don’t try to be anything I’m not. I’m just myself. If I can relate to anyone, or they can relate to me, it’d make me very happy.”
You can read Morgan’s full interview with NorthJersey.com by clicking this link here.
– Liv Morgan made a big mistake by posting a photo on her Instagram story earlier today. Morgan posted a photo of herself without realizing the run sheet for tonight’s NXT tapings was in the background.
The sheet lists out three matches that are scheduled for the program, as well as which Superstars are involved in various segments. WWE Hall Of Famer Shawn Michaels was listed as producing a few segments as well as two matches featuring Aleister Black.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BhdQgY0ANTT/
– As we’ve noted, RAW General Manager Kurt Angle name-dropped TNA on this past Monday’s episode during a segment with Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. Owens and Zayn, who are out of a job at SmackDown Live following their WrestleMania loss to Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon, came to RAW in hopes of finding a spot on the roster.
Angle told the pair that his tag team division was full, but he hears that TNA is hiring. Fans went nuts for the line. IMPACT even responded to the name-drop on their Twitter account shortly after. Now, several days later, IMPACT has again referenced their name being mentioned on WWE TV.
The account joked that someone came into their offices with donuts and a resume, before saying they’re the company everyone wants to work for:
Somebody just showed up at our offices with some donuts and their resume. Looks like we're the company everybody wants to work for these days. #WeAreIMPACTpic.twitter.com/iaxXIZwCkA
The Riott Squad are evidently not impressed that Bobby Roode interrupted their segment with Charlotte Flair last night. Things were looking as though they were about to get physical with the 3 Riott Squad members alone in the ring with the Smackdown Women’s Champion but Bobby Roode’s music hit and the situation de-escalated quickly. Roode and Charlotte are also tag-team partners in the Mixed-Match Challenge tournament.
Roode was coming out to work the commentary booth for the match between Jinder Mahal and Randy Orton but the Riott Squad did not take kindly to the interruption. Liv Morgan, in particular, has promised that if it happens again she will rip all the sequins off his robe.
Charlotte Flair will defend her Smackdown Women’s Championship against Ruby Riott on Sunday. It is also worth noting that Asuka has yet to declare which champion she will face at WrestleMania, so this match could have WrestleMania implications.
The 27-year-old Riott has been on the main roster since November. She started her pro-career in 2010 and eventually signed with WWE in 2016.
Liv Morgan suffered a minor injury to her right thigh on Tuesday at SmackDown LIVE at the STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, California and it didn’t even happen in the ring.
According to Morgan in a video on Instagram, a person backstage was cutting a hole in her gear pants — as Morgan wore the pants — and accidentally cut her skin.
While Morgan said she was getting stitches, Ruby Riott said it was actually a single stitch.
“By the way, it’s stitch, as in singular, not plural,” Riott said to correct Morgan’s grammar.
RAW Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss took to Twitter during last night’s SmackDown Live to mention that Liv Morgan was wearing a similar hairstyle to her’s. Bliss’ best-friend, Nia Jax, responded to Bliss’ Tweet and told Bliss to let Morgan ‘have the scraps.’ Morgan responded to Bliss by pointing out the differences between her hairstyle and “Little Miss Bliss’,” before responding to Jax’s ‘scraps’ comment.
Morgan said that Jax is actually after her scraps. For those of you who don’t know, Enzo Amore and Morgan dated each other during their days in NXT. The couple split last September after Morgan noted that she’s now single and removed all pictures of Amore from her social media. Amore and Jax are now involved in a romantic storyline on Monday Night RAW.
Check out the full exchange here:
Pink pigtails … where have I seen that before ? 🧐 #sdlive
Recently, five women were called up to the WWE’s main roster on both Monday Night RAW and SmackDown Live. Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose debuted alongside the returning Paige on the episode of Monday Night RAW after Survivor Series. The trio calls themselves “Absolution.” The following night another trio debuted with Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan – “The Riott Squad.” ESPN recently spoke to all five of these women to talk about their recent call-ups.
Live Morgan explained her reaction to finding out she’d been called up to the main roster, initially believing she would simply be working a dark match on SmackDown Live:
“I received an email saying that they were going to fly me in to do a dark match — an un-televised match on SmackDown. So I was like, ‘Okay, cool.’ I was super excited for the opportunity to wrestle in front of a bigger crowd. So I just packed my bags under the assumption that I was just going to have a dark match.
“We get to Raw and we kind of get pulled aside in a room and we’re told that we’d be going to Raw or SmackDown. I didn’t expect it at all. I was completely surprised and, of course, I’m so emotional and such a baby. I started crying. I grew up a little poor girl from New Jersey. I shouldn’t be here, but somehow, in this universe, I made it here in the WWE”
Read ESPN‘s conversation with all five women by clicking this link here.
– It looks like the upcoming WWE Clash of Champions pay-per-view may see WWE United States Champion Baron Corbin defend against Bobby Roode. Tonight’s WWE SmackDown saw Roode issue a challenge to Corbin but Corbin turned him down. Below is video from that segment:
– Tonight’s SmackDown also saw WWE Champion AJ Styles defeat The Singh Brothers in a 2-on-1 Handicap Match, despite a pre-match attack from Jinder Mahal. Styles tweeted the following after the match and commented on his upcoming match with Jinder at WWE Clash of Champions:
Tried beating me 3 on 1… Couldn’t do it 2 on 1…. …And at #WWEClash you will NEVER beat me 1 on 1. #Phenomenal#SDLive
– Ruby Riot revealed on tonight’s SmackDown that her stable with Sarah Logan and Liv Morgan will be called The Riott Squad. The trio later defeated Naomi and SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair after Natalya walked out on her partners. As seen below, Naomi was stretchered out after being double teamed by Liv and Logan.
One of the most exciting things coming out of WWE Programming this week was the surprise debut of five female NXT Stars on both Raw and SmackDown Live.
According to Pro Wrestling Sheet, it was Vince McMahon’s call to bring these five women to the main roster because the Boss felt that the Women’s Division on both the shows had gone stale.
McMahon made the decision shortly after Mae Young Classic wrapped up so we can say that their arrival was well planned and it wasn’t a last minute call.
Many believe that their debut is part of a long-term plan leading to a Women’s Royal Rumble match. While a Women’s Rumble could still take place, the site notes that currently, they haven’t heard anything about it.
For those who don’t know, Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville made their debut on Raw, led by a returning Paige this week and similarly Liv Morgan, Sarah Logan and Ruby Riot made their debut on SmackDown Live.
– As seen on SmackDown Live last night Ruby Riot, Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan made their surprise main roster debut. They first attacked Naomi and Becky Lynch in a backstage segment and later interfered in the Women’s Championship match between Charlotte and Natalya as well.
After the show, several stars reacted to these events on Twitter. Below are some of the reactions from the stars involved in the incident:
Ruby Tuesday I mean @RubyRiotWWE @YaOnlyLivvOnce @sarahloganwwe I hope you can take a beating as good as you give 1 pay back is a mutha #feeltheglow#sdlive
I’m all about making an impression. I know you want everyone to chant your name… But anyone who thinks a sneak attack from BEHIND is going to get you to the FRONT of the division will bow down soon enough. #Respect#SDLive
– As noted before, WWE announced that Jinder Mahal will be facing Triple H at the upcoming Live Event in India on December 9th. Below is a video Mahal posted on Twitter, hyping his upcoming bout with the Game: