Liv Morgan
Gionna Jene Daddio (born June 8, 1994)[1] is an American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE, where she performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Liv Morgan.[5]
In October 2014, she signed a contract with WWE and was assigned to the WWE Performance Center, later appearing in NXT. Morgan was promoted to the main roster in November 2017 and was paired with Ruby Riott and Sarah Logan to form the stable The Riott Squad. After the stable disbanded in April 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, until Riott’s release in June 2021.
In 2014, after being discovered at the 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.[6] 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.[10] She later appeared at NXT TakeOver: Unstoppable on May 20, again as part of Breeze’s entrance.[11] In October 2015, she briefly worked under the ring name Marley,[4] debuting on the November 4 episode of NXT, where she worked as a jobber losing to Eva Marie.[12]
On the December 2 episode of NXT, Daddio made her return under the new ring name Liv Morgan, losing to Emma.[3] 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.[13] On the August 17 episode of NXT, she competed in a six-woman tag team match, along with Carmella, and Nikki Cross, in which they defeated Daria Berenato, Mandy Rose and Alexa Bliss.[14] On the August 31 episode of NXT, Morgan picked up her first televised singles win, defeating Aliyah.[15] On the September 14 episode of NXT, Morgan defeated Rachel Fazio in singles competition via submission, and would issue a challenge to the NXT Women’s Champion Asuka.[16]
The following week, however, Morgan was submitted by Asuka in under a minute, and would afterwards begin a rivalry with The Iconic Duo (Billie Kay and Peyton Royce), with both women confronting her following her match, leading to match between Morgan and Kay two weeks later, with Kay picking up the victory after interference by Royce.[17] On the October 26 episode of NXT, she interrupted a match between Kay and Aliyah by attacking Royce, causing a distraction that allowed Aliyah to defeat Kay.[18]
Morgan went on to compete 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.[19] 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.[20]
