On This Day

Liv Morgan

American professional wrestler (born 1994)

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Gionna Jene Daddio (born June 8, 1994) is an American professional wrestler and actress. She has been signed to WWE since October 2014, where she performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Liv Morgan. She is a member of The Judgment Day stable and is a three-time Women's World Champion. She is also a former four-time WWE Women's Tag Team Champion (with Raquel Rodriguez). Additionally, she won the 2022 Money in the Bank ladder match, the inaugural 2024 WWE Women's Crown Jewel Championship, and the 2026 Royal Rumble match.

In 2014, Daddio signed a contract with WWE and was assigned to the WWE Performance Center, later appearing in NXT (WWE's developmental brand) under the Liv Morgan ring 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, she became a singles competitor. After a few months of her singles run, she reunited with the returning Riott. They performed together until Riott's release in 2021. In 2022, Morgan won the Women's Money in the Bank ladder match and cashed in the same night, defeating Ronda Rousey to win the SmackDown Women's Championship, the first title in her wrestling career. In 2023, she formed a tag team with Rodriguez and they have since won the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship a record-setting four times as a tag team.

Gionna Jene Daddio was born on June 8, 1994, in Morristown, New Jersey, and raised in Elmwood Park. 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. She dropped out of Becton Regional High School after being asked to repeat a grade; however, she went on to earn a GED diploma, and enrolled at Bergen Community College.

Daddio is a longtime fan of professional wrestling, and would participate in backyard wrestling with her siblings. 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.

Daddio was a former competitive cheerleader, and worked and modelled for the restaurant chain Hooters. There, she met her former partner Eric Arndt, who got her in touch with a wrestling gym and WWE.

In 2014, after being discovered at Joe DeFranco's gym in Wyckoff, New Jersey, Daddio signed a contract with WWE, assigning her to their developmental territory, NXT in October 2014. She made her first televised appearance at the NXT TakeOver: Rival pay-per-view on February 11, 2015, as a planted fan who jumped on Tyler Breeze during his entrance. She appeared at NXT TakeOver: Unstoppable on May 20, again as part of Breeze's entrance. In October 2015, she began working as a face singles wrestler. Initially performing under the ring name "Marley", Daddio made her in-ring debut on the November 4 episode of NXT, where she worked as a jobber and lost to Eva Marie.

On the December 2 episode of NXT, Daddio made her return under the new ring name "Liv Morgan", losing to Emma. 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. On the August 31 episode of NXT, Morgan picked up her first televised singles win, defeating Aliyah. 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. 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. 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.

On the November 21, 2017, episode of SmackDown, 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. The following week on SmackDown, 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. 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. Morgan made her WrestleMania debut at WrestleMania 34 on April 8 by participating in the 20-woman WrestleMania Women's Battle Royal, but failed to win the match.

On April 16, the Riott Squad were drafted to Raw brand as part of the 2018 WWE Superstar Shake-up, and caused the match between Bayley and Sasha Banks to end in a no contest. At the inaugural all women's pay-per-view Evolution on October 28, the Riott Squad lost to Natalya, Bayley and Sasha Banks. 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. 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 on February 17, where they were the third team eliminated by Nia Jax and Tamina. Morgan competed at WrestleMania 35 on April 7 in a women's battle royal match that was eventually won by Carmella.

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. On the July 16 episode of SmackDown, Morgan turned face when she confronted Charlotte Flair and faced her in a match, in which Morgan lost by submission.

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. Throughout the month of December, vignettes aired promoting Morgan's return. 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. After Lana subsequently attacked her, she aligned herself with Rusev, who had been feuding with Lana and Lashley, thus cementing her face turn. 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. At Elimination Chamber on March 8, Morgan entered her second Elimination chamber match, during which she was eliminated by eventual winner Shayna Baszler. On the WrestleMania 36 pre-show on April 5, Morgan defeated Natalya. After WrestleMania, Morgan continued her feud with Riott and defeated her on the April 20 and 27 episodes of Raw respectively.

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. 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. At Payback on August 30, 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.

As part of the 2020 Draft in October, Morgan and Riott were drafted to the SmackDown brand. She won a fatal four-way match during her first night on SmackDown after the Draft to qualify for the women's team at Survivor Series on November 22, in which she and her brand partners lost. They challenged for a shot at the Women's Tag Team Championship on the first night of WrestleMania 37 on April 10, but failed to win the match. Riott was released by WWE on June 2, 2021, effectively disbanding the Riott Squad for the second time.

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