Liv Morgan On How Working At Hooters Led Her To The WWE, Fitting In With Ruby Riott And Sarah Logan
Liv Morgan is one of the youngest WWE Superstars but she's been through quite a lot in her 26 years. She was born and raised in New Jersey and competed in backyard wrestling as a kid with her five siblings.
Morgan's journey to WWE was chronicled in her Network special: Liv Forever and there she talked about first becoming a wrestling fan.
"I watched [wrestling]; knew I was going to do it. I shaped my life like, 'How am I going to get there?' There are just things that you just can't explain, but you can feel it. You just can't explain why you feel this way, but it's just something inside of you," Morgan said of first watching wrestling.
"I was five years old and I put on WWE. I just knew that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to be in the WWE. I watched it and I thought they were amazing. I thought the physicality, the stories, I was completely in awe by it."
Morgan didn't have the easiest upbringing and lost her father at a young age. She didn't finish school but she discussed how that led her to entering the world of professional wrestling.
"That dream became my mission when I dropped out of high school in 2010, during my sophomore year. Got my GED and across the street from the GED center was the Hooters," recalled Morgan. "I went in there and I applied. I got hired and I loved it. Hooters are great. It gives so many opportunities to women. Aside from being a server, there's the beauty pageants and the calendars.
"Hooters not only gave me a job but gave me an opportunity. Something I needed at that time. It was the first time in my life I had responsibility. Even if it was as simple as making sure your wings were hot and your beer was cold. I took it and ran with it."
Morgan mentioned the pageants and calendars that Hooters has and she knew that she had to get in shape in order to be featured in those. That led her to DeFranco's Gym in New Jersey which then led her to the WWE.
"I started working out and got into the best shape of my life with the help of Joe DeFranco, who has trained high level professional athletes, including Triple H," said Morgan. "Soon after I got a tryout with the one place I had dreamed about, WWE."
After three years in developmental and working countless matches in NXT, Morgan made her main roster debut as a 23-year-old in 2017. She debuted alongside the rest of the Riott Squad and she talked about that transition from NXT to WWE.
"On November 21, 2017, that day is forever for us [Riott Squad]. We got it tattooed and we were in this together," stated Morgan.
"I went from being there [in NXT] with Bayley, Sasha, Charlotte, to being the longest tenured person there. We finally got called up and we had no idea what show we were going on. I got a mass email, 'We need you to come to RAW to do a dark match.' Then, we show up and get sat in a room that no one knows we're in all day.
"Triple H and Mr. McMahon walk in. They look at Sonya and Mandy and they tell them, 'You're going to debut on RAW tomorrow with Paige as a Heel Faction' and they're like, 'Oh my God!' They look at me, Ruby, and Sarah, and he was like, 'You're going to debut on SmackDown tomorrow as a Heel Faction.'"
Despite being paired with Ruby Riott and Sarah Logan – who were also called up from NXT – Morgan wasn't necessarily friends with them beforehand. Ruby and Sarah were already friends while Liv was friends more so with Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose who were part of a different faction.
Morgan recalls trying to fit in with Ruby Riott and Sarah Logan during those early days together.
"I remember Sarah feeling nervous that I wouldn't feel included in the group, that I wouldn't feel part of it, but it just happened so naturally and so fast. I was like, 'I'm going to get these girls to like me,' and they did. Now, I have a lifelong friendship," said Morgan.
After about a year-and-a-half together, the Riott Squad was split up during the 2019 Superstar Shake-up and Morgan talked about those new beginnings.
"I was sent to a new show, SmackDown Live, or as I call it, SmackDown Liv. Now, I was on my own," said Morgan.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit WWE Network – Liv Forever with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Mehdy Labriny contributed to this article.