How Does the Injury to This Four-Time Women's Tag Team Champion Affect WWE's Plans Going Forward?
On the June 16th episode of Monday Night Raw, Liv Morgan suffered a dislocated shoulder injury in the opening seconds of her match with Kairi Sane. Reports have come out and said Morgan will need surgery for this injury, and the recovery timeline is expected to be from three to six months. This is a huge setback for Morgan, who is putting on some of the best work of her career since last April. The former SmackDown Women’s Champion had just started a program with Nikki Bella, which could have led to a Women’s Tag Team Championship match at Evolution. Now, WWE officials will have to pivot quickly and figure out what to do next. There are a few options that they could go with that I will explain in this article. So, let’s dive in!
One option that WWE could do is to have Roxanne Perez replace Morgan as Raquel Rodriguez’s tag team partner. Perez was recently called up to the main roster and was recruited by Finn Balor as a potential member of the Judgement Day. Since the former NXT Women’s Champion has aligned with the group, tensions have slowly arisen between her and Morgan. If she were to replace Morgan as a Women’s Tag Team Champion, then tensions would be at a boiling point upon Morgan’s eventual return. This would be a little bit of a deja vu moment for Morgan, as she replaced Rhea Ripley in the Judgement Day after Ripley suffered her injury. If the WWE decides to go the route of Perez replacing Morgan, then the former Ms. Money in the Bank will find herself in the position that Ripley was in last year. There is also the impending rivalry with Nikki Bella. This rivalry was supposed to pay off with a match between Morgan and Bella, or a Women’s Tag Team Championship match at Evolution between the Bella Twins and Morgan and Rodriguez. That match could still happen if Perez is inserted. However, it will lose a little bit of its momentum due to the injury.
Another option is to wait for Morgan to return, and the WWE could run a big match between the two at an event like Survivor Series or drag it along til next year. If the WWE believes that Morgan is a big star, then they should wait and pull off a match this big to get the most eyes as possible on the program. If not, then when Liv Morgan returns, they could easily build this match up to happen on a random episode of Raw. However, another option is to simply have Morgan back on television, but with a managerial type of role. After the surgery, if WWE officials deem it safe enough, Morgan can always show up on television and not get involved physically in any matches or backstage confrontations. One of Morgan’s strengths is that she can cut promos and is not afraid to get on the microphone. As a heel, she can still talk down and disrespect the longest-reigning Divas Champion while also voicing her frustration with Perez being involved with Judgement Day.
Overall, Morgan’s injury is an absolute blow to her and the WWE’s plans going forward. The former Women’s World Champion will be out of action for the time being, but there are several directions that WWE can go to save her program with Nikki Bella. Options range from her being replaced by Roxanne Perez to sitting on the sidelines and hitting rehab hard. This is a big loss for the WWE, but one thing that fans know about Liv Morgan is that she will come back stronger than ever from this injury.
