Liv Morgan’s Baffling Booking by WWE Creative Continues

WWE had the opportunity to change the entire landscape of the company at Clash in Italy, as Chief Content Officer Paul 'Triple H' Levesque would say, but the creative team chose to play it safe.

On the heels of a widely successful Double or Nothing pay-per-view put on by top competitor All Elite Wrestling, there were loud calls over this past week for WWE to shake things up. Some high-profile critics, like Eric Bischoff, have even accused the company of creatively 'flatlining'.

Sunday afternoon provided an opportunity to give the fans a wild and unhinged Jacob Fatu as the World Heavyweight Champion, but WWE decided that it was best to acknowledge Roman Reigns and seemingly set the stage for another Bloodline civil war.

Roman Reigns WINS Tribal Combat!!! ☝️

That was a FIGHT!!!@WWERomanReigns | #WWEClash pic.twitter.com/VdI9Fca8BZ
— WWE (@WWE) May 31, 2026

If belting Jacob Fatu was not the play, then harnessing the lightning in a bottle that is Oba Femi was most definitely the direction to go.

A second and equally decisive victory over Brock Lesnar at Clash in Italy would have served as the perfect table setter for a monster World Title push that wrestling fans would have rallied behind in droves, but WWE decided to risk his momentum by having Brock Lesnar avenge his loss from WrestleMania 42 en route to the inevitable rubber match.

Those two decisions, coupled with Bron Breakker's booking taking a step backward due to a number of injury-related circumstances, has WWE feeling a bit like a small market Major League Baseball team. Star-studded prospects make the future appear bright, but that future never seems to align with the present.

The WWE creative department has shown incredible composure by not rushing their main event stars of tomorrow to the top of the card, but at the same time, they were willing to pull the trigger Sunday on the one title change that required a bit more patience.

Nothing against Sol Ruca, who I consider to be a blue chip prospect in her own right, but her moment in Italy would have felt so much bigger had WWE taken the proper time to build up to it. She hadn't even won a match via pinfall or submission as a member of the main roster prior to beating Becky Lynch on Sunday.

Having both Cody Rhodes and Rhea Ripley retain their respective WWE Championships was arguably the right decision, but using multiple rope break spots across both matches left many with a bitter aftertaste. Take absolutely nothing away from Ripley and Jade Cargill, however, as those two women absolutely stole the show.

While I may not agree with everything that transpired on Sunday in Italy, I can certainly understand why the creative team made some of the choices they did. The company may feel small market right now, but it's hard to call up your top prospects when you are rolling out a Los Angeles Dodgers-esque pitching rotation headlined by Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes, CM Punk, Drew McIntyre, Gunther and Seth Rollins, with a myriad of others ready to come out of the bullpen.

For the life of me, however, I cannot understand what WWE has done with Liv Morgan after having her win the Women's World Championship at WrestleMania 42.

What WWE is doing with Liv Morgan as Women's World Champion warrants an explanation

With all due respect to the people with the power of the pen, what the heck are we doing here?

Liv Morgan defeated Stephanie Vaquer to capture the Women's World Championship at the 'Showcase of the Immortals' back in April and was essentially benched by the company shortly afterward.

She wrestled Sol Ruca the night after WrestleMania and hasn't competed in a match since. Her appearances on Raw have been limited to backstage spots with the rest of Judgment Day or as a ringside presence during matches involving Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez.

I have very little doubt that WWE wanted to continue Morgan's rivalry with Vaquer coming out of WrestleMania, but La Primera is currently off television due to a shoulder injury, and it's not known when she'll be healthy enough to return to action.

There are 30 other active women on the main roster between Raw and SmackDown, not counting Morgan herself, and instead of pivoting to any one of them until Vaquer was ready to come back, the creative team chose to do nothing with its top female champion on Raw. This despite having three major shows to book throughout May.

WWE did tease some tension and a possible split between Morgan and Roxanne Perez, which would have been a very fresh and exciting program, but The Prodigy ultimately reaffirmed her commitment to the Judgment Day by helping JD McDonagh defeat Finn Balor on the May 4 episode of Monday Night Raw.

Since then, there has not even been a hint of a potential challenger for Liv Morgan. At least until the annual Queen of the Ring Tournament was announced.

A field of 16 women will vie for the crown and the right to face the world champion of their choosing at SummerSlam this coming August. The only issue is that WWE decided to put Liv Morgan in the tournament, with Morgan herself making the announcement during the Clash in Italy post show.

A MIC DROP 🎤 @YaOnlyLivvOnce pic.twitter.com/qxkxrAMU39
— WWE (@WWE) May 31, 2026

“All the people that say Liv Morgan isn’t worthy of being champion, and you know what that made me think? That made me think that I am entering the Queen of the Ring tournament because I want it all. I want it all, so I am taking it all.”

Allow me to speak frankly and outside the realm of kayfabe for a second. Liv Morgan is absolutely worthy of being champion, but her booking since winning the title has been unbecoming of one.

It's already a massive pet peeve of mine to see current midcard titleholders pop up in the men's and women's tournament brackets, of which there are many again this year.

Men's United States Champion Trick Williams, Men's Intercontinental Champion Penta, and WWE and World Tag Team Champions Damian Priest and Bron Breakker will all be competing for the right to win a second title, instead of fending off contenders for the championships they currently possess. The same goes for Sol Ruca, who just won the Women's Intercontinental Championship on Sunday.

Only one will become Queen of the Ring. 👑

The Queen of the Ring Tournament begins TOMORROW on #WWERaw!

📍: Turin, Italy 🇮🇹
🎟️: https://t.co/i2l9mP1rIw
📺: 2pm ET/11am PT on @netflix pic.twitter.com/c52LxH8Agf
— WWE (@WWE) June 1, 2026

But to have the reigning Women's World Champion compete in the very tournament that is designed to determine her No. 1 Contender is a horse of a completely different color. It's nonsensical and completely unnecessary, given that the depth of the women's roster is deeper than it's ever been in company history.

There's zero excuse not to have a separate women's title program running concurrently with the Queen of the Ring Tournament. There is more than enough TV time for both, and yet, here we are.

Full disclosure, I'm not typically one to shine a light on the negative. There are plenty of folks who already do that on a regular basis. I prefer to lift up rather than tear down, but I often write stories like this as a creative catharsis and never hit publish. Today is a different day, because I'm a man in search of answers.

If there is a logical explanation for Morgan's inactivity over the last month plus, and a lack of challengers as we head toward the summer months, then I'd love to hear it. Unfortunately, this isn't the first time a new women's champion has found themselves being pushed to the back burner in recent years.

Bayley had just three successful defenses of the WWE Women's Championship, including one that ended in a no contest, after she won the title at WrestleMania XL. Jade Cargill had only one successful defense after taking the WWE Women's Title from Tiffany Stratton last November. Both reigns lasted well over 100 days. Again, Morgan has only wrestled one non-title match as her reign hits the 44-day mark.

It's not known when Liv's opening round Queen of the Ring Fatal 4-Way Match will take place, but perhaps I'll soon be proven wrong about her current trajectory. I truly hope I am.

Maybe Stephanie Vaquer will re-emerge to cost Morgan her quest for a second championship, allowing Becky Lynch, Alexa Bliss or Chelsea Green the opportunity to move onto the semifinals, and put the Women's World title back into focus on Monday nights.

The longer that Vaquer remains absent, however, the more puzzling the decision-making surrounding the Women's World Championship becomes.

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