Liv Morgan Gets Rough

If a spotlight is present, Liv Morgan will find it.

Her career as a WWE superstar is filled with opportunities given and opportunities taken. One second, she charms her way around a group of wrestlers in the ring, and in the next, she smiles and gives a swift kick in the nether region, as John Cena learned in the fall of 2025.

Now she is a co-leader of a WWE heel faction The Judgment Day. Herself, Dominik Mysterio, Raquel Rodriguez, Roxanne Perez and JD McDonagh wreak havoc on a weekly basis as the crowd erupts in boos every time.

“It’s so fun going to work every week and seeing what shenanigans we're going to get into,” Morgan tells PAPER. The pint-sized punisher is on her way to WrestleMania 42 in Las Vegas, where she will battle Stephanie Vaquer in one of the most anticipated matches of the weekend.

Along the way, Morgan has become the perfect ambassador for the larger-than-life event, as there’s not a camera lens she’s never liked. More importantly, she’s traveled across the country to let people know she is fighting for the WWE Women’s World title in the “Show of Shows.” “I'm obsessed with it all, and I want everybody to know that I'm the one that they can call when they need media appearances, or they need to send someone to a carpet,” Morgan says. “I want that responsibility within my role here. I want to be that person for them.”

WWE has started hitting more eyeballs since moving its flagship program Monday Night Raw to Netflix. Now, Liv is representing a remodeled women’s division that survived an era of hypersexualization in the late ‘90s, with more opportunities to showcase their athleticism and storytelling than ever before.

When Liv is not chasing championships or slaying photoshoots, she’s supporting her boo, Dominik Mysterio, who is part of a wrestling dynsasty and the second half of PAPER’s WWE power couple cover.

For more on how Morgan went from wrestling her older brothers in a small town in New Jersey, to gracing LED boards across the Las Vegas strip, read that full cover story below.

How did the photoshoot feel?

I've never felt or looked like that in my whole entire life. It felt very fashion-forward, like I was doing art. I was like, “Oh, this is something that the fans have never seen from either Dominic or I.” I was very excited to just be involved and honored to share this cover with him.

For those meeting you for the first time, who is Liv Morgan?

Liv Morgan is someone, if you mess with me, I will spend a year making your life a living hell. I will come for you when you least expect it. But other than that, I think Liv is just a passionate woman. She obviously loves Dominik Mysterio. She loves her Judgment Day family. Loves causing chaos, loves being messy.

WWE has hit culture in a different way and you’ve seen that transition firsthand. What has it been like?

I think it's amazing. It's a testament to our bosses, Triple H and Nick Khan. WWE is now featured on Netflix weekly with Monday Night Raw. Our biggest events are on ESPN, so just across the board, we are being highlighted and showcased in a different way that I think brings in a lot of viewers, a lot of fans, maybe a lot of people that weren't watching WWE before, or people that used to watch WWE and now are picking it up again. Like, I think WWE is definitely cool again.

Have you felt that pop culture shift yourself?

Absolutely. When I got told about PAPER, I was like, are you fucking kidding me? They want me? And that's just a testament, I think, to all the work that everyone's doing and the growth that WWE has. I think it's fitting. We have Jelly Roll wanting to be part of our shows. We have Bad Bunny wanting to be a part of our shows. Topanga (Danielle Fishel) comes through weekly. We have all these people in music and entertainment and pop culture who want to be a part of the events. And so I definitely noticed a difference.

Have you ever been surprised to learn a particular celebrity was a big WWE fan?

No, because I feel like WWE is for everyone. You know what I mean? I feel like the reach is so broad that you don't know who will be into it. Like, we’re talking about WWE, this iconic World Wrestling Entertainment company, that's been around forever. I'm never surprised at who wants to come through, or who's there, or who wants to take part, because it's a movie, it's iconic.

What attracted you to WWE and to want to be a wrestler in the first place?

So I grew up with four older brothers, and so I was very much a tomboy growing up. Anything my brothers loved, I naturally loved. I spent a lot of time hanging out with my brothers, and they introduced me to WWE when I was five years old. I had never seen anything like that, ever. I really loved watching the women. There were these strong, powerful women who were wrestling with the boys. They were wearing baggy pants and sneakers. And that just really resonated with me.

That was my dream growing up. It wasn't to be a ballerina, it wasn't to be a teacher, it wasn't to get married; it was to be a WWE superstar. Following through on that and changing my life and my family's life has been the biggest blessing. Like, I'm eternally grateful.

That in-ring wrestling between women and men has mostly disappeared, but you yourself still have a chance to work closely with men like Dominik and Finn Balor because of the Judgment Day faction. What's that dynamic like?

It's been a lot of fun. I came into The Judgment Day with Finn Balor, a seasoned veteran in this business. JD McDonagh, who was trained by Finn Balor. Dominik Mysterio is a generational wrestler. He's been in the business since he was, like, seven years old. My best friend, Raquel Rodriguez, and now, my little prodigy, Roxanne Perez. I think that we all just love WWE first and foremost. We love the stories we get to tell with The Judgment Day. We have a lot of fun together. We trust each other. It's really a tight-knit group, even through all the changes across the different iterations over the last four or so years. I know I can trust them. I know that they're going to give me honest feedback. I know that they want me to succeed, and I want them to succeed. Well, maybe not Finn anymore, but everyone else.

Do you think the storytelling aspect of wrestling doesn’t get talked about enough?

I feel like sometimes when people hear WWE, they just think of the entertainment and the wrestling and not all the other aspects that fall into it, like the character work, like the storytelling, like these crazy arcs of character that we provide.

What is the hardest thing about being a WWE superstar?

I don't know if you'll believe me, but for me, nothing. I love it all. I love the travel, I love the physicality, I love the schedule. I love the responsibility. I'm not saying it's not hard. It's very hard, physically demanding, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.

You have been entrusted with a great deal of responsibility.

If it were any other way, I'd be upset. This is exactly the responsibility and the role I want within WWE.

How did the power-couple dynamic between you and Dom develop?

I feel like the crowd is very invested in us, and they want to know what's going to happen next with us. Like, are they going to break up? Are they going to get married? Like, is he going to cheat on her? They're so enthralled by what could be. And so that's super fun for me, because we want that investment. We want them to care about what we're going to do next. To have so many people emotionally invested in my relationship is the coolest feeling.

How do you feel about your upcoming match at WrestleMania 42 and the way it has been built?

I love it, because honestly, Stephanie and I really have no business together other than: I want your championship. And so I think that we've made it really personal and really physical. They know we do not like each other. I think they know it's on site when we see each other. Like, I'm talking about her mother. I called her mother trash last week.

Looked like you learned some fighting words in Spanish, too.

One thing about me is I'm gonna adapt, bitch. I will figure out a way to communicate with you. I will open up my little Spanish dictionary. [Laughs] Actually, Raquel helped me that day. I wanted to say something out of pocket. And I thought, like, your mother is trash. That's how I'm going to get her to come out and face me, because no one's gonna stay in the back when they're calling out your mother. If you talk about my mother bitch, I'm coming for you. I don't give a fuck what I'm doing in that moment, I'm coming for you. So I knew that was gonna get her.

As someone who speaks Spanish, I was shocked when you said all that.

But did I eat it up?

You absolutely did. Was there ever a light switch moment where you knew your life was going to change forever?

I feel like I've had a couple moments where I knew my life was going to change forever.

When I got signed to WWE, I knew that was enough for me. Being there was enough for me. Also, getting called up to the main roster. Going from NXT to SmackDown, that was another moment where I was, like, all right, I made it to the major leagues now. I think when I won the Money in the Bank match and beat Ronda Rousey for my very first ever championship, that was also a very pivotal moment for me. I was like, holy shit. I just beat all these other women in this Money in the Bank match, and I just defeated Ronda fucking Rousey for my first-ever WWE Championship.

I grew up as just another fan in the stands, just like our audience. And so to have this moment of intense, intense accomplishment and achievement was very surreal to me. The Liv Morgan revenge tour against Rhea Ripley. Me stealing Dominik from her, me stealing The Judgment Day from her, me stealing the Women's World Championship from her. And we're talking about Rhea Ripley, you know, one of the top women in WWE. And I did that. And so that was another moment where I just was like, I feel like I might be tapping into something different and new and something that I needed to tap into.

Do you think little you, fighting with her older brothers in the backyard, could have ever imagined the heights that Liv Morgan has reached today?

It literally makes me cry. No, you know, I think that was always like my hopes and my dreams, but growing up in a family with no money, no connections, [WWE] feels very much like pipe dreams, like things that you typically are not going to be able to accomplish. When you look at my life on paper, I shouldn't be in the WWE. I shouldn't be filming for the cover of PAPER Magazine. And yeah, I wake up every single day with pinch-me moments, feeling blessed and just so grateful for the things I get to do in this life. My family thinks it's so insane. You know what I mean? Like, WWE was all of our dreams. Now they're going to go to WrestleMania and hopefully watch me become the new Women's World Champion.