WWE tried and failed to make a star out of Liv Morgan this year, and whilst we used to live in an era where points were awarded simply for trying at all, Triple H's stepping into Vince McMahon's shoes has allowed the bar to be raised. And Morgan's run fell damagingly below it.
A Money In The Bank cash-in victory has always been a less-than-ideal start for any babyface, but when Morgan failed to conclusively beat former Champion Ronda Rousey in the cleaner confines of a SummerSlam rematch, the booking of her time at the top seemed doomed from there.
She lost all credibility with an audience that had specifically propelled her into the spot in the first place because they believed in her. It was as if that specific finish - Morgan secured a pinfall right as Rousey secured a tap-out - was designed with the expressed purpose of burying what people loved, and crowd reactions flipping on television in the run-up to their final battle at Extreme Rules spoke to the mess that had been made.
She's in recovery mode at present and it's hard to imagine she won't rise back up once again when the timing is right, but Triple H had the opportunity to prove himself different to nnnnnnDadddd-uh by getting this one right from the start. That he failed and in such short order was a worrying reminder of how it was to temper optimism that any of this really was a brave new world after all.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for nearly 10 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years.
As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 65,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast.
He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live.
