Liv Morgan subtly pays tribute to released WWE Superstar on SmackDown
Liv Morgan caused quite a stir this week when she paid tribute to her departed colleague and friend Ruby Riott on Friday Night SmackDown in a sneaky way. She included a subtle tribute to Ruby Riott as part of her ring gear for her match against Carmella.
Liv Morgan often refers to Ruby Riott as 'Rue', a shortened version of her first name. This is important because as you'll see, Morgan was wearing a black band around her leg with the name 'Rue' on it as she defeated Carmella in singles action.
It's touching to see Liv Morgan do something like this, as it sort of means that Ruby Riott is there wrestling with her. However, there has been some chatter online though about how WWE higher-ups will feel about one of their employees directly referencing a released Superstar on their television product.
It's probably fine though, as Liv Morgan herself tweeted a better picture of the band with 'Rue' on it via her own Twitter page later on in the evening.
Liv Morgan also paid tribute to Ruby Riott with a heartfelt message on Instagram
There's certainly no denying that Liv Morgan and Ruby Riott had a special bond during their time in WWE together. Their debut on SmackDown was as part of the Riott Squad, but they were then split up, and then eventually found their way back together and were building momentum as a tag-team again, only for Riott to be released from the company.
Riott was one of several names released recently by WWE as part of their budget cuts. Braun Strowman, Buddy Murphy, Aleister Black, Lana and Santana Garrett were among the other superstars the company felt were surplus to requirements.
Morgan immediately took to Instagram to pay tribute to her tag-team partner Ruby Riott and she posted an extremely heartfelt message.
There was also some speculation that Liv Morgan's ring gear included a tribute for another former WWE Superstar, the late Owen Hart. This could very well be the case because Owen Hart was often referred to as 'The Lone Hart', so Liv could be symbolically suggesting that he is now going it alone.
Either way, it seems that Morgan is getting a small push on SmackDown following her victory over Carmella, so hopefully she can continue to find success as a singles competitor and the last remaining member of the Riott Squad.
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