Before she was the "Miracle Kid" of WWE or the woman holding the World Championship over her head, Liv Morgan was just Gionna Daddio. A girl from Jersey. A girl who, quite honestly, didn't have the easiest time fitting into the traditional classroom mold. If you look at her now—all glitz, heavy metal lifestyle, and championship gold—it’s hard to reconcile that with a teenager who basically felt like she was failing at the "normal" path.
Growing up in Elmwood Park, New Jersey, Gionna wasn't spending her Friday nights at the mall or worrying about prom. She was busy taking Powerbombs on lawn chair cushions.
The Reality of Becton Regional: Why Liv Morgan Left High School
Most people assume every WWE superstar was a standout athlete or the prom queen. That wasn't the case here. Gionna Daddio attended Becton Regional High School in East Rutherford, but her time there wasn't a highlight reel.
She's been open about the fact that she struggled. Academics weren't her thing. The rigid structure of a 7:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. schedule didn't click for a girl who was already obsessed with the chaotic world of professional wrestling. In fact, she eventually dropped out. She was asked to repeat a grade and decided, "Nah, I'm done." It sounds rebellious, and maybe it was, but it was also a survival tactic for someone who knew her future wasn't in a textbook.
She eventually got her GED, but that gap—the "high school dropout" phase—is a huge part of the high school Liv Morgan story that often gets glossed over by PR teams. It highlights a certain grit. She wasn't handed a path; she had to scramble to find one.
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Cheerleading, Tomboy Vibes, and the Lita Obsession
Even though the classroom was a struggle, Gionna was incredibly active. She was a competitive cheerleader. That’s where the athleticism comes from. People love to mock cheerleading until they see someone pull off a standing 450-degree splash or a springboard facebuster. The balance and "air awareness" she has in the ring today? You can thank those high school years on the cheer squad for that.
But she wasn't the "cheerleader" archetype you see in movies. She was a massive tomboy.
Growing up with four older brothers and a sister, Gionna spent her afternoons in a makeshift backyard ring. They didn't have a real mat. They had:
- Old mattresses
- Layers of lawn chair cushions
- Thin ropes tied to actual chairs
- A lot of bruises
She was the youngest and the smallest. Her brothers didn't go easy on her. She has literally said she would take Pedigrees and Powerbombs "like it was her job" when she was barely a teenager. While other girls her age were looking up to pop stars, she was looking up to Lita. She saw Lita in baggy pants and sneakers, wrestling the guys, and it clicked. That was the blueprint.
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Life After the Bell: The Hooters Era
When people search for "high school Liv Morgan," they often find the bridge between her school years and her WWE signing: the Hooters years. After leaving the traditional school system and getting her GED, she landed a job at Hooters in Paramus.
It wasn't just a paycheck. It was actually where the "Liv Morgan" we know today was born. She’d be behind the bar, making sure WWE was on the TVs, and debating wrestling stats with customers.
The story is almost like a movie. She met Joe DeFranco at the gym (or through the Hooters connection, depending on which interview you catch her on). DeFranco is the guy who trained Triple H. He saw this tiny, 5’4” girl who could out-work NFL players in his gym. He made the call to WWE.
Think about that transition. One year you're a high school dropout in Jersey, the next you're at a WWE tryout in Orlando being told you have a contract.
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What Most People Get Wrong About Her Early Years
There is a misconception that Liv Morgan was "discovered" purely for her looks. If you look at her high school background, that's just factually wrong.
- The Sportster and other wrestling outlets have detailed her grueling three-day tryout. People were literally vomiting around her.
- She wasn't a model who decided to try wrestling; she was a backyard wrestler who used cheerleading to learn how to fall.
- Her family didn't have cable for a while. They were struggling. Her father passed away when she was young, and her mom raised six kids alone.
Wrestling wasn't a career choice; it was an escape from a reality that felt too heavy for a kid. When she was in high school, wrestling was the only thing that made sense.
Actionable Takeaways from Liv Morgan’s Journey
If you’re looking at Liv’s early life as a blueprint, there are a few real-world lessons you can actually use, whether you want to be a wrestler or just want to survive your own "high school" phase:
- Non-linear paths are okay. Dropping out or struggling in school isn't the end of the world. Gionna got her GED and focused on her specific talent.
- Leverage adjacent skills. She used cheerleading to master the "flippy" part of wrestling. She used her job at Hooters to network. She didn't wait for a wrestling school to find her; she built the body and the skills in her own time.
- Grit over pedigree. She wasn't a second-generation star like Charlotte Flair. She was a girl from a single-parent home who just worked harder than the person next to her at the gym.
Liv Morgan’s high school years weren't spent in a library. They were spent in the dirt of a backyard and on the blue mats of a cheer competition. That rough-around-the-edges Jersey energy is exactly why the fans stayed behind her even when she was losing matches for years. They knew where she came from.
To really understand the "Revenge Tour" or the "Judgment Day" era, you have to look at the girl who refused to repeat a grade because she had bigger things to do. She wasn't just Gionna Daddio; she was a champion in training before she ever touched a real ring.
Next Steps for Fans:
If you want to see the footage of her actual hometown roots, look for the WWE documentary "Liv Forever." It features real home videos of those backyard matches in New Jersey that we talked about. You can also visit Joe DeFranco's gym in Wyckoff if you're ever in the area—that’s the exact spot where her life changed forever. For the most up-to-date look at how that "Jersey grit" is playing out now, keep an eye on her current run with The Judgment Day on Monday Night Raw.