WWE’s Best Wrestler Is Having The Worst 2026

WWE

2025 was a banner year for the WWE women’s division.

In a year largely marred by the creative blunders of John Cena’s Retirement Tour, the women on the show often got the company out of some very sticky situations with their incredible output.

Among the very top reasons for that output was the work of IYO SKY as Women’s World Champion, with her being part of at least two instant classic matches with Rhea Ripley and Bianca Belair at WrestleMania 42, as well as Rhea Ripley (and Naomi) at Evolution.

Heading into 2026, it looked to be more of the same for IYO on WWE television, but that has ultimately proven not to be the case.

WWE’s best wrestler has had the worst 2026.

RHIYO – A Blessing & A Curse

IYO’s 2026 kicked off with immediate success, with her and Rhea Ripley winning the Women’s Tag Team Championship from the Kabuki Warriors on the very first Raw of the year.

The following weeks were a good time for both, with them having a number of great title defences, most notably at Saturday Night’s Main Event against Liv Morgan and Roxanne Perez.

When RHIYO lost the Women’s Tag Team Championship to the Irresistible Forces, it was looking to be the start of a major year for both women.

Rhea seemed destined for a WWE Women’s Championship clash at WrestleMania with Jade Cargill, which did end up happening, while IYO was set for a major match with Asuka to culminate their months long storyline.

That, however, didn’t happen.

Instead, IYO was mainly used as a makeweight in other storylines, with her taking constant losses to Jade Cargill and Raquel Rodriguez as part of each respective Women’s Championship feud on Raw and SmackDown, as well as being served up on a platter for Jade for an angle solely to get heat on her and Rhea’s match at WrestleMania.

IYO would end up missing WrestleMania, with her celebration with Rhea being her only sighting across both nights of the event.

Pairing IYO up with the biggest star in the division, and arguably the entire promotion, helped spotlight her more and helped her popularity grow even further, but as always, WWE’s lacklustre booking failed the team and both women individually.

The Asuka/WrestleMania 42 Incident

When WWE held it’s latest round of main roster talent cuts in April, there were a lot of names on the list that confused fans, but perhaps the most confusing at all was Kairi Sane.

Kairi, Asuka and IYO began a feud on WWE television in September 2025, with IYO SKY attempting to free Kairi Sane from the tyrannical rule of Asuka who had been verbally abusing her on a weekly basis.

The obvious plan was to run Asuka vs. IYO at WrestleMania 42, with IYO winning thanks to the help of Kairi, who would finally stand up to Asuka to create a great moment on the show, and an emotional climax to a months long angle fans had been invested in.

Instead, the match was left off the card for WrestleMania altogether, with two of WWE’s very best missing the show a year after IYO was part of one of the all-time great WrestleMania matches in that very stadium.

To make things worse, the story that WWE had spent six months telling on Raw did not even get to reach it’s conclusion, as Kairi was released from the company just five days after WrestleMania.

IYO vs. Asuka did end up happening at Backlash, but with Kairi out of the equation, the entire story for the match had to be reworked in three weeks, leading to the match not feeling anywhere near a fitting conclusion to the rivalry.

WWE would never cut a wrestler halfway through a storyline that was given time and effort from the creative team, so the decision to cut Kairi and abruptly end the storyline told us all we need to know about how WWE viewed the angle.

Underwhelming Queen Of The Ring Victory

Following the debacle with Asuka and Kairi Sane, it seemed as though things would once again be looking up for IYO SKY during the Summer months, when she seemed destined for a Queen of the Ring victory.

The King/Queen of the Ring Tournaments are an easy way to appease fans who are simply looking for good wrestling matches, yet WWE has continued to find ways to make the tournament more and more convoluted with each passing year.

This year’s tournaments will be remembered for two things: the Women’s World Champion entering the Queen of the Ring, and the King of the Ring winner forfeiting his right to challenge for the title at SummerSlam.

IYO was not given much in the way of potential standout matches in the tournament, with the first round four-ways always more underwhelming than their prior singles match counterparts, before running back to back matches with Judgment Day members in the knockout rounds.

The story of the Queen of the Ring final was about Danhausen cursing Liv Morgan, with the entire thing serving primarily as a backdrop for Danhausen’s rivalry with the Judgment Day.

IYO picked up the win to win the Queen of the Ring crown, though the final only served to set up yet another match between her and Liv at SummerSlam.

Liv Morgan is another women’s wrestler who has been hindered by bad booking in 2026 despite winning the Royal Rumble and Women’s World Championship at WrestleMania, as she went 100 days without a defence of the title.

After several more weeks of angles on TV with the World Champion of the Women’s division and the reigning Queen of the Ring playing second fiddle to a Danhausen comedy rivalry to set up ‘Human Monies on a Pole’ for SummerSlam, WWE had entered an almost unwinnable situation.

Either IYO would defeat Liv in her very first defence of the title, thus making the first half of the year a complete waste of time, or Liv would retain over IYO, with the Queen of the Ring final effectively being an eliminator match that benefitted neither party involved.

WWE would end up going with the latter, which could have easily been used to further cement Liv as the champion in the division, but instead WWE opted to keep her as a background character for Judgment Day rivalries and the ongoing tension between Stephanie Vaquer and Becky Lynch.

WWE’s creative did not allow the victory to benefit Liv whatsoever, but it has certainly damaged IYO.

The Present

Since SummerSlam, IYO SKY, the reigning Queen of the Ring and arguably the greatest wrestler in WWE, has spent most of her time in 30 second backstage segments with Sol Ruca and Lyra Valkyria.

If you had asked fans two months ago if they wanted to see IYO and Lyra feud coming out of SummerSlam, almost everyone would have said yes, with the two being an exciting in-ring pairing that could have made magic in the ring together, even if not for the World Championship.

However, we are here now, and the storyline, if you can call it that, between the two is that IYO is scared of Lyra’s change of attitude and thinks she is creepy while she stands next to Sol Ruca.

All three women can, and should, be doing much better than what they’re being given, with these uneventful lazy segments not drumming up any excitement for the future of any of them.

The rest of the year looks bleak for IYO, though she will likely get her obligatory spot in War Games, there is no sign of change in direction for the woman who was almost inarguably named WWE’s Wrestler of the Year in 2025.

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