WWE Stars To Be Crowned Interim WWE Women’s Champion At SummerSlam 2026

WWE

Ahead of last night’s WWE SmackDown show, Adam Pearce announced that Rhea Ripley’s injury would prevent her from defending the WWE Women’s Championship at SummerSlam.

As such, a five-way Ladder match will take place on the show to determine the new Interim WWE Women’s Champion in Rhea’s absence, with the champion set to face Rhea when she’s cleared to return.

With five competitors set for the match, there are many names we could see take home the interim championship.

Here are some WWE stars we could see crowned the interim WWE Women’s Champion at SummerSlam 2026.

Charlotte Flair

Coming out of WrestleMania 42, it seemed as though the marquee match being set up for Rhea Ripley and her title run was against Charlotte Flair.

Rhea and Charlotte brought their prior tensions back to the forefront, with Alexa Bliss having to play peacemaker between the two as they faced off with Jade Cargill and her crew, as well as the debuting Fatal Influence.

With Charlotte looking to close in on her 15th World Title reign, her becoming the interim champion would be an easy way to set up the eventual clash with Rhea when Rhea is clear.

Charlotte is set for a qualifying match with Nia Jax next week on SmackDown, which will likely see her qualify.

Jade Cargill

At WrestleMania 42, Rhea Ripley defeated Jade Cargill to win the WWE Women’s Championship.

Jade, Michin and B-Fab have remained key figures of the SmackDown Women’s division since Jade’s loss, with them picking up dominant wins over Alexa Bliss and Tiffany Stratton.

If an interim champion needs to be determined, then Jade getting the chance to unofficially reign as champion once again would be a nice way to set up a potential third encounter with Rhea.

Rhea and Jade’s match at Clash In Italy was arguably Jade’s best of her entire WWE career, so a rematch wouldn’t exactly be unwelcome.

Tiffany Stratton

On SmackDown last night, Women’s United States Champion Tiffany Stratton was the first woman to qualify for the Ladder match, defeating Jacy Jayne.

While Tiffany does already reign as the United States Champion, she remains one of the top babyfaces on the SmackDown brand, especially with Rhea out of action.

SummerSlam is taking place in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and with Tiffany herself being a Minnesota native, the hometown moment could be a nice one for her.

Nia Jax

On last night’s SmackDown, Nia Jax failed to qualify for the Ladder match through no fault of her own, as Charlotte Flair would immediately attack Jade Cargill and cause a DQ in their match.

Nia is set for another qualifier next week against Charlotte, which all almost certainly end the exact same way, with Jade rushing in to cost Charlotte the match.

With Nia constantly being screwed out of qualifiers, it seems as though she will end up finding her way into the match, with the company seemingly starting a story with her.

Nia Jax winning the Ladder match would not be a popular choice with fans, which would make Rhea’s return and victory a bigger babyface moment.

Giulia

No longer bound by the chains of being Women’s United States Champion, Giulia now has the potential to move further up the card should WWE choose to allow her.

The match at SummerSlam being a five-way Ladder match, and it being for an interim championship, opens the door for a more out of left field choice to win if the company wants to test the waters.

Giulia’s run with the title wouldn’t even officially count for the record books, so there’s almost no negative to letting her run with the belt for a few weeks while Rhea recovers.

Rhea and Giulia have faced off in a number of different matches during their WWE careers, with their first major singles encounter sure to be a physical one.

Becky Lynch

Back in 2024, Rhea Ripley also suffered an injury while reigning as the Women’s World Champion, with her forced to vacate the title.

When WWE needed to call upon someone to crown as a transitional champion ahead of Rhea’s return, Becky Lynch was given the nod, with her winning the belt in a Battle Royal before dropping to Liv Morgan.

Becky has not been on television since she lost in the first round of the Queen of the Ring Tournament, which could easily be explained away as her Raw contract ending.

SmackDown needs another top star during Rhea’s absence, and Becky could be that star.

AJ Lee

CM Punk was recently officially moved over to the SmackDown brand after winning the Undisputed WWE Championship from Sami Zayn in Chicago.

With WWE often opting to keep couples together on the same brand, AJ will likely make her return on the SmackDown brand when she is ready to do so.

AJ made her return on SmackDown last year in Chicago, as well as appearing on the show several times ahead of War Games, where she joined forces with none other than Rhea Ripley.

There are still many potential dream opponents for AJ now she’s back in the company, with Rhea definitely being on that list.

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