At Long Last, a Solution to the WWE Women's Championship Conundrum

There were a few reasons why I was looking forward to SmackDown. For one, it's the last show before Saturday Night's Main Event. Secondly, CM Punk as WWE Champion. Third, the fallout from Gunther brutally beating down SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis after Aldis refused to give into Gunther's unreasonable demands. Gunther fails not once, but twice, to become WWE Champion, and he expected to bully his way to another chance? Not the way it works, pal.

However, with mere hours until SmackDown started, I read the surprising announcement on Twitter: a new WWE Women's Champion will be crowned at SummerSlam.

The news broke about a month ago that Rhea Ripley was banged up, and it was officially confirmed that it's a torn meniscus. We fans had been wondering for a while about what this would mean for the title, and we finally got our answer. Raw General Manager Adam Pearce, again running SD in Aldis' absence, announced that Rhea's injury will keep her out of SummerSlam, so with that, an interim WWE Women's Champion will be crowned at the event.

Note the key word in that announcement. Interim. WWE's never done the "interim" thing before. Other promotions have, most notably All Elite Wrestling. Many expected the title to be vacated, but an interim champion actually allows the injured party to keep their title, while the interim champion fills the void. This is a better alternative than vacating a title, because if the title was vacated, then a brand new champion would be crowned, and the returning former champion would have a legit gripe, as their title was never lost. Having an interim champion allows the lineal champion (Rhea) to face the interim champion to determine the true champion at some point.

When I first heard this, I had two thoughts. One: "Finally WWE learns something from AEW." And two: "Where was this in 2005?" You all remember this: Trish Stratus was sidelined for about four months, and at the time, she was the Women's Champion. Yet despite this, WWE neither vacated the title, nor did they crown an interim champion. They let Trish take the title with her, leaving WWE without a physical Women's Champion for four months.

So how would this occur? As Pearce announced, the interim WWE Women's Champion will be crowned in a five-woman Ladder Match at SummerSlam, but building that match will take place on the final three SmackDowns heading to the event. Qualifying matches would take place, and the first two occurred during this week's SmackDown. The first one pitted Tiffany Stratton against Jacy Jayne, but before the bell, Fatal Influence attacked Stratton. Brie Bella and Paige, the reigning Women's Tag Team Champions, emerged and fought off their challengers for SNME, Lainey Reid and Fallon Henley, making this an even match. The back-and-forth match saw Stratton, the reigning Women's United States Champion, victorious, so she'll be in the ladder match at SummerSlam, which is at her home state of Minnesota.

The other match pitted Jade Cargill against Nia Jax, but that match was pretty short-lived, as Charlotte Flair--two nights removed from attending the annual ESPY Awards--crashed in and took out both B-Fab and Michin before entering the ring and attacking Jade. This was done in front of the referee, so as a result, Jade won and advanced via disqualification. Charlotte didn't care, all she was obsessed with was going after Jade for injuring and taking out Alexa Bliss. One person who did care was Nia Jax. Charlotte's interference cost Nia a title opportunity, and she took it out on Charlotte before walking off.

So there's the updated graphic for SummerSlam. Five women will compete in a ladder match for the right to be crowned the interim WWE Women's Champion, and we know that two of those women will be Tiffany Stratton and Jade Cargill. Three spots remain, and regarding next week, Nia Jax will get another chance. After she and Lash Legend protested, Pearce informed Nia that she'll get another chance next week, this time against Charlotte Flair. I would think that it would be one of two qualifiers to take place next week, and then on July 31--one day before the two-night SummerSlam--we would see a gauntlet match for the last spot.

So regarding the women, we have Liv Morgan vs Iyo Sky for the Women's World Championship, and we have a ladder match to crown the interim WWE Women's Champion. Time will tell if any of WWE's two (Stratton, the reigning Women's US Champion, will be in the ladder match) other women's championships will have the SummerSlam spotlight, but it should be interesting to see what develops.

SummerSlam will take place on August 1 and 2 at US Bank Stadium, the home of the Minnesota Vikings.