Recapping the Fourth and Last Quarterfinal Match in the 2026 Queen of the Ring Tournament

The Queen of the Ring Tournament has been quite eventful so far. The tournament field was announced right after Clash in Italy ended, and the first three Quarterfinal matches took place during WWE's European tour. First, in Turin, Italy, Iyo Sky defeated Roxanne Perez, Giulia, and Lash Legend to advance. Next, in Bologna, Italy, Raquel Rodriguez defeated Kiana James, Jacy ayne and Bayley to advance, and that would see the end of Kiana and Giulia's alliance. Most recently, Paris watched as Women's World Champion Liv Morgan defeated Chelsea Green, Alexa Bliss, and Becky Lynch.

As WWE returned to North American soil for SmackDown, the last spot in the Queen of the Ring Semifinals was up for grabs, and this match was quite loaded. The fourth and final Quarterfinal match in this tournament pitted Sol Ruca, Charlotte Flair, Jade Cargill, and Lyra Valkyria against each other for the right to fill up the Final Four in the tournament. This was a loaded match. Charlotte Flair, no explanation there. Done it all, won it all, beaten them all. Jade Cargill? Former Women's Champion, just lost that title at WrestleMania. Lyra Valkyria? NXT Women's Champion, Women's Tag Team Champion, and the first-ever Women's Intercontinental Champion. Sol Ruca? Held the Women's North American and Women's Speed Championships together, and is the current Women's IC Champion.

The bout took place, and we would see a small amount of shenanigans early, as Tiffany Stratton actually distracted Jade at some point into the match. We saw Sol Ruca show out as only she can, diving over the top rope and taking down all three of her opponents. Sol actually had Charlotte pinned, but Lyra, who challenged Sol on Raw days prior, broke it up. Lyra entered against Charlotte, who actually placed Lyra in the Figure Four, which became a Figure Eight, and Lyra tapped out.

Wait, what?!

What is this? Charlotte should not have won this! Even worse: it was Lyra Valkyria, who I picked to win this thing, who ended up tapping out! This was Lyra to win, it was easy to have Lyra win this. Charlotte and Jade do not need the tournament--in fact, Jade won it last year! Sol has her own thing with the Women's IC Title, so she's there to look great, show out, and get over, that's all. Sol did that. This was Lyra's tournament to win, but instead, this was Triple H's latest bungle in close to two weeks full of them.

So the Final Four is set, and here it is:

The Semifinals are set, and in one match, Iyo Sky will face Raquel Rodriguez, and that match is set for Raw in Baltimore on Monday. The other Semifinal will see Liv Morgan face Charlotte Flair, and one as to think that it will occur on the next SmackDown. That second Semifinal is, IMO, a no-win situation because it features two women who shouldn't have advanced, though at least Charlotte had some right to be in this tournament. I do hope we get Iyo vs Charlotte in the Final; I think that's the only matchup that makes any sense here.

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Once again, the Queen of the Ring Final will take place at Night of Champions on June 27. That's going to be a hell of an event. The Queen of the Ring will receive a top title shot at SummerSlam, either against Liv (Women's World Championship) or Rhea Ripley (WWE Women's Championship). Though, reports are out that Rhea is dealing with an injury, so time will tell if she'll be ready for SummerSlam, but if not, well, that's going to be another interesting development.