Can a Former WWE Women’s Champion Win the 2026 Royal Rumble?

During Saturday Night’s Main Event back on November 1st, 2025, former WWE Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton lost the title to Jade Cargill, in a match where Cargill mercilessly destroyed her opponent. Since her second loss of 2025, Stratton has not been on WWE programming. This time off allows the former champion to heal from any injuries she’s had after a modest WWE Women’s Championship run in which she held the title for over 300 days. During that championship run, she defeated the likes of Cargill, Charlotte Flair, Nia Jax, Bayley, and Trish Stratus. With the 2026 Royal Rumble in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 12 days away, the WWE Universe is anticipating the return of ‘Tiffy Time,’ and questions will arise on whether she can take another big step in her career, headlining WrestleMania by winning the Rumble. Stratton has to be one of the top candidates to win the year’s Rumble besides someone like Liv Morgan, who deserves to win after being a constant runner-up in previous years, or Bianca Belair, who is a big enough superstar to warrant a second career Royal Rumble victory. If Stratton wins, what will WWE’s plans be heading into WrestleMania XLII?

WWE Women’s Championship

Since being called up from NXT in February 2024, Stratton won the Money in the Bank ladder match, eventually cashing in on Jax on the January 3rd, 2025 episode of Friday Night SmackDown. Although her title reign was long and well-deserved, at times it did seem stale with the number of times Stratton would face Jax or even Cargill for the title. The big problem was that there were no women’s superstars who were heels on the SmackDown roster. WWE made the right move by eventually turning Cargill heel, but that was close to the end of ‘Tiffy Time’s’ championship run. Having Stratton win the Rumble and remain on SmackDown would pit her against Cargill in another rematch for the title at WrestleMania. While the match could be great, we’ve seen this feud already. At least at this time, we see these two superstars face some new opponents and enter new feuds. The storyline build-up to this match could be fun, and the match could be awesome, just like their match at SummerSlam 2025; however, it’s time to see these superstars face different challengers.

WWE Women’s World Championship

Now, if Stratton wins the Rumble and decides to challenge the WWE Women’s World Champion from Monday Night Raw, the build to this potential storyline would be new and epic to see. The current Women’s World Champion, Stephanie Vaquer, defeated ‘Tiffy Time’ at Crown Jewel 2025 in Perth, Australia, to not only become the Women’s Crown Jewel Champion but to end Stratton’s undefeated streak in 2025. A story arc between these two would be incredible to see. For the past few weeks, Vaquer’s ankle has been brutally attacked by Raquel Rodriguez. A surprising victory by Rodriguez down the line could set up a jaw-dropping new championship reign no one expected. While Vaquer should come out of this feud on top, anything could happen on the road to WrestleMania. Drew McIntyre defeated Cody Rhodes for the WWE Championship on January 9th in a three-stages-of-Hell match. Even last year, Iyo Sky defeated Rhea Ripley to become the Women’s World Champion heading into WrestleMania XLI. A feud between Stratton and Vaquer, or Sky, and Ripley would certainly grab the WWE Universe’s attention.