Should WWE Have Stripped ‘Mami’ of the WWE Women’s Championship After Her 2026 Injury?

At Clash in Italy 2026, WWE Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley successfully defended her title against Jade Cargill in a WrestleMania 42 rematch. During the match, Ripley began dealing with some noticeable pain. Although it seemed as if she was selling an injury, further testing later revealed that ‘Mami’ suffered a torn meniscus during the match. She hasn’t competed in a match since then, and with SummerSlam 2026 on the horizon, it seemed unlikely that she would compete in WWE’s biggest show of the summer. With WWE looking at all possible alternatives, the company came up with a solution: a ladder match at SummerSlam 2026 to determine an interim WWE Women’s Champion. Although it’s great that WWE is giving the women a chance to hold SmackDown’s top gold, why did WWE decide that crowning an interim champion was the right choice instead of making Ripley drop the title entirely?

Before Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque took over all creative responsibilities in 2022, one of the unwritten rules that was in place within the company was that any superstar who didn’t defend their title after 30 days had to drop the title. There were times when it would surpass the 30 days, but overall, the time period was respected a majority of the time. Now, under Levesque’s creative control, most world title reigns seem to surpass the 30-day period, effectively eliminating the unwritten rule from existence. Ripley is one of WWE’s biggest stars in the company, and even having to write her off any sort of creative plans would be difficult to do, as the company always has long-term storylines for their top stars. Ripley is no exception, as she has been featured in the main event for the majority of her career on the main roster. However, just because WWE tries to prioritize their top stars when they’re champions doesn't mean that the world titles have to be held hostage as a result of an untimely injury. The company doesn’t want to have Ripley drop the title, but without the title being featured on WWE television, it leaves the Women’s Division feeling exposed.

SmackDown having an interim WWE Women’s World Champion while Ripley is out due to injury only serves as a temporary solution to a much larger problem WWE has when it comes to their world champions dealing with injuries. WWE made the right move when Seth Rollins went down with an injury, taking the title off of him and crowning a new world champion instead of having an interim champion. While WWE will have another superstar holding the WWE Women’s Championship, it feels like it’s just for a short amount of time until Ripley comes back and fully wins back the title she never lost, effectively making the interim world title reign pointless. WWE might think they might be unable to rewrite plans due to Ripley’s untimely injury, but the company also has a plethora of women who are ready to step up and carry the SmackDown Women’s Division to where it needs to be. Some of these women, such as Jordynne Grace, who the company has no plans for, are sitting on the bench waiting for an opportunity to make a name for themselves on the main roster. With WWE’s reliance on these top stars, however, it seems unlikely that their mentality will ever change.

Although WWE relies on Ripley’s star power to carry the SmackDown Women’s Division, their heavy reliance on her even while being out with an injury affects the rest of the division. Instead of giving another superstar a chance to shine, WWE’s fear of trying out new things makes it hard for them to hand the title over to someone else. Once Ripley is fully healed, she could come back and still compete for the world title, but while she’s still officially holding the belt, it’s clear that she won’t lose the title any time soon, even with an interim champion present. The right decision would have been to have Ripley relinquish the title, but now, it really just depends on how WWE will handle this situation once the interim champion is crowned.