When it became clear Rhea Ripley wouldn’t be recovered in time to defend the women’s championship at SummerSlam this weekend in Minneapolis, Minnesota, WWE had to figure out what to do about it. Instead of stripping her of the title and vacating it, they let her keep it and simply went the UFC route of creating an interim championship.
Then they held qualifiers to find five women to attempt to climb up a ladder to retrieve it come Sunday night. The final qualifier was held on this week’s episode of
Friday Night SmackDown in Green Bay, with Lash Legend squaring up against Giulia.
It was damn near a squash. Legend just beat Giulia clean, no help from Nia Jax, and moves on to the big show.
The field, then, is set:
- Lash Legend
- Charlotte Flair
- Jade Cargill
- Tiffany Stratton
- Chelsea Green
It’s an intriguing list of names but two stand out above the rest, and it won’t be a surprise if they are the final two on the ladder before the title is ripped from on high.
Who ya got?!?
Get complete SmackDown results and coverage of this week’s entire episode by clicking here.
