Add as a preferred source on Google WWE reportedly dropped plans for Charlotte Flair vs. Jade Cargill at SummerSlam because one of them is expected to leave the event as Interim WWE Women’s Champion.
According to WrestleVotes, WWE officials did not want Flair and Cargill to have a separate singles match when both were also going to compete in the five-woman ladder match. The belief is that either Flair or Cargill will win the championship, and booking them against each other before that title change would have hurt the direction WWE has planned.
A match between Flair and Cargill had been under consideration for several weeks. WrestleVotes Radio first reported on June 11 that the first-time singles match had been pitched internally and was, at one point, penciled in for SummerSlam. WWE creative reportedly believed that the event was the ideal setting for the match.
Rhea Ripley’s Injury Changed Everything
Those plans changed following Rhea Ripley’s knee injury. Instead of having Ripley defend the WWE Women’s Championship, WWE created an interim title and announced that it would be decided in a ladder match at SummerSlam.
WWE has continued the Flair-Cargill rivalry while moving both women into the title match. Flair interfered in Cargill’s qualifier against Nia Jax on the July 17 SmackDown, giving Cargill a disqualification victory. One week later, Cargill attacked Flair during her qualifier against Jax. It was another disqualification win, and Flair advanced.
Flair and Cargill will now join Tiffany Stratton, Chelsea Green, and one more qualifier in the Interim WWE Women’s Championship Ladder Match on Sunday, August 2.