Jade Cargill has worked through the top of the WWE SmackDown women’s division in 2026 and come away without gold. The former WWE Women’s Champion lost the title to Rhea Ripley at WrestleMania 42 and has come up short in three more championship opportunities since. Over on Raw, Stephanie Vaquer holds the Women’s World Championship with a triple threat defense set for Money in the Bank on Oct. 10.
Cargill arrived in WWE with a long resume. As the inaugural AEW TBS Champion, Cargill held the title for 508 days and went 60 matches without a loss. Since signing with WWE in September 2023, she has won the Women’s Tag Team Championship twice with Bianca Belair and the 2025 Queen of the Ring tournament.
Cargill won the WWE Women’s Championship from Tiffany Stratton at Saturday Night’s Main Event on Nov. 1, 2025. The reign lasted 169 days, ending when Ripley beat Cargill on Night 2 of WrestleMania 42 in Las Vegas on April 19. The rematch came at Clash in Italy on May 31 in Turin, and the champion retained despite interference from Michin.
At Night of Champions on June 27 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Cargill challenged Stratton for the Women’s United States Championship. B-Fab and Michin got involved, Chelsea Green came out from under the ring, and Charlotte Flair hit the challenger with the title belt. Stratton retained with the Prettiest Moonsault Ever.
Cargill was one of five women in the ladder match for the interim WWE Women’s Championship on Night 2 of SummerSlam on Aug. 2 in Minneapolis. Green won it, outlasting Flair, Stratton, Lash Legend, and the former champion. WWE created the interim title after Ripley went out with a knee injury in June.
Cargill and Flair met one-on-one for the first time on the Aug. 7 SmackDown. Alexa Bliss returned, and Tatum Paxley debuted to neutralize Michin and B-Fab at ringside. Moments later, the Queen hit a Natural Selection from the top rope for the win. At Sunday Night’s Main Event on Sept. 6, Cargill pinned Flair in a six-woman tag match after Paxley crashed into her own partner.
While still champion, Cargill spoke with Complex Graps about it.
“We have a stellar locker room, but they are all tied in the tag division making that strong. I get it, but I want to wrestle,” she said. “I came to WWE to get better, to have these dream matches, to work with the best women in the locker room.”
After WrestleMania, Cargill looked back on the reign with MuscleManMalcolm.
“I felt like I would have loved to wrestle way more. I felt like I would have liked to really sink my teeth into juicier storylines,” she said. “But overall, I think I delivered when I was given the chance to do that.”
Vaquer won the Women’s World Championship from Liv Morgan at a Sept. 12 live event in Santiago, Chile, beginning her second reign. Becky Lynch served as special guest referee and stopped the count at two after the defending champion hit Oblivion. The title change ended a 147-day reign. Lynch and Morgan met on the Oct. 5 Raw to decide Vaquer’s challenger, but the match ended without a winner after the champion attacked both women.
Vaquer then pushed Raw General Manager Adam Pearce into booking a triple threat, so Vaquer defends against both Lynch and Morgan in New Orleans. Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez beat Sol Ruca and Lola Vice on the same show. Three of those four women are in the women’s Money in the Bank ladder match.
Cargill has run out of fresh opponents on SmackDown. Ripley beat Cargill twice, Stratton turned Cargill away at Night of Champions, and the Flair rivalry is split. Every major SmackDown story Cargill has touched in 2026 circles the same handful of names. Raw offers a reset.
Vaquer against Cargill would be a fresh main event. Lynch, Morgan, and Rodriguez would give a woman who just wants to wrestle a different set of rivals. Cargill said herself that she came to WWE for dream matches with the best women in the locker room. Several of those women are on Raw.
A brand switch gives the former champion new matchups, new storylines, and the juicier material Cargill asked for. Michin and B-Fab can make the trip with her. A 508-day champion should not be stuck running in place. Send Cargill to Raw.
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