A notable announcement was made on the highway to WWE’s upcoming SummerSlam 2026 PLE, as Adam Pearce revealed {that a} multi-woman ladder match could be going down on the present. This is because of WWE Ladies’s Champion Rhea Ripley choosing up an harm during the last couple of months, rendering her unable to compete. In each occasion up to now of a champion being injured, WWE has seen that titleholder vacate the gold, leaving it up for grabs for a brand new identify to step in and win the belt. Nonetheless, WWE is altering issues up forward of SummerSlam by saying that the winner of the ladder match could be the “Interim” WWE Ladies’s Champion. Introducing this idea could also be certainly one of WWE’s most silly concepts of the yr.
The Interim Champion Idea Doesn’t Work In Skilled Wrestling
Boxing & MMA have interim champions.
AEW failed when utilizing the interim champion idea.
In skilled wrestling, interim champions have zero positives.
MMA and boxing make the most of interim champions and have performed so for a very long time, however the idea has not had an excellent monitor file on the earth {of professional} wrestling. For example, AEW launched the “interim champion” idea to attempt to seize the sensation of presenting skilled wrestling like a legit sport, however it simply didn’t work. Interim champions have been used to fill the void earlier than injured champions returned, placing total divisions on maintain for months on finish. The likes of Sammy Guevara, Jon Moxley, Toni Storm, and Jamie Hayter have been all interim champions in AEW, with all of their reigns being handled with apathy and disinterest (to the purpose the place AEW even retroactively made the reigns of Storm & Hayter official fairly than interim).
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Even AEW’s staunchest supporters criticized the interim champion idea, with it being some of the universally hated reserving calls inside the promotion for years, resulting in Tony Khan lastly giving in and placing the idea within the trash. On the earth of wrestling the place issues are predetermined, accidents are frequent, and followers maintain on so dearly to storylines and matches that really matter and maintain weight, there are fairly actually zero positives to utilizing interim champions… however that hasn’t stopped WWE from happening this route in 2026.
The WWE Ladies’s Championship Will Be Pointless Till Rhea Ripley’s Return
Rhea Ripley is injured and seemingly received’t be again for some time.
Anybody holding the Interim WWE Ladies’s Championship received’t be a legit champion.
Each match in SmackDown’s world title image will probably be meaningless.
WWE’s unprecedented announcement that SummerSlam 2026 will characteristic a ladder match to find out the interim WWE Ladies’s Champion has left followers scratching their heads. This idea has not been used on the primary roster ever earlier than, and there’s no rhyme, purpose nor logic to justify its random introduction now. Rhea Ripley has been off tv for months already, final showing at Conflict In Italy 2026, so to abruptly make the decision to not vacate the gold and as an alternative crowd an interim champion is a baffling one.
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The ladies’s division on SmackDown has been placed on maintain in lots of elements ever since Ripley’s harm, and crowning a pretend champion will solely additional this era of stalling. Matches is not going to matter, whoever reigns with the gold is not going to be thought-about an actual and severe champion, the file books is not going to characteristic the unfortunate lady chosen to carry the interim title, and Ripley’s eventual return will doubtless result in her merely profitable in a title vs. title match to change into the Undisputed Champion. There may be nothing improper with Ripley relinquishing the belt, another person changing into champion, after which battling Ripley months down the road and dropping, as a result of at the very least the time is not going to have been wasted. There aren’t any upsides to this reserving choice and it’s monumentally silly.
WWE Has Solely Ever Had One Interim Champion
WWE booked an interim champion in the course of the pandemic.
Santos Escobar was the interim Cruiserweight Champion.
WWE finally booked a unification match between the 2 champions.
While WWE has by no means used the interim champion idea on the primary roster, it has really been utilized in NXT… however it made sense. The pandemic period in WWE noticed a number of abroad abilities (significantly these in NXT UK) unable to wrestle and journey. This left the NXT Cruiserweight Title being held hostage by JD McDonagh (then often known as Jordan Devlin) within the UK. As a consequence of him not being injured, WWE determined to introduce an interim Cruiserweight Champion within the meantime, received by Santos Escobar. McDonagh would construct to an eventual unification match on social media, holding him within the thoughts of followers and utilizing the idea to drive pressure and storylines, so it really labored fairly properly. Moreover, reserving choices taken throughout this period of WWE have been extra accepted as a result of state of the world and the difficulties of internet hosting reveals too.
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Nonetheless, though this labored properly in NXT, the random implementation of it in 2026 is misplaced and never crucial, particularly since nobody has had any points ever with WWE’s strategy to injured champions up to now.
