Finally, somebody released Rhea Ripley from her cage.
When Ripley came back after relinquishing her title in 2024, there was concern that her character was becoming repetitive due to her constantly going for the world title. Now, her chasing the world title feels refreshing for both her trajectory and the SmackDown women’s world title scene.
While she is still over with the fans, her career has felt stagnant since her face turn at SummerSlam 2024. Her heel run with the Judgment Day got over due to her no-nonsense personality and scene kid look. It also helped that she always delivered in the ring. As a face, however, her personality was that of a bitter ex, angry that Dominik Mysterio chose Liv Morgan over her. Her taking revenge for it made sense and was compelling. Her chasing sympathy over the breakup when she got Mysterio by torturing him and injuring Morgan for no reason was not.
She was still over due to her charisma and in-ring ability, but fans felt frustrated at her creative direction. Things took a turn for the worse when she got paired in a tag team with Iyo Sky. Their rivalry was at a high point after their encounter at Evolution, in a match that was interrupted by the cash-in of Naomi. Sure, you could argue that they were over with the fans, but it was still a demotion:
- Both main event calibre wrestlers were now going for the tag team titles
- Her character got more one-dimensional by becoming a smiling babyface who also did Iyo’s taunt
And, more importantly, the world titles have been deserted with all credible contenders competing for secondary titles.
Jade Cargill, who won the world title against Tiffany Stratton, has defended her title once on TV since winning it. Cargill, who is not the best in-ring worker, is not the best talker, nor the most charismatic either.
Her first feuds as a champion were against midcard acts Michin and B-Fab, who both got injured.
It was certainly something to see the world title picture lacking in contenders while the bigger stars were competing for the secondary titles. Ripley winning the Elimination Chamber shows a return to common sense. Ripley and Sky still have a lot to give in the world title scenes, and their rivalry still has a lot of unresolved tension, with Ripley still not beating Sky for them to be stuck in an indulgent pairing where the whole is not greater than the sum of their parts.
