13 New Directions For WWE After SummerSlam 2026

Time to admit something: The chap writing this did not have Chelsea Green down as winning the 5-way ladder match to become interim Women's Champ. When drafting up the report on Friday's SmackDown, yours truly actually bashed WWE for making Charlotte Flair and Jade Cargill the main focus whilst Green and Tiffany Stratton lost to Michin and B-FAB.

That result still sucks, but it was a piece of subtle misdirection from the writing team towards Sunday night. There, Chelsea hauled down the belt and posed atop the ladder like her man Matt Cardona/Zack Ryder back at WrestleMania 32 a decade ago. It's nice when moments come full circle like that.

Of course, the ever-dominant Rhea Ripley will be back at some point, and it’ll be interesting to see how WWE plays that mismatch. One could see Stratton turning heel on Green before then. The other match to come out of this is surely Flair vs. Cargill in a singles effort, but here's hoping that doesn't take the lead over Chelsea as champ.

She'd have every right to walk straight up to Michael Hayes and shove that title in his Freebird-y face. There was a time when it looked like Green would never get the chance to live dreams like this, but she's living proof that hard work, knowing your role (whilst playing it to a fine art) and being organically likeable/passionate can take people far.

So, Tiffany first (presumably), then we'll deal with 'Mami' coming back into the fold. There shouldn't be any great rush on that. The vital thing is that Rhea gets healthy.