Backstage Update On WWE Women's Tag Team Titles

With Jade Cargill recently written off TV with an injury angle, many have been wondering what that means for the future of the WWE Women's Tag Team Titles held by Jade and Bianca Belair.

Of course, that injury angle was followed by the news that Cargill is dealing with a legitimate injury that's expected to keep her out of action for at least three months. The specifics of that injury are not known at this stage, but it's a situation that means the former AEW TBS Champion will miss the rest of the year, likely the Royal Rumble, and could even put her WrestleMania 41 status up in the air.

Where the WWE Women's Tag Team Titles are concerned, WrestleVotes Backstage Pass Q&A saw it noted how the current plan is for Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair to be stripped of those titles. A lengthy injury has often resulted in a championship being vacated, but that hasn't necessarily been the case with the WWE Women's Tag Team Titles. For instance, when Sonya Deville suffered an injury in 2023, her partner Chelsea Green was allowed to keep the WWE Women's Tag Team Titles and bring in Piper Niven to replace Deville. However, when Liv Morgan was injured earlier that same year, Liv and Raquel Rodriguez were forced to vacate their gold. Of course, those same titles were also vacated in 2022 when WWE suspended Naomi and Sasha Banks after the then-reigning Women's Tag Team Champions walked out on an episode of WWE Raw due to creative frustrations.

What Next For The WWE Women's Tag Team Titles?

The first recognised "WWE" Women's Tag Team Champions were Velvet McIntyre and Princess Victoria, who were the reigning champs when the then-WWF withdrew from the National Wrestling Alliance in 1983. At that time, the Fabulous Moolah owned the rights to those titles, and the WWF opted to buy the rights from Moolah.

The WWF Women's Tag Team Titles would remain active until 1989, with the belts changing hands four times across those six years, initially to Velvet McIntyre and Desiree Petersen when Princess Victoria was due to retire due to a neck injury. While this was a case of Petersen taking Victoria's place alongside McIntyre, WWE recognises this as a separate reign.

The Glamour Girls tandem of Leilani Kai and Judy Martin would embark on their first reign as Women's Tag Team Champions in 1985, holding the gold for 906 days before finally dropping them to the electric Jumping Bomb Angles team of Noriyo Tateno and Itsuki Yamazaki. The Jumping Bomb Angels would only hold the Women's Tag Team Titles from January 1988 until June '88, dropping them back to the Glamour Girls, who held the titles until they were deactivated in February 1989.

WWE would reintroduce the Women's Tag Team Titles in December 2018 and crown the 'first' champs the following February at the 2019 Elimination Chamber, with Bayley and Sasha Banks defeating the IIconics, Nia Jax and Tamina, Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan, Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville, and Carmella and Naomi to take home the gold in a Chamber match.

As for what's next for the WWE Women's Tag Team Titles right now, if Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair are indeed set to be stripped of their belts, WWE has a couple of options on the table. The first and most obvious option is to run a tournament to crown new champions, although that would feel a little overdone at a time when WWE is currently doing tournaments to crown their inaugural Women's United States Champion and Women's Intercontinental Champion. Another option could be some sort of one-off match, be that a battle royal or an elimination-style bout. Of course, WWE could simply choose to put the Women's Tag Team Titles on ice for a little while, quietly removing them from TV. And finally, as some fans have suggested, it could be a case of simply scrapping the WWE Women's Tag Team Titles altogether, particularly with the introduction of the aforementioned secondary women's championships.