WWE SummerSlam prepares to take over New Jersey. Mercedes 8-Belts arrives. AEW CEO Tony Khan confirms the creation of women’s tag titles. Charity King chats with WrestleZone and more.
WWE SummerSlam Preview: Four Title Matches
Across two nights of action, SummerSlam will host four title matches from the WWE women’s division. Night one comes on August 2 at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, with night two following the next day from the same place.
On opening night, Tiffany Stratton will defend her WWE Women’s Championship against Jade Cargill. Cargill earned this opportunity by defeating Asuka in the finals of the 2025 Queen of the Ring tournament, which culminated at Night of Champions. Following that, Cargill defeated Naomi in a No Holds Barred Match at Evolution. At the same event, Stratton successfully defended her title against WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus.
Elsewhere on night one, The Judgment Day’s Roxanne Perez and Raquel Rodriguez will put their WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships on the line against Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss. Though not friends, Flair and Bliss consider themselves to be “allies of convenience” after the latter set them up on a path to the respective tag titles. At WWE Evolution, Flair and Bliss attempted to dethrone the reigning champions in a fatal-four-way, but fell short as Rodriguez pinned Sol Ruca to retain. Given that they weren’t pinned in the matter, Flair then sought out a two-on-two rematch, which WWE granted for SummerSlam.
Becky Lynch and Lyra Valkyria will continue the action on night two when the former defends the Women’s Intercontinental Championship against the latter. If Valkyria loses, she can no longer challenge for the Women’s IC Title as long as Lynch is champion. In return, Valkyria called for there to be no countouts and no disqualifications.
Finally, Naomi faces her first test as WWE Women’s World Champion when she raises up the title against IYO SKY and Rhea Ripley in a triple threat. SKY defended the title against Ripley in the main event of WWE Evolution, though a late Money in the Bank cash-in from Naomi elevated it to a triple threat. Naomi subsequently launched Ripley into the steel ring post, then nailed SKY with a split-legged moonsault for the win and the respective championship.
RELATED: Triple H Explains Why WWE SummerSlam Went To Two Nights
Mercedes 8-Belts Has Arrived
Mercedes Moné‘s affinity for championship gold has grown even stronger over the last year, with eight title belts currently attached to her name. Her most recent pair came after a victory in Koslow, Poland, last weekend.
There, Moné defeated Polish star Diana Strong for both the Prime Time Wrestling Women’s Championship and BestYa Wrestling Women’s Championships at PTW’s All About The Mone event. Afterward, Moné embraced an emotional Strong, who had long dreamed oof sharing the ring with “The CEO.” With this win, Moné now holds eight title belts, which she later showed off in the style of Japanese legend Ultimo Dragon.
8 belts Moné ?? ?????????? pic.twitter.com/AlBqYmcUb1
— Mercedes Moné Varnado (@MercedesVarnado) July 27, 2025
Two days before she bested Strong, Moné did the same to Safire Reed at RevPro in England, though in this case she retained the RevPro Undisputed British Women’s Championship. Following these two title matches, Moné’s current title belt collection consists of:
- AEW TBS Championship
- RevPro Undisputed British Women’s Championship
- Queen of Southside Championship
- Women’s Owen Hart Foundation Tournament Championship
- CMLL World Women’s Championship
- European Wrestling Association Women’s Championship
- BestYa Wrestling Women’s Championship
- Prime Time Wrestling Women’s Championship
Last year, WrestleZone caught up with Diana Strong, who revealed Moné as a dream opponent alongside the likes of Tay Melo, Killer Kelly, and Tessa Blanchard.
Women’s Tag Titles Coming To AEW?
Last month, Mark O’Brien of Bodyslam.net reported that AEW had been keeping two sets of titles on the shelf for over a year, including AEW Women’s Tag Team Championships. Fans and talents on the AEW roster have long called for the titles to materialize on AEW television. According to All Elite Wrestling CEO Tony Khan, however, the timing just isn’t right quite yet.
While speaking with WGN Radio, Khan confirmed that the AEW Women’s Tag Team Championship do physically exist behind the scenes. Given the amount of recent injuries, though, he has been hesitant to formally introduce them.
“I have a bunch of people I would like to get involved in a women’s tag team tournament, potentially,” Khan said. “There has been so much injury in the women’s division, and as the person who put together the Women’s Casino Gauntlet, I wish that we had come out of it healthier. A quarter of the people in the match got knocked out of the match and [are] out of action indefinitely. So we had one match where I lost 25% of the roster in one match, so that was pretty hard.”
“… I would like to do AEW Women’s World Tag Team Championships,” he continued. “To have that, I really think we do need to have a healthy division that can maintain these championships because we haven’t been able to sustain it. I do wanna have that… I have the belts. I’ve made the belts. They exist, but I will put them into play when we are able to put the very best full roster forward, to have great action with competition for all the championships, including new championships.”
As it stands, the likes of Mina Shirakawa, Jamie Hayter, Red Velvet, and Thunder Rosa are sidelined from action due to various injuries. Hayter last wrestled at AEW Double or Nothing. Meanwhile, Velvet, the ROH Women’s Television Champion, has been out of action since June. Shirakawa and Rosa last competed in the AEW Women’s Casino Gauntlet at All In on July 12.
RELATED: Deonna Purrazzo Explains Why AEW Adding Women’s Tag Titles Could Be Tricky
INTERVIEWS
Former NWA Women’s Tag Team Champion Charity King spoke with WrestleZone’s Ella Jay about her upcoming appearance at Metroplex’s Who Run The World event, previous encounter with Athena, her experience at Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter concert, sharing the ring with Yuka Sakazaki and a returning AQA, ranking on the PWI Tag Team 100 with Danni Bee, the possibility of an NWA comeback, desire to wrestle in TNA and Japan, and more.
Former WWE Women’s United States Champion Zelina Vega sat down with Chris Van Vliet discuss defeating Chelea Green to win the Women’s US Title, wrestling Rhea Ripley in Puerto Rico, becoming friends with The Rock, being cast as AJ Lee in the Fighting With My Family, prank calling Dominik Mysterio, being the first-ever Queen of the Ring winner, and more.
WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion Roxanne Perez joined Casual Conversations with The Classic to discuss her involvement with the Judgement Day, teaming with Raquel Rodriguez on the main roster, her relationship with Liv Morgan, Dominik Mysterio CM Punk, AJ Lee, and Booker T, wrestling her idols, dream celebrity partners and more.
Former WWE star Priscilla Kelly appeared on Rulebreakers with Saraya to talk about raising her younger brother, being fired at the peak of her WWE run, the backlash that followed her now-infamous tampon spot, a positive message she received from WWE Hall of Famer Lita, surviving abuse, and more.
Former WWE Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley chatted with Allenownz Wrasslin about main eventing WWE Evolution with IYO SKY, her relationship with Liv Morgan, husband Buddy Matthews being her number one fan, her experience filming WWE Unreal, switching from her real self into the Rhea Ripley character, and more.
WWE star Bianca Belair spoke with SHAK Wrestling about the WWE Unreal experience, an update on her finger injury from WrestleMania 41, about her wild Royal Rumble spot with Naomi and Jordynne Grace, Naomi winning the Women’s World Championship, and more.
