Four women spent the ladder match trying to take each other out. Chelsea Green just waited them out.
Green won the five-way ladder match on Night 2 of SummerSlam to become the first Interim WWE Women’s Champion, beating Charlotte Flair, Jade Cargill, Tiffany Stratton and Lash Legend at U.S. Bank Stadium. It is the first world championship of her career.
The match opened with everyone brawling and rarely settling. Lash Legend suplexed Flair onto a ladder, then powerbombed Stratton off the top rope onto another. Stratton had a run of her own, hitting Cargill with a backstabber before climbing, and later got thrown off a ladder in a spot that wiped out the field.
Flair came closest twice. She was hanging off the title when Cargill pulled the ladder out from under her, and later she was the one clearing the ring, taking out B-Fab and Michin when they ran in to attack Green.
The finish was a two-person problem that solved itself. Flair and Cargill ended up trading punches on top of the same ladder, with Stratton and Legend already knocked off. Both went down. Green, left hanging and forgotten, got back up and unhooked the title.
The interim championship exists because Rhea Ripley is out with a knee injury. Adam Pearce confirmed on July 17 that Ripley could not defend at SummerSlam and set the ladder match to crown a holder until she returns.
Green qualified by beating Kiana James on the July 24 SmackDown. Flair was in the match despite spending the week arguing that WWE’s women have always worked harder for fewer opportunities. Stratton, the reigning Women’s United States Champion, leaves without the second belt.
