Jade Cargill Reveals Who She Expected to Face at WrestleMania 42

WWE Women's Champion Jade Cargill is going to have to wait until after Elimination Chamber this weekend to see who she will be facing at WrestleMania 42 with her title on the line.

While the event in Chicago, Illinois, will feature some major names such as Rhea Ripley, Tiffany Stratton, and Asuka all facing off to see who fights Cargill at WrestleMania, the champion admits that none of these particular challengers were who she first expected to be wrestling come April.

Who did Cargill believe she was going to face?

Jade Cargill spoke with Chicago Sports Network ahead of Elimination Chamber and said she thought her original plan for WrestleMania 42 was to face off against the 14-time Women's World Champion, Charlotte Flair.

"To go off guard a little bit, I actually thought I was going to take on Charlotte. So I'm really shocked to see that last Friday she didn't qualify, so it doesn't matter, it could be Asuka, it could be Rhea, it could be Tiffany, I already beat Tiffany, it could be whomever. Like I said, it doesn't matter because I'm going to come out on top as the WWE Women's Champion."
Jade Cargill

As Cargill mentions, Flair did compete for a chance to take part in the number one contender match, but would come up short against Kiana James. Cargill confirms that it doesn't matter who she faces as she plans to beat them and retain her title at WrestleMania, extending her record at the event to 3-0.

Reception to Jade Cargill's title reign

Jade Cargill captured her first WWE Championship when she beat former champion Tiffany Stratton back at Saturday Night's Main Event back in November of last year.

In that time since holding the title, Cargill has made a few defenses on the WWE Live Holiday Tour last year, and a single title defense against Jordynne Grace on the February 13th episode of SmackDown.

The champion commented on the reception of her title reign and the lack of title defenses, previously posting on social media, "Y'all want me to defend MY Title against a NOBODY. If Im going to defend MY title- It’s going to be against somebody who is competition!"

Y'all want me to defend MY Title against a NOBODY. If Im going to defend MY title- It’s going to be against somebody who is competition!
— Jade Cargill (@Jade_Cargill) January 17, 2026

There will be a little bit of time in between Elimination Chamber and WrestleMania 42, so it's possible that WWE can squeeze another title defense out of Cargill before her big match, but that remains to be seen.