Original Plan for Jade Cargill's WWE WrestleMania 42 Match Revealed

Rhea Ripley will stand across the ring from Jade Cargill at WrestleMania 42 this year for the WWE Women's Championship, but that wasn't the original plan.

Last weekend at WWE Elimination Chamber, Rhea Ripley won the Women's Chamber match to earn the right to challenge Jade Cargill for the WWE Women's Championship at the Showcase of the Immortals.

Cargill and Ripley quickly garnered headlines by going back and forth on social media. Things seemed to get personal, which led to a lot of interest from the WWE Universe in seeing these two compete against each other next month, but Ripley wasn't initially planned for this spot.

According to Dave Meltzer in the latest issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Jade Cargill was originally set to defend the WWE Women's Championship against Bianca Belair at WrestleMania 42. That means the company was hopeful that the EST would be back in action in time to either win the Women's Rumble or Chamber match.

This plan makes sense as there has been plenty of history between Belair and Cargill. Not only are they former WWE Women's Tag Team Champions, but Belair was also present for Cargill's return when she took out Naomi in last year's Women's Chamber match.

Despite being injured, Belair also served as the referee for the No Holds Barred match between Cargill and Naomi last year at WWE Evolution.

Did WWE accidentally fall into a better WrestleMania match for Jade Cargill?

While there is obviously history between Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair, based on the last week alone, it appears WWE might have lucked out with a better match for Cargill based on heat alone.

The back and forth between Cargill and Ripley on social media this week has definitely captured the imagination of the WWE Universe. And while this exchange wasn't initially part of the creative plan, it seems pretty clear that WWE will lean heavily into what went down online later this evening on SmackDown.

What will happen when Jade Cargill and Rhea Ripley go face-to-face for the first time later tonight on SmackDown? Tune in to find out.

Current WWE WrestleMania 42 card (announced):

WWE Championship: Randy Orton vs. Cody Rhodes or Drew McIntyre (c)

World Heavyweight Championship: Roman Reigns vs. CM Punk (c)

WWE Women's Championship: Rhea Ripley vs. Jade Cargill (c)

Women's World Championship: Liv Morgan vs. Stephanie Vaquer (c)

Brock Lesnar is set to have an open challenge