It seemed like our teams for the women’s side of Survivor Series War Games were pretty clear once Rhea Ripley returned from her injury. On the face side, it would be Bianca Belair, Jade Cargill, Naomi, Iyo Sky and Ripley against the heel team of Liv Morgan, Raquel Rodriguez, Nia Jax, Tiffany Stratton and Candice LeRae. We even got a group staredown and brawl inside the ring, but then, in a complete shock, we were shown Cargill smashed against the windshield of a car during the most recent episode of Smackdown.
WWE later announced she suffered a slew of injuries and said there’s “no timetable” for her return. There are unverified rumors the storyline may have been written in to account for a real injury, but either way, we’re likely going to see Bayley as her replacement in War Games and fans now have a mystery to solve. Fortunately, as a superfan of both wrestling and detective procedurals, now is my time to shine.
I think there are three good suspects and a few more longshot suspects. So, let’s tackle them one-by-one.
Naomi
At first glance, Naomi seems like a terrible suspect. After all, she’s maybe the most straight ahead babyface on the entire roster (apart from maybe Otis), and we’ve seen nothing but positive vibes between her, Bianca and Jade. The three women teamed together at WrestleMania for a dominating win, and we’ve also seen her maintain friendships under difficult circumstances, most prominently with Bayley.
But after a photo of her looking kinda suspect went viral amongst wrestling fans, she’s been on X defending herself so loudly and so aggressively that it’s starting to attract suspicion. She even said she expects her timeline to be “flooded with apologies” when her name is cleared. But is it going to be?
Despite being very close with Bianca and Jade, it’s worth pointing out that she’s the odd one out of the actual tag team. She’s clearly the third wheel in the friendship, and the other two are getting more press and more opportunities than she is. She’s also very close with Bayley, who has had plenty of problems with Bianca in the past.
Verdict: 15% Chance. I don’t think it’s Naomi. I’d consider her the least likely of the main suspects, but you could definitely build a logical case here of why it’s her.
Bianca Belair
Plugged-in wrestling fans have convinced themselves they know where this Jade and Bianca story is going eventually. One of them is going to turn on the other, and it’s going to set up a huge match at WrestleMania. I wish I could make some snarky comments about why everyone is off base, but I also think that’s been the plan all along with their tag team. Some of the best feuds of all time have involved tag team partners, and I was all-in on the plan to put them together and break them up.
So, it has to be her, right? Well, not so fast. If the goal is to have Jade and Bianca wrestle each other for the first time at WrestleMania, we’re way too early on the timeline. In fact, I said in my Crown Jewel predictions that they’d hold onto their Tag Team Championships for longer because it just didn’t make sense to break them up already. And, to be honest, I still think that. What are they going to drop angry promos on each other and interference in each other’s matches for five months before finally wrestling? No.
There’s the possibility, however, that this injury is going to lead to Jade being out a few months, and in that case, Bianca could be an ideal suspect. An “it was me” admission sometime around the Royal Rumble would allow these two to engage in a heated feud for a few months before fighting at WrestleMania.
Verdict: 25% Chance. I don’t think it’s Bianca. I think there are better ways to do a break-up than this, but if Jade is injured for real and they needed to write her off TV quickly while laying the groundwork for the Bianca feud when she returns, then it’s a possibility they improved to this.
Bayley
Bayley had the hottest run of her entire career earlier this year when she won The Royal Rumble, turned on Damage CTRL and beat Iyo Sky for The WWE Women’s Championship at WrestleMania 40. You could make a case that, at the moment she won, she was one of the most over stars on the entire roster, but the last six months or so haven’t really gone as well. That’s not to say she’s done anything wrong, but none of her storylines have really popped and her momentum has bled off. She needs a change.
Attacking Jade and going back to being a heel could provide the change she needs. It would also make sense with her character, as she’s had on-screen problems with Bianca for multiple years. It would also provide the most direct benefit to her, which would be getting her into the War Games match. I can’t imagine her character would have enjoyed watching the so-called faces team with Iyo Sky and pick her for their War Games team, given all the personal animosity she’s had with her too.
Verdict: 50% Chance. I think this is the most likely scenario. It makes the most sense from a character development standpoint. It would give Bayley something new to do, and it would give WWE a lot of options moving forward.
Other Possible Suspects
Ordinarily when someone gets attacked on Raw or SmackDown, it’s one of the heels on the roster. It’s the type of straightforward storytelling the wrestling business has been built on top of for a hundred years, but most of the time when it’s the most obvious candidate, the show just reveals it immediately and uses it to either draw heat or play up an injury angle. Can you believe Nia attacked Jade ahead of their match? It’s just like Liv Morgan to cheap shot her opponent before they even get into the ring. I hope Candice didn’t hurt Jade’s knee when she attacked her. That’s the sorta thing you’d expect to hear Michael Cole say on an almost weekly basis on SmackDown. So, while I wouldn’t definitively rule out any of the heels in the War Games match (Nia, Tiffany, Candice, Liv and Raquel), I don’t think it’s likely it was them either.
I’ll throw out another remote possibility though. What if it’s a woman that’s headed to the main roster sometime soon? There’s a ton of buzz around a bunch of people in NXT, most prominently Stephanie Vaquer and Giulia. There’s also Jordynne Grace from TNA, who many expect may come over to WWE in 2025. Any of those three women could conceivably step into the main event scene immediately and start a feud with Jade. There’s also a small possibility it could be Lash Legend and Jakara Jackson, who have recently feuded with Jade and Bianca for the tag titles.
Verdict: 10% Chance. I don’t necessarily love any of these possibilities enough to put forth on their own, but collectively, there’s enough here that they need to be taken into consideration.
