Jade Cargill’s WWE WrestleMania 42 Original Opponent Revealed
WWE Women’s Champion Jade Cargill is set to put her title on the line against Rhea Ripley at WrestleMania 42 in Las Vegas on April 18–19.
This past Saturday, The Eradicator won the Women’s Elimination Chamber match to punch her ticket to WrestleMania and earn a championship opportunity against Cargill at the biggest premium live event of the year.
However, according to a fresh report, WWE originally had someone else planned for Jade Cargill at WrestleMania 42.
Bianca Belair Was Originally Set To Face Jade Cargill At WrestleMania 42
According to Bryan Alvarez of Wrestling Observer Live, WWE had initially planned for Cargill’s former tag team partner, Bianca Belair, to be her WrestleMania opponent this year. However, because Belair is currently sidelined, WWE was forced to take another direction.
“And it came down to Tiffany and Rhea Ripley. And Rhea beat her clean with the Riptide. So Rhea gets the women’s title shot and is going to be heading to WrestleMania to face Jade Cargill.
This was one of those matches that was originally going to be something else. It was going to be Bianca and Jade, but Bianca still has not recovered yet. So they had to make a change, and that’s what they ended up doing.”
Belair has been out of action since April 2025. The last time she competed inside the ring was during a triple threat match at WrestleMania 41 against Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky. During that match, she broke her finger.
The injury was originally believed to be minor, but it ended up keeping her out of action for several months. Belair opted for natural healing and rehab for nearly 10 months, but eventually had to undergo surgery in early 2026 to correct her knuckle and finger joint.
She is currently recovering from the surgery performed in mid-February 2026, which has made her status for WrestleMania 42 uncertain.