Bianca Belair & Jade Cargill should not be in Queen of the Ring Tournament

WWE has a stacked women’s division across all three shows. There are women who struggle to get time on television, regardless of years of experience and skill in the space. Two of the company’s top stars, Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair recently captured the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship. While the company should focus on pushing them into a big build for the division, they are instead slotted into the Queen of the Ring Tournament. While it is always great to see them compete, this once again raises concerns about WWE’s long-term vision for the women’s tag division.

Fans are excited about the 2024 Queen of the Ring Tournament. After the disaster that was the previous edition, Monday Night Raw showed that the women will get ample time to show what they can do, giving them the opportunity to put on great matches. Iyo Sky, Lyra Valkyria, and Zoey Stark have already advanced. Shayna Baszler will take on Zelina Vega, and Naomi must face Nia Jax. Blair Davenport is rumored to take on Tiffany Straton. But the Bianca Belair versus Candice LeRae and Jade Cargill versus Piper Niven matches are the two that give fans pause.

First, let’s look at the four women involved. Cargill, Belair, Niven, and LeRae. Of the four Niven is the only one who isn’t involved in a “story” of sorts. Niven’s last singles match was in 2023 when she lost to Tegan Nox. LeRae is in an arc with Indi Hartwell as she attempts to turn the latter toward the dark side and make a push toward the tag team titles. Then there’s Cargill and Belair who won the tag titles at Backlash, less than a week ago.

Neither Belair nor Cargill will lose in the first round of this tournament. In fact, no one would be surprised if they ended up facing off in the semifinals. Why put the tag titles on them if the “plan” were to have them battle for an individual accolade so soon? They haven’t even had the opportunity to build a feud with those tag titles. Expectations are that LeRae and Hartwell will be their first challengers, which will be a fun angle, but WWE didn’t need to use valuable Queen of the Ring slots to make that happen.

The Belair and Cargill slots could have gone to Michin and Nox, two veterans that fans enjoy, but no one expects them to go on exceptional runs. They could have strong first-round matches against Niven and LeRae but would be the perfect opponents to see the two more prominent names through.

Something is going to happen in the tournament that causes either Cargill or Belair to lose before they face each other down the line, but what’s the point in using valuable matches and television time in such a way? Especially as WWE continues to build the women’s division and gain steam behind an exceptionally talented group. It’s an unfortunate issue that harkens back to problems pointed out in a vary public controversy in 2022.