Jade Cargill Says Her First WWE Title Reign Was a “Practice Run” and Next Time Will Be Totally Different

Jade Cargill is done sugarcoating her first WWE Women’s Championship reign — and her self-assessment is as direct and unsparing as anything she has said publicly. Speaking to The Takedown on SI on April 21, Cargill acknowledged that the reign did not deliver what she had envisioned and reframed the entire experience as groundwork for what is coming next.

“I wanted to wrestle more. I wanted more competitive matches. I wanted more grit. I really wanted to sink my teeth into whatever was being thrown at me. That’s all I wanted with my reign, but we didn’t get that as much as I wanted, and that’s fine. But now that I had a practice run — I’m gonna call it a practice run — I’m gonna say next time is gonna be totally different,” Cargill said.

Cargill Held the Women’s Championship for 169 Days With Only One Title Defense Before Losing to Ripley at WrestleMania 42

Cargill held the WWE Women’s Championship for 169 days after winning it in November 2025, but made only one successful title defense — against Jordynne Grace in February — before losing the belt to Rhea Ripley at WrestleMania 42 Night Two. Her framing of the reign as a practice run is a psychologically astute reframe — acknowledging the gap between expectation and reality while immediately redirecting attention toward the future. She has already vowed to pursue a rematch, and given WWE‘s investment in her as a performer, the path back to the Women’s Championship appears to be a question of when rather than if.