Biggest Winners And Losers Of The Week — 7/6/2026

Another week down in the world of professional wrestling, and with another week down comes another round of winners and losers from your friends at Wrestling Inc.!

The past seven days have seen fallout from both WWE Night of Champions and AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door, with the two major American promotions officially on the road to SummerSlam and Redemption, respectively. On the WWE side, we have a massive power vaccuum as various top stars struggle to fill the void left on the SummerSlam card by Oba Femi's decision to take on Brock Lesnar rather than challenge for a world title; on the AEW side, we have a new TBS Champion and a new No. 1 contender to MJF's AEW World Championship. We also had major news drop over the weekend as it was reported that Sheamus is leaving WWE.

Who ultimately rose to the top this week, and who floundered in the esteemed estimation of the WINC crew? Here are your WINC winners and losers for the week of 7/6/26!

It's not often that the women's division in AEW is the first to get anything in the company. Sure, last year, they fought in their first Blood & Guts match, they compete in Casino Gauntlet matches, now have their own version of tag team championships, and more, but the first-ever Survival of the Fittest match in AEW was a women's bout on Wednesday's edition of "AEW Dynamite." Put one in the "W" column for the ladies, as ROH's annual tradition was first held in AEW between six women to determine the new TBS Champion.

Hikaru Shida outlasted Harley Cameron, Kris Statlander, CMLL's Persephone, Queen Aminata, and Stardom's Maika to capture the vacant TBS title, which was relinquished by Willow Nightingale, due to injury, at the end of May. While many fans thought it would be Cameron to capture the gold, possibly to start some kind of story with Nightingale upon her return, or fan-favorite Aminata to get the victory, it was Shida to emerge victorious after a great showing. She had a little help from Persephone, who hit Statlander with the title while Shida had her locked in a hold, but she won the gold all the same.

Despite her three reigns with the AEW Women's World Championship, this is Shida's first time holding the TBS Championship, an obvious big win for the star. With the AEW Women's World Championship picture seemingly set through All In: London, at least, this was the best thing that could happen for Shida. She deserved a big victory after her nearly 500-day hiatus from AEW before her April 1 "AEW Collision" return, and TBS title loss, against Nightingale.

Shida has an obvious field of challengers following the Survival of the Fittest match, with Persephone having an outstanding showing in the bout with two eliminations and quite a few near-falls, making her a prime opponent for Shida. Aminata should also stay in the hunt for gold, and Cameron should be there, as well, with how beloved she is by fans. With these likely challengers, there's little doubt that Shida will be on the upcoming pay-per-view cards, and she very well could hold the gold through All In at Wembley Stadium, earning herself a big match. She's competed at the big event in the stadium before, and could easily have a great match with someone like Aminata in front of thousands and thousands of fans.

The AEW women's division doesn't usually get a lot of wins, despite how good the competitors are week in and week out, and how little time on the shows they often get. Wednesday's Survival of the Fittest match, and Shida's victory, were two bright spots of last week.

Written by Daisy Ruth

The entire concept of the King of the Ring tournament is a big ol' loser this week, for a variety of reasons. Of course, the biggest is the fact the winner of the tournament, Oba Femi, seemingly relinquished, or at least put his title opportunity on the backburner and won't get it at SummerSlam.

Instead of facing off against World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns or Undisputed WWE Champion Sami Zayn (or whoever may be holding that title at the time), Femi will face Brock Lesnar in the pair's rubber match, a Hell in a Cell match in Lesnar's native Minnesota. Sure, it'll be one heck of a bout, and one that Femi should certainly win, but it's no SummerSlam title match for "The Ruler," which is what the entire King of the Ring crown was for.

For the last week, fans online have been very upset with WWE's booking. Many thought that Femi would work both nights of "The Biggest Party of the Summer," facing Lesnar on one, and Reigns on the other. The idea for the second match comes after Femi called out Reigns after Femi's victory over "The Beast Incarnate" at WrestleMania 42, where Reigns won the title.

Instead, and in another example of how the tournament didn't seem necessary this year, Reigns will be taking on career-long rival, and former friend and Shield stablemate, Seth Rollins for the title. Rollins was also in the King of the Ring tournament, but lost in the first round, due in part to The Vision and Bron Breakker interference. He defeated Breakker in a cage match, ending their feud, at Night of Champions, then confronted Reigns on the episode of "Raw" after the event.

Reigns told Rollins that he hadn't done anything lately, outside of beating Breakker, which is true. Their SummerSlam title match isn't as egregious as Femi foregoing his title shot, since the pair have lengthy history, but it's still a good example of why the tournament didn't need to happen this year. Especially because Femi's opponent in the final, Jey Uso, also got a shot at becoming number one contender to a title not even a week later, on "WWE SmackDown," where he was defeated by Cody Rhodes. So, even the loser of King of the Ring gets a second shot at a title match, though this one won't be happening at SummerSlam.

WWE's booking of the follow-up to King of the Ring was so poor, it made the entire tournament feel pointless. The entire concept is one for the "L" column, and it's sure to make fans question whether or not it even needs to be held next year.

Written by Daisy Ruth

Have you ever seen the episode of "The Simpsons" where Leonard Nimoy says "My work here is done" and Barney Gumble rightfully tells him that he didn't do anything? That's kind of what lands Kenny Omega in the winners section for this week because, like Nimoy, he hasn't done much, but unlike Nimoy, he didn't vanish in a mist of sparkles, he bagged himself an AEW World Championship match for next week's episode of "AEW Dynamite."

Now in all honesty, it's not like Omega has done absolutely nothing to get the match with MJF. He was wrongfully cheated out of a victory back at AEW Dynasty 2026 where MJF "kicked out" of the One-Winged Angel despite having his shoulders on the mat for about 30 seconds, and was struck with the Dynamite Diamond Ring in the lead-up to the finish. Omega has teased the idea of wanting "redemption" in recent weeks, which did point to this match taking place at the brand new pay-per-view of the same name at the end of the month, and since losing at Dynasty, Omega has not suffered a single loss.

With all that said, the fact that Omega has essentially jumped to the front of the line is very funny because AEW did have a number of very credible challengers lined up for MJF. Both Andrade El Idolo and Kevin Knight had stories leading into AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2026 where they were only happy with teaming with MJF if they got a title shot out of it. Those two matches would have been great TV title defenses as the Omega storyline started to gain momentum again, but because Omega is so beloved, he just gets to skip the queue and say "I'm having a title shot because I can," and to be perfectly honest, that is hilarious and totally rocks.

Both Andrade and Knight are going to be around for a while, Omega isn't, so why not do the match now? Omega sounded very fired up when he accepted the stipulation of never challenging for the AEW World Championship again, a stipulation that is actually a no-lose situation. Either Omega becomes champion, which is great, or he loses and never challenges for the title, meaning that he and the title scene can finally move on to pastures new.

Selfishly, I would love to see another Omega title run before he hangs it up, just because a large chunk of his first run happened in the COVID-19 pandemic. If he doesn't get it done, that's fine as well because the title picture is very vibrant right now. Regardless, he's skipped the line to face MJF, and that makes him a winner to me.

Written by Sam Palmer

Sheamus is a world class talent who has put on seriously great matches within the strictures of WWE's house style. Ten years ago, there would've been a plethora of dream matches for him. Five years ago, he could've put together a sturdy post-WWE career. This year, Sheamus is 48 years old and has battled spinal stenosis. I fully support him turning down a restructured deal and seeing if the grass is greener on the other side; however, it's a different world.

Sheamus has wrestled a high-impact, physical style for decades, and as I mentioned, dealt with spinal issues. I'm just not sure he's built for the world outside of WWE right now. Look at wrestlers like Adam Copeland, who decided to keep up with the Darby Allins of the world and jump off a steel cage at his age, leading to a long injury hiatus.

They're doing death matches out here, Sheamus. They're doing Blood and Guts matches. They're climbing to the tops of cages where loaded backpacks explode, sending them crashing into haphazardly thrown together tables. The days of a Sheamus G1 Climax run are probably behind us. I'm hoping Sheamus is heading for Hollywood, where he can play a doofy heavy who gets to crack wise and underestimate the hero before being dumped on his ass in comedic fashion.

Written by Ross Berman