Dave Meltzer Explains Rhea Ripley And Liv Morgan's Dominance Over WWE

The opening match to kick off the two-night weekend of WWE SummerSlam 2026 saw Women's World Champion Liv Morgan successfully defend her title against Queen of the Ring winner, IYO SKY. In the days before the match, Morgan received a lot of flack for not defending her title once in 100 days, ever since winning it at WrestleMania 42.

During their SummerSlam night one recap on "Wrestling Observer Radio," Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez spoke about how it felt like WWE played most of Saturday's show "safe." Alvarez said that he felt like the "right" finish would have been Morgan losing her title, and Meltzer replied her win was more than just "keeping everything the same."

"It's not just that... They have their cast of people they see as top people, and Liv is one of them, and Rhea Ripley, [they] are the two women's stars," he said. "Liv is the bigger star than IYO SKY. That's the end of the game. That's why she's champion."

While Morgan defended her title, an interim title to rival Ripley's WWE Women's Championship is up for grabs in a five-woman ladder match during night two of SummerSlam on Sunday. Perhaps due to her star status, Ripley was not stripped of the gold, despite being unable to defend it at the "Biggest Party of the Summer," due to injury.

Ripley is currently on the sidelines with a slight tear in her meniscus, which she confirmed in an interview during a Power Slap event. The ladder match for the interim title was revealed by Adam Pearce on social media ahead of the July 17 edition of "WWE SmackDown."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Wrestling Observer Radio" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.