Roxanne Perez to challenge Chelsea Green on SmackDown with Crown Jewel implications

Roxanne Perez will challenge Chelsea Green for the WWE Women’s Championship on October 23 at Friday Night SmackDown in Toyota Arena in Ontario, California. The outcome could alter the women’s title picture ahead of Crown Jewel 2026 in Riyadh, where Chelsea Green is scheduled to face Liv Morgan on November 7.

Perez’s opportunity follows a disappointing result at Money in the Bank 2026, where Tiffany Stratton won the briefcase for the second straight year and Perez missed out on a guaranteed title shot. On the October 12 episode of RAW Perez pinned Green in a non-title contest after ringside distractions involving Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez. Perez then pushed for a championship match, which RAW General Manager Adam Pearce and SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis approved for the October 23 SmackDown.

Green is already booked to face Liv Morgan in a Champion vs. Champion match at Crown Jewel on November 7, with the two champions set to compete for the event’s Crown Jewel Championship distinction. If Perez defeats Green on SmackDown she would become the WWE Women’s Champion and potentially replace Green as the titleholder headed into Riyadh. Both Perez and Morgan have worked together as part of Judgment Day, a dynamic that would be directly affected if Perez takes the title.

Perez’s main-roster push follows a decorated NXT tenure; she is referred to as “The Prodigy” and became the youngest NXT Women’s Champion at 21 and the youngest two-time NXT Women’s Champion at 22. She was also named ESPN’s Women’s Wrestler of the Year in 2024. Her win over Green on RAW created another route to a championship, and Friday’s title match represents a pivotal opportunity in her early main-roster run.

Four matches were announced for the October 23 SmackDown episode at Toyota Arena: Chelsea Green (c) vs. Roxanne Perez for the Women’s Championship; Alexa Bliss and Tatum Paxley (c) vs. Michin and B-Fab for the Women’s Tag Team Championship; a Street Fight between Giulia and Blake Monroe; and a non-title match pitting The MFTs (Tama Tonga and Talla Tonga) against Bakusai (Shinsuke Nakamura and Kyoki).

The WWE Women’s Championship will be contested on SmackDown on October 23, and Crown Jewel 2026 is scheduled for November 7, 2026, at the King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.