Adam Pearce said Stephanie Vaquer was not medically cleared on Raw, so Becky Lynch skipped the contender match to face Liv Morgan for the title.
WWE Raw opened on Monday, Oct. 26, 2026, with a change to its biggest planned match. General Manager Adam Pearce told the crowd in Fresno, California, that Stephanie Vaquer was not medically cleared to face Becky Lynch, according to Fightful and Wrestling Inc. Lynch will instead challenge Liv Morgan for the Women's World Championship. Raw streams on Netflix in the U.S.
What Pearce announced
The Vaquer and Lynch match was set to decide the number one contender for Morgan's title. Instead, Pearce said Lynch would skip that step and face Morgan on the same show, Fightful reports. Wrestling Inc. says the title match was set for the main event. We could not confirm the result when we published, so check WWE's channels for it.
How Vaquer's status changed
Vaquer's health had been in question for weeks. Wrestling Inc. reports she was believed to be hurt in the triple threat match at Money in the Bank, where Morgan beat her to win the title back, and she still wrestled at live events in Hawaii days later. Last week Pearce told Lynch the contender match would have to wait. On Saturday he said on social media that Vaquer had been cleared and made the match official. Hours before Raw, WWE said on X that her availability was in doubt again. Fightful says it will update when more is known about the injury.
The rest of the card
Wrestling Inc.'s live coverage says Sami Zayn also opened the show, setting up a confrontation with Je'Von Evans that ended with Pearce making a match between them for the Undisputed WWE Championship. Zayn is set to face Roman Reigns at Crown Jewel. Bayley was also scheduled to face Lyra Valkyria in a No Disqualification match.
Our take
This is analysis, not reporting. Changing the plan on the same night makes the story about Vaquer's health more than the match card. A title shot that comes together within hours shows how much WWE relies on Pearce to rework a show on the fly. Whether Vaquer gets a rematch is unknown, and WWE has not given a timeline for her return.
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Picture credit: WWE
