8 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE Raw (15 April - Results & Review)

2. A Bitter Ending

Rhea Ripley
WWE

Injuries are part of the wrestling game, but a lengthy title reign ending due to injury is a dagger to every fan’s heart.

Rhea Ripley surrendered her WWE Women’s World Championship Monday night due to a shoulder injury sustained last week, ending her reign at 380 days, just eight days after successfully defending the title at WrestleMania 40 against Becky Lynch. Ripley clearly was being positioned for a lengthy post-Mania run with the title, and this derails everything for her and for the company.

WWE will have to lean into the injury a bit and try to get some mileage out of Liv Morgan’s attack, which is when the actual injury occurred. But there’s no real sugarcoating the situation: Rhea has been one of the company’s most marketable stars, and losing her – and her built-up run as champion – on a freak accident is a huge blow.

It also raises questions about the future of the Judgment Day, which seemed poised for an interesting run boasting Raw’s two main singles champions. Ripley has often been the de facto leader of the headless group, so it will be an open question how Judgment Day fares without her.

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Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.