What's REALLY Going On With Rhea Ripley Right Now (WWE News)
Update on what WWE chiefs told Rhea Ripley and when they expect her back from injury.
Fightful Select reports that Rhea Ripley's torn meniscus injury directly impacted WWE plans for both a Jade Cargill vs. Charlotte Flair match and Tiffany Stratton Women's United States Title defence at SummerSlam. Instead, the company has changed to a multi-woman ladder bout to determine an interim Women's Champ on the August PLE.
WrestleVotes Radio via Fightful learned that WWE bosses told Rhea to take her time during recovery from the injury. They didn't want to rush her back in time for SummerSlam and risk making things worse. However, this is an interesting pivot from the usual practice of stripping titles if someone is going to be benched for a significant period.
The website also noted that "WWE is hopeful that Ripley will be ready to go by the fall".
Stratton and Cargill have already qualified for the ladder match at SummerSlam, and there's a strong chance that Flair will join the field by beating Nia Jax on Friday's episode of SmackDown. 2 other workers will then qualify to make it a 5-woman affair in Minneapolis.
Obviously, it's a positive that WWE plan to let Rhea recover properly. In prior generations, wrestlers would often rush back from injuries and risk re-injuring the same body part, so it's nice to know that the welfare of the roster is taken into account in 2026.
Currently, the creative plan would be for Ripley to match up against whomever wins at SummerSlam in a 'Champ vs. Champ' setting. It looks likely that'll happen over the next few months whenever Rhea is 100%.