Did one of wrestling’s true superstars suffer a career setback and force the WWE to change direction or is it all part of what WWE has been planning post-Wrestlemania?
WWE megastar Rhea Ripley was forced to make a live announcement about her immediate future thanks to an event that happened a week earlier that stunned wrestling fans still exhaling from the excitement of Wrestlemania XL.
Rhea Ripley superstar
Ripley is one of WWE’s top talents, having worked tirelessly for years to get to the top of her profession until finally, in Jan. 2023, she won the Royal Rumble which rewards its victor a title shot at Wrestlemania two months later.
Sure enough, Ripley won the Smackdown Women’s Championship by defeating Charlotte Flair at Wrestlemania 39 but, more impressively, she was the top woman’s wrestler for the rest of the year in the WWE. The Australian superstar whose goth-like attire is perfectly tailored to her wrestling persona simply allows her character to take on a life of its own as she embraces her villainous role as part of the Judgement Day, though unlike wrestling villains of the past, it’s not unusual for the new breed of villain to have a lot of fans.
Behind the scenes, Ripley is grateful to have the responsibility of being a WWE champion and her hard work continued to pay off with a win at Wrestlemania XL over Becky Lynch. By then, the title she held was changed in name from the Smackdown Women’s Championship to the Women’s World Championship, confirming her as the number one woman in the business.
Things then unexpectedly changed.
What happened to Rhea and what’s suddenly changing?
During the following Monday Night Raw, fellow wrestler and former title holder Liv Morgan attacked Ripley backstage, as per the storyline. One week later, hours before the April 15, 2024 edition of Monday Night Raw, PWInsider reported that Ripley was injured and would be forced to drop the title that night.
What does this mean for her career and was this injury for real or was it a staged injury to create a way the great Ripley can lose the championship without actually losing a match?
Well, in this version of Rhea Ripley’s believe it or not, this was an unscripted legitimate injury. During Liv Morgan’s assault, Ripley injured the AC joint in her right a shoulder when she slammed into the wall. Furthermore, her timetable to return is dependent on if she requires surgery or not and that has not yet been determined. It wouldn’t be unusual for her to miss 3 to 4 months, though that’s entirely an educated guess based on the nature of the injury.
Unfortunately for the WWE, she was in no condition to wrestle a short match and drop the title in the ring, which would be common practice for a wrestler who is injured. So, with most people in the audience already knowing that the champion was hurt, thanks to the news rapidly spreading on social media, Ripley took to the ring on Raw, told the fans how difficult it was to have to let go of the belt, and announced that she had to vacate the title due to her injury.
Now what?
In typical wrestling fashion, they took advantage of the situation and created a new storyline out of a real event. Ripley thus criticized Morgan for attacking her and Liv came out to the ring to celebrate having been the reason why Ripley is no longer the champion.
Some fans have speculated that Ripley may have suffered a legitimate injury before Wrestlemania and that WWE simply wanted to wait until after their major event to have Ripley vacate the title. This is mostly fueled by announcers saying, during her Wrestlemania match with Becky Lynch, that she had been suffering from a wrist injury for weeks. However, if the speculation is true then the WWE would likely not have announcers say that and would also likely have Lynch win the title. It’s more rational to assume that Morgan’s attack on Ripley either made the injury worse or resulted in a new one as the report claims.
The remaining questions are whether or not Liv Morgan will be the new champion and how long Ripley will be out. Morgan held the title before, but if they give it to someone else it won’t make the most of the current situation. If Ripley can return in before August then it will be just in time for SummerSlam which could set up a big showdown between her and Liv Morgan for the title, if Morgan indeed holds the belt then.
This also gives Ripley a popular challenger that fans would love to see in a title match with Rhea, especially considering that the two were briefly a tag team before Ripley initially won the belt.
The 2024 SummerSlam will be held on August 3 in Cleveland, Ohio and streaming on Peacock.
