There’s a massive Rhea Ripley injury update. Speaking to F4W Online, Ripley confirmed that she did injure her knee during a house show in Lisbon, Portugal, on June 3rd. Michael Cole revealed it on SmackDown commentary; WWE doesn’t know when she’ll be back, and Ripley confirmed during her interview with the famed wrestling outlet.
Rhea Ripley Injured, Faces Uncertainty
Rhea Ripley attended a PowerSlap event, which is a sport under the TKO Holdings banner headed by UFC President Dana White. During the event, Ripley confirmed the severity of her injury, saying she has a slight “meniscus tear,” and a timeline for her return is “up in the air.”
This is what Rhea Ripley had to say:
“Yeah, I hurt my knee.I got a slight tear in my meniscus, so it’s healing. It’s getting there. It’s getting stronger. I just can’t bend it very well. Kind of need to bend, guys.”
“I don’t know. I tore it in a really weird spot, so it’s kind of a little bit up in the air with just how fast my body recovers. But I’ve been out for probably about a month now. I think it’s been a month and one week.
“It feels better. It still starts to hurt and throb, it gets tired. I can’t get up, or bend down, really or kind of move side to side while crouching.”
Who Steps Up In the Wake of Rhea Ripley Injury?
There are a few candidates if WWE needs to make the decision call when it comes to the Rhea Ripley injury. While the SmackDown roster isn’t as deep as it used to be, some standouts can definitely take up the mantle if need be and run with the WWE Women’s Championship until Mami comes back.
Jacy Jayne
The first SmackDown after WrestleMania 42 saw the debut of Jacy Jayne and Fatal Influence. Right off the bat, they were positioned as a dominant faction, immediately rubbing elbows with the likes of Ripley, Charlotte Flair, Alexa Bliss, Tiffany Stratton, and a lot more of the top dogs on SmackDown.
Clearly, Jacy Jayne is the focal point of this whole group, and she’s been nothing but rock-solid since graduating to the Blue brand. In-ring, promos, and character work, Jayne has it all. We thought she would be positioned to be the next contender for Ripley, but it may have felt too early if she ate a loss. Now with Rhea’s status in the air, it could be primetime to spotlight Jacy Jayne as the WWE Women’s Champion.
Jordynne Grace
Grace has been nowhere to be found after a great debut earlier in the year. Jordynne Grace is a former multiple-time TNA Knockouts Champion and is one of the most imposing figures on the main roster. Yet, WWE doesn’t know what to do with her, and she’s been off TV for quite a while. Sure, she hasn’t been built up over the past few months, but what better way to reintroduce her than by winning the WWE Women’s Title?
Not only that, she can work heel once Ripley comes back, and we have a bona fide battle of the titans matchup at a big PLE like Survivor Series or the Royal Rumble. Jordynne Grace is too good to be stuck in purgatory, and if anyone has the tools to carry this division, it’s her.
Charlotte Flair/Jade Cargill
The two are currently embroiled in a feud, and that’s why we’re bundling them up. If Ripley does vacate and you need a steady hand to hold down the division while she’s gone with the experience of reaching the mountaintop, you can’t go wrong with Charlotte Flair or Jade Cargill. While divisive, Cargill has proved she can hang with the big guns, and she can carry the title for an extended period of time without dropping the ball.
As for Flair, she’s proven and tested, and she’s on an absolute roll in arguably the best phase of her career. It’s been nearly five years since Flair has been champion, and WWE might want to risk it and have her hold the gold once again and possibly set up a rubber match between her and Rhea at next year’s WrestleMania.
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Blake Monroe/Giulia
Similar to Flair and Cargill, these two are currently at each other’s throats and what better way to spice up a feud than having championship gold in play. Giulia has been floundering since coming to SmackDown, when she used to be a killer in Japan and NXT.
If WWE really wants to bolster her character, why not have her go through a series of gauntlets, Kofi Kingston-style, and prove her mettle before becoming WWE Women’s Champion in a hypothetical tournament? But if the company wants a more straightforward route, why not have the two brightest stars in your division battle it out for the title, and have your newest star, Blake Monroe, make the biggest impact and establish herself in the biggest way possible?
Giulia and Blake Monroe might not have the resume to back it up just yet, but WWE could take a gamble and actually do something with a newer star, and who’d be better than these two?
