Rhea Ripley has been one of the top stars in the women’s division for years now, and back in April, Ripley defeated Jade Cargill to become the new WWE Women’s Champion at WrestleMania. Unfortunately Ripley suffered a torn meniscus at Clash in Italy, and she is currently sitting on the sidelines.
WrestleVotes Radio on Fightful Select reports that Rhea Ripley’s injury forced WWE to make several changes to creative plans, which included an originally proposed title match between Jade Cargill and Charlotte Flair.
WWE Women’s United States Champion Tiffany Stratton was originally planned to defend her title at SummerSlam, but now Stratton will be competing in the ladder match to determine the interim WWE Women’s Champion.
It’s being said that there was a strong internal push for Rhea Ripley to be able to take the necessary amount of time to fully recover, instead of Ripley pushing herself to return to the ring in time to make SummerSlam. There was some concern that the injury could have worsened, which would have caused more issues for WWE down the line, and the company is said to be hopeful that The Eradicator could return to the ring by the fall.
Additionally, Cory Hays of False Finish is also reporting that original plans called for Rhea Ripley to defend the WWE Women’s Championship against Blake Monroe at SummerSlam.