WWE Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley will miss SummerSlam as she recovers from a torn meniscus, per Raw general manager Adam Pearce. In the meantime, an interim champion will be crowned at SummerSlam in a five-woman ladder match, and a series of matches will occur until then to determine the contenders.
Pearce then said that the SummerSlam winner will face off against Ripley when she’s ready to return to action to determine the unified WWE Women’s Champion. Ripley suffered the injury at Clash in Italy on Sunday, May 31, when she defended her belt against Jade Cargill. She competed in a pair of six-woman tag team matches on June 2 and June 3 in France and Portugal but hasn’t been in the ring since.
Thankfully, Ripley is “close to returning,” per Pearce. So now we’ll find out who gets the chance to challenge Ripley down the road. WWE has a few weeks to determine the five competitors before SummerSlam, which will take place on Saturday, Aug. Sunday, Aug. Minneapolis.
In a video WWE posted on social media, Raw General Manager Adam Pearce acknowledged Ripley’s injury and said that she had been working “tirelessly” with the company’s medical team to come back from her torn meniscus. He said that, while Ripley is close to returning, it was his duty to report that she would not be able to compete during the ‘Biggest Party of the Summer’ in just over two weeks.
With Rhea unable to gain medical clearance in time for SummerSlam, an interim WWE Women’s champion will be crowned in a Ladder Match on either Saturday, August 1 or Sunday, August 2. He said that five women will earn spots in the bout in qualifying matches on SmackDown over the next two weeks. Pearce also confirmed that when Ripley returns, fans will see who the one and only WWE Women’s Champion “truly is.”
Based on Pearce’s phrasing, it seems likely that Ripley will face the interim champion in a Title vs. Title match, where the winner will be named the undisputed champion. As of this writing, there is no word on who will compete in the qualifying matches, which will begin on the July 17 episode of WWE SmackDown. Ripley won the WWE Women’s Championship by defeating Jade Cargill at WrestleMania 42. She later defended the title against Cargill at Clash in Italy.
She has been out of action since the WWE live event on June 3, where she, Charlotte Flair, and Tiffany Stratton beat Fatal Influence (Fallon Henley, Jacy Jayne and Lainey Reid). The SmackDown Women’s Division has several contenders who could compete for the gold. Former champion Cargill will likely have her eyes on the title. Stratton may as well, as she is also a former champion, but she holds the WWE Women’s United States Championship. Other candidates may include Chelsea Green, Nia Jax, among others, and WWE could also bring in members of the Raw roster.
