Rhea Ripley’s injury reportedly prompting multiple WWE changes
WWE has reportedly made several creative adjustments following Rhea Ripley’s knee injury.
According to Wrestlevotes Radio on Fightful Select, WWE was forced to make changes in the SmackDown women’s division heading into Night of Champions in light of Ripley’s knee injury. Varied adjustments have been made in expectation that the WWE Women’s Champion will be sidelined for an indefinite period. The company has already replaced Ripley with Tiffany Stratton on the advertising and promotional materials for the Premium Live Event.
Ripley has been making appearances on SmackDown for the past few weeks but has not wrestled a match since Clash in Italy against Jade Cargill. Last week, it was announced that she was being assessed for a knee injury, the nature of which remains unknown.
Night of Champions will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on June 27. Qualifying matches for the King and Queen of the Ring tournaments are underway with Oba Femi and IYO Sky securing their spots in the finals so far. Seth Rollins and Bron Breakker will collide once again but this time in a steel cage match. United States Champion Trick Williams will defend the title against Ricky Saints or Carmelo Hayes, with the challenger to be determined in a No. 1 Contender’s Match on the upcoming episode of SmackDown.
Rosanne Raphael is a wrestling writer with over three and a half years of experience covering all things related to the industry. From a kindergarten teacher to PR Associate to turning her lifelong passion for the industry into a career, Rosanne is currently writing for F4W Online where she focuses on wrestling news, analysis, and storytelling.
Rosanne previously contributed to Sportskeeda as an Assistant Content Manager.
When not consumed by wrestling, Rosanne is a musician and an aspiring artist.