New Report Indicates How Much Time Rhea Ripley Could Miss

After defeating Jade Cargill at WrestleMania 42 back in April, Rhea Ripley seemed primed for a lengthy reign as WWE Women's Champion. Mami's time on top, however, has been cut short.

The Nightmare has been out of action since June, recently confirming that she tore her meniscus in her right knee. Ripley had been hoping to complete her comeback without surgery, but she broke the news Thursday that she did have a corrective procedure done recently.

The recovery timeline for a surgically repaired meniscus, according to a quick Google search, depends entirely on whether the cartilage in the knee needed to be stitched back together. Ripley said last month that she had a slight tear, but that it was in a weird spot. Surgery wasn't Rhea's first option, but as she wrote in her social media post Thursday, it turned out to be a necessity.

Life update.
After just under 14 year in wrestling and doing sports my entire life… It’s caught up to me. Surgery was never a first option for me, but it got to the point that it was needed…
First one down…
Hopefully no more…

I’ve survived, now it’s time to start thriving… pic.twitter.com/wmuD1qQv97
— RheaRipley_WWE (@RheaRipley_WWE) August 6, 2026

Dave Meltzer speculated in his Wrestling Observer Newsletter on Friday that the interim tag may be removed from new WWE Women's Champion Chelsea Green because the hope within WWE is that Ripley will be back by next year's Royal Rumble, putting her recovery on the longer side.

It was announced this week that the 40th annual Royal Rumble will take place this coming February at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, the home of the NFL's Arizona Cardinals. An exact date has not yet been announced, but the expectation is that the show will remain one night this year, with a potential expansion to two nights taking place in 2028.

While Ripley's extended absence is a shame for her and WWE fans, her injury has presented Chelsea Green with a major opportunity.

Green says WWE title victory was 13 years in the making

Much to the joy of her friends, family, colleagues and wrestling fans across the globe, Chelsea Green defeated Charlotte Flair, Jade Cargill, Tiffany Stratton and Lash Legend in a Five-Woman Ladder Match at SummerSlam to capture the Interim WWE Women's Championship.

She told Complex earlier this week that pulling that down her new title in front 35,000 screaming fans inside U.S. Bank Stadium was an incredibly emotional culmination to her 13 year journey in professional wrestling.

“Tons of my peers were crying because I feel like I was doing it for all of us. We’ve all been on this crazy, hectic, wild ride, and some people never get that moment. I wasn’t just doing it for me. I was doing it for kind of all of us.”

Chelsea will return to SmackDown tonight in Philadelphia to make her first official appearance as the Interim WWE Women's Champion. As of now, her reign continues to carry that "interim" tag.

We'll continue to provide updates on Rhea Ripley's recovery, as they become available.

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