WWE Women's Champion Rhea Ripley Shares Major Injury Update

Rhea Ripley has been sidelined for the past few weeks, and she has now provided a pretty significant update .

The Women's World Champion hasn't wrestled since a live event in Lissabon, Portugal, back on June 3. Ripley suffered a knee injury at WWE Clash in Italy, and the company announced that she was being evaluated on a weekly basis during the June 12 episode of WWE SmackDown.

Updates have been few and far between, and Ripley has largely been absent on the road to WWE SummerSlam, where she would presumably be defending her title if healthy.

Rhea Ripley is dealing with a torn meniscus

Ripley appeared at the Power Slap event Friday night and spoke with Nina Drama. She briefly commented on her injury and revealed some new details.

"I hurt my knee," Ripley said. "I got a slight tear in my meniscus. It's healing. It's getting there. It's getting stronger. I can't bend it very well, though. I kinda need it to bend, guys."

Ripley's injury altered plans for WWE Night of Champions in June. She was removed from the event poster and replaced by WWE Women's United States Champion Tiffany Stratton, who later defended her title against Jade Cargill on the show. WrestleVotes on Fightful Select also reported that the situation led to a "significant shuffling", both regarding plans for Ripley and WWE SmackDown's women's division overall.

Rhea Ripley Comments On Her Recovery

Damn, that sucks for Rhea 🥲

(hope her knee recovers fast & well ❤️‍🩹) pic.twitter.com/4DnjmLYrON
— iFriedNemo (@VladVilcu3) July 11, 2026

During the interview, Ripley was asked to share an update on her recovery timeline. She noted that she wasn't sure, as she tore her meniscus in an unusual spot. Ripley also stated that her knee feels better, but it still hurts.

“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 just over a month now. It feels better. It still starts to hurt and throb. It gets tired. I can’t get up or bend down really slow or kind of move side to side while crouching. We’ll see how it goes."

Further details are currently unavailable, so there's no word on how much longer Ripley will be on the sidelines. WWE SummerSlam is right around the corner, and the marquee event could certainly use Ripley's star power.

Fans remain eager to see how Ripley's eventual return will affect the landscape, and The Takedown on SI will continue to provide the latest information on Ripley's injury status as it becomes available.

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