WWE Pulls Rhea Ripley From Night of Champions Amid Injury Concerns

WWE has taken Rhea Ripley off the Night of Champions PLE amid growing concerns regarding her knee injury.

WWE Pulls Rhea Ripley From Night of Champions Amid Injury Concerns

Rhea Ripley pulled from WWE Night of Champions [via- Cageside Seats]

WWE has updated the Night of Champions poster by replacing the reigning women’s champion Rhea Ripley with the reigning women’s US champion Tiffany Stratton. It comes days after Wade Barrett noted on SmackDown that Ripley had suffered a knee injury at Clash in Italy.

‘Mami’ was due for being evaluated to determine the severity of the injury. With WWE taking her off Night of Champions, it’s certain that she’s going to be out for a number of weeks. It was reported on WrestleVotes Live that the company is still awaiting a confirmation on the severity of Mami’s injury.

It has consequently jeopardized Ripley’s SummerSlam plans as well. A report from False Finish claimed that Jacy Jayne was internally pitched as The Eradicator’s opponent for the women’s title at the Biggest Party of the Summer. It appeared to many that WWE was instead building towards Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte Flair at SummerSlam.

However, the 14-time women’s champion was discussed to take on Jade Cargill at SummerSlam, as per WrestleVotes Radio via Fightful Select. Flair will square off with Liv Morgan in the semifinals of the Queen of the Ring tournament this week on SmackDown. The winner of that match will battle Iyo Sky for the crown at Night of Champions on June 27.

Should Flair win the QOTR tournament, she’d definitely go after Rhea Ripley at SummerSlam. It’s something that ‘The Queen’ had already declared on SmackDown a couple of weeks ago. However, as things stand, Ripley’s participation at the two-night PLE in Minnesota is hinged on her recovery from the latest injury setback.

With Ripley getting replaced by Stratton for Night of Champions, it has triggered some fan speculation of ‘The Buff Barbie’ defending the women’s United States title at the Riyadh-held PLE. If this does happen, it’d mark the first occurrence of the said championship defended at a WWE premium live event since its inception in December 2024.

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What else is on tap for WWE Night of Champions?

The upcoming Night of Champions PLE in Saudi Arabia will feature a steel cage match between Seth Rollins and Bron Breakker. It’s going to be their third singles match in a span of just over a month. ‘The Unpredictable Badass’ got the win over Rollins at Backlash. ‘The Visionary’ pulled one back on Raw after Clash in Italy.

WWE Night of Champions is set for June 27
WWE Night of Champions is set for June 27 [via- Cageside Seats]

This could very well be the decider to put an end to their feud. This Friday on SmackDown, Ricky Saints and Carmelo Hayes will face off once again to determine Trick Williams‘ challenger for the United States title at Night of Champions. Moreover, Cody Rhodes will defend the Undisputed WWE title on this week’s SmackDown against Gunther with Sami Zayn as the special guest referee.

This is expected to escalate into a triple-threat match for the world title at Night of Champions. Moreover, Oba Femi will take on the winner of Jey Uso vs. Je’Von Evans in the finals of the King of the Ring tournament. As for women, it would be Iyo Sky up against the winner of Charlotte Flair vs. Liv Morgan at Night of Champions for the Queen of the Ring crown.

The said PLE will notably miss Roman Reigns, who was advertised for the event at first. However, he wouldn’t be working the show in a major setback for the locals considering ‘The OTC’ is wildly popular in that region.

Reigns, however, entrusted his enforcer Jacob Fatu to decimate Seth Rollins in a secret message on this week’s Raw. It would be worth keeping an eye on if Fatu ends up screwing Rollins over in his steel cage match against Breakker or not.

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