Rhea Ripley has undergone surgery on the knee that has kept her off WWE television since June, the WWE Women’s Champion confirmed in a post to Instagram. The accompanying photo shows her right leg wrapped and locked into a hinged post-operative brace.
It’s the first confirmation that the meniscus tear Ripley suffered on May 31 required a procedure. She had not previously indicated surgery was under consideration, and Dave Meltzer said on Wrestling Observer Radio in July that he did not believe she had gone under the knife.
Ripley wrote that after just under 14 years in wrestling and a lifetime in sports, the wear had caught up with her.
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 again so I can get back to what I love to do! See you all down the road.
Ripley hurt the knee during her Women’s Championship defense against Jade Cargill at Clash in Italy on May 31. Her last match came days later at a live event in Lisbon, Portugal, on June 3, and her final television appearance was the June 5 episode of SmackDown, where she cut a promo with the knee heavily wrapped.
Speaking at Power Slap 21 in Las Vegas in July, Ripley described the tear as slight but located in an unusual spot, adding that she still could not bend the knee properly and had no timetable to offer.
What This Means For The Interim Title Picture
WWE never took the championship off Ripley. Instead, Adam Pearce ruled her out of SummerSlam on July 17 and announced an interim champion would be crowned in a five-woman ladder match, a first for the main roster. Pearce said at the time that Ripley had made good progress and was close to returning.
On August 2 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Chelsea Green climbed the ladder ahead of Charlotte Flair, Jade Cargill, Tiffany Stratton and Lash Legend to take the interim title. Pearce’s framing was that Ripley would challenge the interim champion upon her return to settle which reign counts.
Surgery makes that a longer wait than the July messaging suggested. Ripley offered no return date, and WWE has not commented publicly on the procedure or updated her status since SummerSlam.
