Backstage Update On Former WWE Women's World Champion Rhea Ripley's Injury

While the company is still riding a wave of momentum from WWE WrestleMania 40, last night's "WWE Raw" opened with Rhea Ripley making the unfortunate announcement that she was vacating the Women's World Championship due to injury. Many speculated that the injury came about during last week's angle with Liv Morgan, with the latest "Wrestling Observer Radio" offering some insight into what may have occurred.

"She suffered [an] AC joint sprain in the brawl with Liv Morgan last week on 'Raw,'" Bryan Alvarez said. "She was thrown into the wall and boom — there goes the shoulder. An injury like that, [it will take] probably four to six weeks to gain mobility and then usually about three months to be back in action."

Alvarez and co-host Dave Meltzer interpreted last night's segment as a double-turn, with Morgan becoming a heel while Ripley was turned into a babyface due to the circumstances. It's not clear if this was the definitive intent of the segment, but it's undeniable that the crowd was behind Ripley last night and keeping her as a villain upon her return would likely be a difficult task.

As the conversation continued, both hosts discussed the possible reasons behind stripping Ripley of the championship rather than having her hang onto the title through her injury, as the company has done with Roman Reigns in the past. Both men agreed that Ripley didn't have any big-time opponents immediately lined up, so taking her off the table during her injury while heating up Morgan may have been the best way to salvage the situation.

"If it was January and she would be back for WrestleMania, they wouldn't do this," Meltzer said. "But they don't have a giant WrestleMania match ready, so they're just going to put the title back in play."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Wrestling Observer Radio" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.