Rhea Ripley successfully defended the WWE women’s world championship at WrestleMania 40, continuing a dominant title run that began one year prior at WrestleMania 39.

But Ripley’s reign might be in jeopardy due to an unfortunate turn of events.

PWInsider.com reported Monday, citing multiple sources, that Ripley suffered an injury on last week’s episode of “RAW.” The injury reportedly is severe enough that there’s talk internally of Ripley having to vacate the belt.

This would force a massive shakeup in both the women’s division and the company as a whole. Ripley has blossomed into one of WWE’s biggest stars over the last couple of years, picking up career-defining wins against Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch at the last two ‘Manias.

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It also might throw a wrinkle into whatever WWE has planned for The Judgment Day faction, which looked stronger than ever after Damian Priest cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase to win the WWE world heavy championship from Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania 40.

The nature of Ripley’s reported injury is unclear, but it’s fair to assume it stems from her storyline altercation with Liv Morgan last week. According to PWInsider.com, Ripley could vacate the title as soon as this Monday’s episode of “RAW,” so we might have answers in short order.

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Clearly, this is a huge development. And it could have major implications for WWE’s post-Mania creative direction, depending on the severity of the injury and whether Ripley indeed will need to relinquish the gold.

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