Rhea Ripley says she has a slight tear in her meniscus and still does not know when she will return. The WWE star said on Friday that her knee is healing, but not enough for her to bend, crouch or move side to side without pain.
The update matters now because Ripley gave it while appearing at a Power Slap event on Friday, making it the clearest answer yet on why one of WWE’s most popular stars has been missing from view. She said she has been out for about a month, and in her own estimate it has been a month and one week.
Ripley described the injury as a meniscus tear in a really weird spot, which is part of why the recovery has been hard to pin down. She said the knee feels better and is getting stronger, but it still starts to hurt and throb and gets tired when she tries to move the wrong way. For now, that leaves her in a holding pattern just as interest in her next step keeps building around SummerSlam 2026.
That absence has already had consequences on WWE programming. Ripley has not appeared on Friday Night SmackDown very often, did not appear at Night Champions last month, and has not been on the show to defend Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss since June 5. Before the injury stretch, she had already been active in major title matches, successfully defending the WWE Women’s Championship against Jade Cargill at Clash in Italy and later recapturing the title at WrestleMania 42 after beating Cargill.
The unresolved part is simple, and Ripley did not hide it: she has no return timeline. Her knee is improving, but the odd location of the tear means the pace of recovery is still uncertain. That leaves WWE without a date to circle, and Ripley without the kind of answer that turns rehab into a comeback plan.
