It’s been reported that Rhea Ripley will be back in action at WWE SummerSlam where she’ll face a long-time rival on the main roster for the first time.
The Australian star won what was the SmackDown Women’s Championship at WrestleMania 39 by defeating Charlotte Flair before being presented with the Women’s World Championship on June 12th.
In recent weeks, Ripley has had a couple of backstage interactions with Raquel Rodriguez, and it seems these weren’t just an accident. It’s been reported by Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio that the working plan is for the Judgment Day star to defend the gold against Rodriguez at SummerSlam.
“They’re not there yet [with the story], but that match was penciled in last week,”
Ripley and Rodriguez have wrestled before, most notably at NXT New Year’s Evil in January 2021.
Rhea Ripley Earns Praise For Recent WWE Raw Match
Since winning the Women’s World Title, Rhea Ripley has clashed with Zelina Vega and more recently Natalya. At Night of Champions, Ripley scored the win in a little over a minute, and the pair have clashed on Raw since.
This led to a rematch on the July 3rd episode of the show, and a more aggressive Natalya decided to take matters into her own hands. The veteran attacked the champion before the bell and went toe-to-toe with her younger and stronger opponent in one more the more hard-hitting women’s matches WWE has seen in recent months.
While Ripley grabbed the win, it was later reported that both women had been praised for their performances by management backstage.
H/t to Wrestling Inc