Rhea Ripley is out of SummerSlam, so WWE is crowning an interim Women's Champion in a five woman ladder match

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WWE confirmed ahead of Friday's SmackDown that Rhea Ripley will not be medically cleared to defend her Women's Championship at SummerSlam, after suffering a torn meniscus during her title defense against Jade Cargill at Clash in Italy back on May 31. Rather than stripping Ripley of the title outright, WWE is keeping her recognized as the official champion while a separate interim champion gets crowned to fill the void at the two night event on August 1 and 2 in Minneapolis

Adam Pearce, serving as both Raw General Manager and interim SmackDown General Manager, made the announcement in a pre-show video, explaining that Ripley has been working hard with WWE's medical team and is getting close to returning, just not close enough to make SummerSlam specifically. Ripley herself described the injury as being in an awkward spot, saying she couldn't bend her knee properly or squat without pain, which made her recovery timeline harder to predict than a more straightforward injury

Five women will battle across qualifying matches over the next two weeks to earn a spot in the ladder match itself, with whoever climbs to grab the belt walking out as interim champion and defending it until Ripley is actually cleared to return. At that point the two champions will face off in a unification match to determine one undisputed titleholder, giving WWE a natural, built in blowoff match once Ripley's knee is finally ready. The July 17 SmackDown already kicked off the qualifying picture, with Tiffany Stratton beating Jacy Jayne to become the first woman locked into the ladder match, and Jade Cargill securing her own spot via disqualification after Charlotte Flair interfered in her match against Nia Jax

It's a fairly clean bit of championship booking, giving SummerSlam a genuine new title change to build around without permanently taking anything away from a champion who's still recovering from a real injury, while setting up an eventual unification match that gives whoever wins the interim belt a clear, meaningful next step once Ripley is finally back in the ring

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