WWE will crown its first ever main roster interim champion at SummerSlam after Rhea Ripley's knee injury

[Marnie84]

Rhea Ripley tore her meniscus defending the WWE Women's Championship against Jade Cargill at Clash in Italy back on May 31, and despite hopes she could recover in time, WWE has confirmed she will miss SummerSlam. Rather than stripping her of the title, WWE is crowning a first ever main roster interim champion through a five woman ladder match, with the winner facing Ripley once she returns to determine who holds the undisputed title. Ripley herself said the tear sat in an awkward spot that made recovery slower than expected, and that she still cannot bend or squat properly months later

The injury forced a real reshuffle of SummerSlam plans. A planned singles match between Jade Cargill and Charlotte Flair was scrapped, and Women's US Champion Tiffany Stratton, originally set to defend her title in her home state of Minnesota, was moved into the ladder match instead. Cargill and Stratton have already qualified, Charlotte Flair booked her spot by beating Nia Jax via disqualification on the July 24 SmackDown after Cargill interfered, and the final spots are being filled through qualifying matches over the two weeks leading into the show

WWE has never crowned an interim champion on its main roster in its 73 year history, the only precedent being NXT's interim cruiserweight title in 2020 when travel restrictions kept a champion off television. Internally, sources say there was a strong push to let Ripley take as much time as she needs rather than risk a rushed return worsening the injury, with the company hopeful she will be medically cleared by fall. SummerSlam takes place August 1 and 2 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis

Rhea Ripley injury update: WWE books interim womenwww.cbssports.com

[Skibidi]

A first ever main roster interim title in 73 years of history says a lot about how seriously WWE is treating this rather than just rushing a replacement angle

[Crossing]

Scrapping the Cargill-Flair singles match is the real shame here, that sounded like it could have been a great program on its own

[Kev5]

Good on WWE for not stripping Ripley outright, letting her come back to unify the belt instead keeps her positioned as the real champion the whole time

[Oscar_86]

Five way ladder matches are usually chaotic fun regardless of the storyline reasons behind them, this should be a wild spot filled match

[NightReaper83]

Stratton losing her planned hometown title defense in Minnesota is a tough break, but getting folded into this match is still a big spotlight moment for her

[Isla]

Cargill interfering in the Flair-Jax match to help Flair then turning around and attacking her afterward is exactly the kind of messy alliance building I want heading into a multi-woman match

[MJF_Fan]

73 years without an interim champion on the main roster makes this feel like a historic moment rather than just a scheduling workaround

[RoughDaemon]

Hopeful for fall is a pretty vague recovery timeline, curious if that means September or if it slides into that whole quarter

[Ruby92]

This is shaping up to be one of the stronger women's division storylines in a while, genuine uncertainty about who actually walks out with the interim title

[Sophie83]

The internal push to let her fully heal rather than rush back is the right call, meniscus injuries that come back too early can turn into much bigger long term problems