At the WWE Night of Champions on June 28, Rhea Ripley entered a merciless Riyadh Boulevard Street Fight with Raquel Rodriguez applying a powerful Avalanche Riptide off the top rope through a table.
However, in the aftermath of it, she disclosed that physical pain was not too far away. In the post-show interview with Byron Saxton and Jackie Redmond, Ripley was observed holding her side, proving that the several kendo stick hits to the midsection had resulted in bruises to her ribs. Ripley then shrugged off the injury as non-serious, even though she is anticipating the soreness in the coming days.
She was very strong and refused to be bothered by the pain which affected her performance. She said she was wondering why the game was taking a physical toll, how she has given her body up on the field and how tomorrow would be sore but worth it due to the win and showmanship.
More than the punches that she took, Ripley was most concerned about whether she could stand the weight of her Riptide on the table, but she was lucky that it did as she ended Rodriguez in dramatic style.
Ripley sets sights on bigger goals despite injury
Ripley was swift to indicate that this setback will not slow her pace even though she has bruised ribs. She cautioned the whole of the WWE Women Division to beware of her as she is not backing down, she is actually preparing to pursue gold. The ex-Women's World Champion is only 28 years old and she underlined that she is just beginning as she is burning with ambition.
Everything is indicating that Ripley will remain in limelight and active in RAW and beyond. The hope of WWE insiders is that despite the bruising, she would still be active before SummerSlam and would likely aim for one of the women's titles.
Any title race will be followed closely with her recovery. Still, the injured ribs do not seem serious enough to take time off, and we are likely to see Ripley in action soon.