Major WWE Superstar Returns to Wrestling in Wake of Injury

By Brian Jones

A former WWE Champion is back in the ring. This past weekend, WWE was in Sioux Falls, South Dakota for a live event, and Rhea Ripley competed for the first time in four months. The former Raw Women's Champion teamed up with Damian Priest of Judgement Day to take on Dolph Ziggler and Nikki A.S.H in a mixed-tag team match. Ripley and Priest lost the match but fans were happy to see Ripley back in action after being sidelined since June due to brain and teeth injuries after taking a knee to the face.

Before the injury, Ripley was slated to face Bianca Belair for the Raw Women's title at Money in the Bank since she was the No. 1 contender. However, the 26-year-old was pulled from the match since she wasn't medically cleared to compete. Despite not being able to wrestle, Ripley has been on TV consistently as a member of Judgement Day. She has been part of the group since WrestleMania Backlash when she helped then-team leader Edge defeat AJ Styles. 

Ripley has competed in WWE since 2017 after being part of the independent circuit for four years. She became part of the NXT UK brand in 2018 and became the inaugural NXT UK Women's Champion. In 2019, Ripley made the jump to NXT and became the brand's Women's Champion in December of that year. In 2021, Ripley joined the main roster and won the Raw Women's Championship by beating Asuka at WrestleMania 37. Later in the year, Ripley won the Women's Tag Team title with Nikki A.S.H.

Ripley recently spoke to Fox Sports Australia about the challenges she has faced during her professional wrestling career. "I was in this really dark place where I was like centimeters from just absolutely giving up and wanting it to all stop and I wanted to go home," she said, per 411 Mania. "There was a lot of things that went into that. I just sort of had to change my mentality and realize I had worked so hard to get to the point that I was at that I wasn't going to let these things stop me and I had to stop listening to everyone and had to sort of do it my way again and believe in myself and not listen to everyone that throws criticism my way."

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