Rhea Ripley has vacated her WWE women’s world title and won’t be seen for months.
The Aussie WWE queen on Tuesday (AEST) announced she has been forced to walk away because of a serious injury.
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The Adelaide product, whose real name is Demi Bennett, is widely viewed as Australia’s most successful professional wrestler after rising to the very top of WWE.
The 27-year-old successfully defended her title last month against Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler — and earlier this month defeated all-time legend Becky Lynch at WrestleMania XL.
She confirmed the sad news about her decision to walk away when handed the microphone on Monday Night Raw.
Ripley, who walked into the ring with her right arm in a sling, struggled to hold back tears as she received a standing ovation from the crowd.
“This championship means the most to me in my entire life and that’s why this is so painful,” she said on Raw.
She was clearly angry about being forced to vacate the her crown and the crowd agreed, chanting “bulls***”.
Ripley clearly agreed, saying “Yeah, it is”.
The legitimate shoulder injury is reported to have occurred during a low-profile backstage fight with Liv Morgan last week where Ripley was thrown into a wall.
The injury has been twisted into a new story for the wrestling promotion with Ripley last year injuring Morgan.
Morgan came out to confront Ripley on Tuesday, but the pair were separated by security.
On her way out of the arena, Ripley was embraced by WWE boss Paul “Triple H” Levesque.
The pair shared an emotional moment that was caught by the TV broadcast.
Triple H posted on Twitter after the broadcast: “Absolutely no doubt in my mind that @RheaRipley_WWE will come back tougher, stronger and more dominant than ever. Thank you, Rhea, for a reign that the entire @WWEUniverse can be proud of.”
Ripley’s Judgement Day crew were there to console Ripley after the announcement.
“We know when you come back, you are going to make Liv regret ever messing with you,” Judgement Day’s Damian Priest said.
“When you come back, you are going to be more badass than you are right now.”
It has not been announced how long Ripley will be out of the ring for. She posted a cryptic message on Twitter of “380 Days” in the minutes following the broadcast.