Original Plans For Rhea Ripley At Night Of Champions

Rhea Ripley has been out of action for the last several weeks, with the WWE Women’s Champion being learned to have been injured during WWE’s trip to Italy. Originally, Ripley was featured on the Night Of Champions 2026 PLE card, but was ultimately removed and replaced by Tiffany Stratton when it became clear that she wouldn’t be wrestling on the show. 

Around the time of her absence, it was noted that WWE had plans for Ripley to face Fatal Influence member and recent Friday Night SmackDown call-up Jacy Jayne at SummerSlam 2026. According to Fightful Select, reports noting that Ripley would be facing Jayne & Alexa Bliss at SummerSlam were also backed up with the idea that one of those names were originally planned to also face Ripley at Night Of Champions 2026.

With Jayne specifically mentioned in other reports to face Ripley, this suggests that the Night Of Champions 2026 card might’ve well been Bliss vs. Ripley for the WWE Women’s Title. WWE changed plans following Ripley’s injury and booked Tiffany Stratton vs. Jade Cargill for the Women’s United States Championship.