Backstage Update On Rhea Ripley Injury Angle From WWE NXT

Former WWE Women's World Champion Rhea Ripley was attacked by Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez on Tuesday. Ripley left bloodied next to her car by an unseen attack after visiting the "NXT" locker room to give the women's roster words of support. It appears the attack was a way of writing Ripley off television while she deals with a legitimate injury.

"[Rhea has] got a fractured orbital bone," Dave Meltzer said on "Wrestling Observer Radio" recently. "So the injury they announced is pretty much legit. It happened last week...Probably the last TV thing because she didn't work any house shows."

Meltzer believes it was the confrontation and physicality with Rodriguez on the October 21 "Raw" that injured Ripley. There is no timetable on Ripley's return but Meltzer doesn't sound optimistic about the chance at a speedy recovery.

"She is going to be out for a while," Meltzer said. "It happened last week and then they did [the NXT attack] as a cover."

The injury is Ripley's second major injury of the year; Ripley was forced to vacate the WWE Women's World Championship earlier this year after suffering a shoulder injury. She's has been embroiled in her feud with Morgan, not only because of Morgan's budding relationship with Rhea's former beau "Dirty" Dominik Mysterio, but also to get back the very title she never lost. As it stands, it will be a while before Ripley can pick up where she left off with her historic 380-day title run.