Bleacher Report keeps you up to date with the latest news from the WWE Universe.

The unveiling of the American title is a surprise for the women’s division

SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis announced the addition of a United States Championship for the women’s division on Friday.

WWE fans weren’t the only ones surprised by the news. Fighter Sean Ross Sapp reported Saturday that “the women on the WWE roster didn’t know the WWE United States title announcement was coming until the day itself and didn’t know how the first champion would be determined.”

Aldis clarified that the belt “will not be awarded” or “surrendered,” but provided no details beyond that.

Some sort of tournament is the most logical route. This is often how WWE determines a new champion or holds a singles match to determine who will win the gold.

The plan has likely already been sketched out by the company’s creative team, although one would think that these outlines would have been presented to the talent long before the championship belt was revealed.

WWE aims for Ripley’s return through WrestleMania

Mike Johnson from PWInsider.com (via Ringside News’ Subhojeet Mukherjee) reported that WWE hopes Rhea Ripley will be back in action in time for WrestleMania 41 next April in Las Vegas.

WWE announcement in October, Ripley will be sidelined indefinitely due to a fractured right orbital socket. At the time, it was unclear whether the injury was real or part of a story since a behind-the-scenes attack by Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez was touted as the source of the injury.

The injury is actually real and will require a long recovery period.

The rivalry between Ripley and Morgan seems far from over. Beating Morgan at Bad Blood didn’t bring a ton of closure since it happened via disqualification, and the addition of Rodriguez provided a new wrinkle to the feud.

From now on, this will have to be put on the back burner.

Having Ripley for WrestleMania would at least allow her and Morgan to have the right scene to bring their long tale to a satisfying conclusion.

That, however, leaves the small question of what to do with Morgan. The Raw women’s division feels like it’s on hold for the next few months.

Fanatics High on Jey Uso Merchandise Sales

The WWE Universe has long had a say, albeit a small one, in which stars will be pushed and how they will be presented. When it comes to Jey Uso, it’s abundantly clear that he’s considered someone in that upper echelon of the active roster.

He would have was the WWE Shop’s top seller last month, and Fightful Select (via Mukherjee) reported that an anonymous source at Fanatics had “fired” the former member of The Bloodline.

As the prolonged collapse of the original Bloodline faction occurred, many fans wondered if all of this was setting the stage for Uso to take center stage. His loss to Roman Reigns at SummerSlam put that idea to rest.

But the numbers speak for themselves. Bloodline’s story undoubtedly helped elevate Uso to a level he hadn’t previously occupied.

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