Rhea Ripley sends message of thanks ahead of WWE SmackDown

Rhea Ripley has delivered a thankful message ahead of tonight's edition of WWE SmackDown in Jacksonville, Florida. The Judgment Day member was forced to relinquish her Women's World Championship last month on WWE RAW.

Ahead of tonight's edition of SmackDown, Rhea Ripley took to her Instagram account to send a thankful message. She thanked Microsoft for sending her an Xbox and also promoted WWE 2K24, as seen in her post below.

"Lovin the new console! Thank you @xbox @wwegames 😈," she wrote.

The 27-year-old successfully defended her title against Becky Lynch at WrestleMania. However, she suffered an injury during a backstage attack by Liv Morgan and was forced to part with the title. Becky Lynch won a Battle Royal last month to capture the Women's World Championship and will be defending the title against Liv Morgan next weekend at WWE King and Queen of the Ring.

Former WWE writer criticizes company for not booking Rhea Ripley during injury

Wrestling veteran Vince Russo is not happy with the company's decision not to feature Rhea Ripley on RAW as she is recovering from her injury.

The Judgment Day member had a dominant reign as Women's World Champion that ended due to injury after 380 days. Speaking on a recent episode of Sportskeeda Wrestling's Legion of RAW show, Russo questioned the company's decision to keep Ripley off television. He noted that she is a huge star, and they used to feature injured wrestlers during the Attitude Era.

"Bro, back in the Attitude Era, if somebody got hurt, they were still on the show. They just wouldn't wrestle. We did that all the time. If Austin would get hurt or The Rock, I would say, 'Okay, they're gonna be on the show, we'll write them on the show. They're just not gonna wrestle.' Rhea Ripley is a huge star. Why can't they write for her without having her wrestle? I don't understand this... Why isn't she on the show now? She's got her arm in a sling, she can't get on an airplane?" [26:24 onwards]

You can check out the video below:

Liv Morgan has taken credit for injuring Rhea Ripley and has the chance to capture the Women's World Championship at the premium live event on May 25. It will be interesting to see what the company has planned for Ripley when she is cleared to return to action.