Bleacher Report brings you the latest news from the WWE Universe.

Surprise US Women’s Title Reveal

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

WWE fans weren’t the only ones for whom the news came as a surprise. of Fightful Sean Ross Sapp reported on Saturday that “the women on the WWE roster didn’t know the WWE United States Title announcement was coming until the day and aren’t sure how the first champion will be determined.”

Aldis stated that the belt “will not be awarded” or “surrendered” but did not elaborate beyond that.

Some kind of tournament is the most logical way to go. This is often how WWE determines a new champion or settles on a singles match to figure out who can claim the gold.

The plan was likely already sketched out by the company’s creative team, although you’d think that blueprint would have been presented to the talent long before the championship belt was unveiled.

WWE has been eyeing Ripley’s return since WrestleMania

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

WWE announced in October, that Ripley will be out indefinitely due to a fractured right orbital socket. At the time, it was hard to know if the injury was genuine or part of a story, as a backstage attack by Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez was presented as the source of the injury.

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

Ripley’s rivalry with Morgan appears to be far from over. Morgan’s defeat at Bad Blood didn’t bring a ton of closure, as it came via disqualification, and the addition of Rodriguez provided a new wrinkle to the feud.

Now, that 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 story to a satisfying conclusion.

However, that still remains the problem of what to do with Morgan. The Raw women’s division seems to be in a holding pattern now for the next few months.

Fanatics High on Jey Uso’s Merch Sales

The WWE Universe has long had a voice, albeit a small one, in choosing which stars were pushed and how they were presented. When it comes to Jey Uso, it is very clear that he is considered someone in that upper echelon of the active roster.

He according to reports was the top seller at the WWE Shop last month and Fightful Select (via Mukherjee) reported that an anonymous source at Fanatics “put over” the former member of The Bloodline.

As the protracted reveal of the original Bloodline faction took place, many fans wondered if it was all setting the stage for Uso to take center stage. His loss to Roman Reigns at SummerSlam pretty much put that idea to bed.

But the numbers speak for themselves. The Bloodline storyline undoubtedly helped elevate Uso to a level he hadn’t occupied before.

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