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

The reveal of the US title is a surprise for the women’s division

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

WWE fans weren’t the only ones for whom the news came as a surprise. fighters Sean Ross Sapp reported on Saturday that “women on the WWE roster were unaware that the WWE United States title announcement would come the day of and are unsure how the first champion will be determined.”

Aldis specified that the belt “will not be awarded” or “given,” but did not provide any details beyond that.

Some type of tournament is the most logical route. This is often how WWE determines a new champion or decides a singles match to find out who takes the gold.

Presumably the plan has already been outlined by the company’s creative team, although you’d think that outline would have been presented to talent long before the championship belt was revealed.

WWE aims for Ripley’s return for WrestleMania

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

wwe announced in October that Ripley will be sidelined indefinitely due to a fracture of the right orbital socket. At the time, it was difficult to tell 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 injury is actually real and will require a long recovery period.

Ripley’s rivalry with Morgan appears to be far from over. Beating Morgan at Bad Blood wasn’t a great finish as it came via disqualification, and the addition of Rodriguez provided a new facet 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 the right setting to bring their long narrative to a satisfying conclusion.

However, there is still the small question of what to do with Morgan. Raw’s women’s division feels like it’s in a holding pattern for the next few months.

Fans excited about Jey Uso merch sales

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

He reportedly was the best seller on WWE Shop last month, and Fightful Select (via Mukherjee) reported that an anonymous source at Fanatics has been “fooling around” with the former member of The Bloodline.

As the long-running unraveling of the original Bloodline faction occurred, many fans wondered if everything was setting the stage for Uso to take center stage. His loss to Roman Reigns at SummerSlam pretty much ended that idea.

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

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