WWE Rumors on Braun Strowman's Injury, Trish Stratus' Future and Cody Rhodes' Status

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe.

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Strowman Reportedly Out of Action with Injury

Braun Strowman has not competed in a televised match in nearly a month, and it is reportedly due to an injury issue.

According to PWInsider.com (h/t Felix Upton of Ringside News), Strowman is out of action with an unspecified injury. No specific timeline was provided for his return, but it was noted that he is "not expected back anytime in the near future."

Along with his tag team partner, Ricochet, Strowman was moved from SmackDown to Raw via the WWE draft.

Their only Raw match as a team came on May 1 when they defeated Chad Gable and Otis of Alpha Academy.

Since then, Ricochet has been appearing on Raw by himself, and he even beat The Miz in a Money in the Bank qualifying match on this week's Raw.

During his initial run with WWE, Strowman was a one-time universal champion and intercontinental champion, plus he held the Raw Tag Team Championships on two occasions.

Despite that, WWE released Strowman from his contract in 2021. After he spent just over a year away, WWE re-signed him in September 2022, and he made a major impact as a dominant force in the singles division.

Eventually, The Monster of All Monsters joined forces with Ricochet, and he has primarily been a tag team wrestler ever since.

Until Strowman is able to return from injury, it looks as though WWE still intends to utilize Ricochet, but in a singles role.

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Stratus to Reportedly Continue Appearing on Raw Regularly

Trish Stratus' stay as part of the Raw roster is reportedly set to last far longer than most observers initially expected.

According to PWInsider.com's Mike Johnson, Stratus is scheduled to appear regularly on Raw moving forward, and she will be on the show weekly "as often as possible."

Stratus, who is a WWE Hall of Famer, made her WWE return during the build toward WrestleMania 39 by aligning herself with Becky Lynch and fellow Hall of Famer Lita against Damage CTRL.

In the wake of Stratus, Lynch and Lita winning a six-woman tag team match at WrestleMania, Stratus replaced an injured Lita as Lynch's partner in a WWE Women's Tag Team Championship defense.

Stratus took the fall and then attacked Lynch after the match, turning heel and beginning a rivalry with The Man in the process.

Trish and Becky did battle at Night of Champions last weekend, and Stratus somewhat surprisingly prevailed thanks to help from recent NXT call-up Zoey Stark.

All signs point toward the Stratus vs. Lynch feud continuing, and since Becky is scheduled for a Money in the Bank qualifying match next week, their blow-off match could occur at SummerSlam in August.

If that is the case, WWE will have Stratus for at least two more months, although it could end up being longer if she has interest in more of a long-term run with the company.

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Rhodes Reportedly Still Among WWE's Top Merchandise Sellers

Although he has faced a great deal of adversity as of late, Cody Rhodes is reportedly thriving when it comes to merchandise sales.

According to Fightful Select (h/t Upton), Rhodes continues to be a "top merch seller" for WWE and is usually the top individual merchandise mover at weekly shows like Raw, SmackDown and live events.

After helping launch AEW, Rhodes returned to WWE just over one year ago as the surprise opponent for Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 38.

Since then, Rhodes has been firmly established as WWE's top babyface, winning the 2023 men's Royal Rumble match and challenging Roman Reigns for the undisputed WWE Universal Championship in the main event of WrestleMania 39.

Cody lost due to interference from Solo Sikoa, and then immediately entered into a rivalry with Brock Lesnar that included matches at Backlash and Night of Champions.

While The American Nightmare was victorious at Backlash, Lesnar broke Rhodes' arm a few weeks later and used that to his advantage in beating Cody at Night of Champions.

On Monday's Raw, Rhodes challenged Lesnar to a rematch, and that is likely to go down either at Money in the Bank in July or SummerSlam in August.

Rhodes still feels like the top candidate to topple Reigns and end his 1,000-day run as world champion, but he has to get past The Beast Incarnate first.

Even though Rhodes fell short in his first attempt to become world champion, the fans are clearly still very much behind him, and there doesn't appear to be any end in sight to that.

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