WWE Rumors: Kevin Owens, Liv Morgan's Injuries; Ronda Rousey, Rhea Ripley, SummerSlam

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

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Owens Reportedly Off SummerSlam Due to Injury

The undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships reportedly will not be defended at SummerSlam next weekend due to Kevin Owens nursing an injury.

According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t Felix Upton of Ringside News), Kevin Owens is being given some time off to deal with a broken rib.

Owens and Sami Zayn are the reigning WWE tag team champions, but they reportedly won't be featured on one of the biggest premium live events of the year due to KO's ailment.

Zayn and Owens have been feuding with The Judgment Day as of late, and on Monday's episode of Raw, Zayn challenged Judgment Day member Dominik Mysterio for the NXT North American Championship.

Owens and The Judgment Day were ejected from ringside during the match, but during the latter stages, The Judgment Day threw KO down the ramp and attacked him.

That distracted Zayn enough to allow Mysterio to roll him up and pin him to retain the North American title.

The angle may have been WWE's way of writing Owens off television for the time being, meaning a tag title defense at SummerSlam won't be in the cards.

It is disappointing news for fans since Zayn and Owens have been involved in some big-time matches in recent months against teams like The Usos and Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa.

Still, the SummerSlam card is stacked as it is, and the absence of KO and Zayn from the show should allow more time for other performers.

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WWE Bracing for Possibility of Long Morgan Absence

WWE reportedly ran an injury angle involving Liv Morgan on Raw to prepare for the possibility that she could miss a significant amount of time.

According to Meltzer (h/t Upton), Morgan may need surgery, and if she does undergo a procedure, her absence would be "lengthy," which explains how she was handled on Raw.

Morgan was scheduled for a match against WWE women's world champion Rhea Ripley on Raw, but Ripley brutally attacked her, trapped her arm inside a steel chair and stomped on it multiple times.

PWInsider.com (h/t Randall Ortman of Cageside Seats) reportedly this week that there has been some talk within WWE that Morgan is dealing with a separated shoulder, although that hasn't been confirmed.

Morgan previously missed about a month of action across May and June, which forced her and Raquel Rodriguez to vacate the WWE Women's Tag Team Championships. Upon her return, she and Rodriguez beat Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler for the titles at Money in the Bank.

Liv and Raquel dropped the titles to Chelsea Green and Sonya Deville last week, which was likely done to accommodate Morgan missing additional time.

With Ripley putting Morgan on the shelf, it seems likely that Rodriguez will attempt to avenge her friend by stepping up as Rhea's next challenger.

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WWE's Reported SummerSlam Plans for Rousey, Ripley

WWE reportedly has plans in place for both Ronda Rousey and Rhea Ripley to have matches at SummerSlam.

Rousey and Baszler have been embroiled in a bitter rivalry since Baszler turned on Rousey during their WWE Women's Tag Team Championship defense at Money in the Bank.

According to Meltzer (h/t Upton), WWE may be planning an MMA rules type of match between Rousey and Baszler at SummerSlam, drawing on the fact that both are former UFC fighters.

On Raw, both Rousey and Baszler talked about how their bout would be a "fight" rather than a match, and MMA rules would undoubtedly play into that.

As for Ripley, Meltzer (h/t Upton) reported that a title match against Raquel Rodriguez is in the works for SummerSlam.

WWE has yet to officially announced Ripley vs. Rodriguez, but Rhea has been feuding with Raquel and Liv Morgan in recent weeks, injuring both of them.

After targeting Rodriguez's knee, Ripley put Morgan on the shelf with an arm or shoulder injury, and then next logical step would be for Raquel to return on Monday's Raw and challenge Ripley to a WWE women's world title bout at SummerSlam.

Ripley and Rodriguez are friends in real life and previously had some entertaining encounters in NXT, so there is reason to believe they could put on a spectacular match at SummerSlam.

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