New WWE Rumors on Cody Rhodes' Injury, Brock Lesnar's Retirement, Oba, Liv Morgan & Stephanie Vaquer

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

Rhodes Reportedly Uncertain for Backlash

After suffering a nasty black eye during his successful WWE Championship defense against Randy Orton in the main event of Night 1 of WrestleMania 42, it isn't yet known if Cody Rhodes will be able to compete next month at Backlash.

According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t Steve Carrier of Ringside News), it is "up in the air" if Rhodes will be cleared to wrestle at Backlash.

Meltzer reported that Rhodes did not suffer a fractured orbital bone, and that although he was placed in concussion protocol, he is not concussed and it was done as a precaution.

Rhodes suffered the injury during a highly physical and controversial bout against Orton, and he showed the effects of it during an appearance on Monday night's episode of Raw.

The American Nightmare interrupted a promo by CM Punk, who dropped the World Heavyweight Championship to Roman Reigns in the main event of Night 2.

Rhodes seemed to offer Punk a WWE title shot at any time, but they kept things open ended by not announcing the match for Backlash.

Based on Monday's interaction, Rhodes vs. Punk could be in the cards for Backlash if Cody is cleared, or it could have been a case of setting up a match for further down the line, such as SummerSlam.

Whatever the case, WWE would undoubtedly love for Rhodes to get cleared to wrestle as soon as possible given that he is unquestionably one of the company's top stars.

Latest on Lesnar vs. Femi and Lesnar's Retirement

Brock Lesnar and Oba Femi were the talk of WrestleMania 42 weekend, as Femi defeated Lesnar in quick fashion to open Night 2, and Brock then proceeded to tease retirement by leaving his gloves and boots in the ring.

Given how things played out, it appears as though Lesnar vs. Femi was a one-and-done match, although that reportedly wasn't always the plan.

According to Meltzer (h/t WrestleTalk), Lesnar and Femi were initially going to have a lengthier program, but that plan was "dropped weeks ago."

As for Lesnar's retirement, there are reportedly doubts within WWE about its validity.

Per Meltzer (h/t WrestleTalk), people in WWE do not believe Brock is retiring yet, although there is thought that Lesnar will "probably" retire at some point this year.

The popular theory for quite some time has been that Lesnar would have his final match at SummerSlam since it is taking place in Minnesota, which is where Brock became a national champion wrestler in college.

If that is indeed the plan, then WWE seemingly has everything set up well thanks to Paul Heyman owing Gunther a favor.

Gunther saved Heyman from an attack at the hands of Seth Rollins and then beat Rollins at WrestleMania in exchange for a favor that has yet to be cashed in. Based on Gunther's "career killer" gimmick, the favor could very well be a match against Lesnar at SummerSlam.

In that scenario, Gunther would beat Lesnar and retire him, making The Beast Incarnate join Goldberg, John Cena and AJ Styles as legendary Superstars that The Ring General has retired since last year.

Reported Rationale for Short Morgan vs. Vaquer Match

Liv Morgan beat Stephanie Vaquer for the Women's World Championship in one of the shortest matches of WrestleMania 42, but there was reportedly a specific reason for that.

According to BodySlam.net (h/t Steve Carrier of Ringside News), both Morgan and Vaquer were banged up entering WrestleMania, and WWE wanted to lessen the risk of either of them suffering further injuries.

While it is unclear what injury Vaquer was dealing with, Morgan has been sporting a goose egg on her head for the past couple of weeks, stemming from a backstage segment.

On a recent episode of Raw, Morgan and Roxanne Perez were having a conversation backstage when Vaquer attacked Liv from behind. Morgan and Perez clashed heads, leaving Liv with a huge bump on her forehead.

Morgan was able to fight through it and perform at WrestleMania, though, and she even had a match on Monday night's episode of Raw, beating Sol Ruca from NXT thanks to interference from Zaria.

Following her victory, Morgan was confronted by Vaquer, which suggests that a rematch could be on tap for Backlash. If that is the case, they could potentially have the longer bout that some fans seemingly wanted at WrestleMania.