WWE Rumors on Brock Lesnar Return, Rhea Ripley Injury Timeline, Nick Aldis In-Ring Future

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

Lesnar Reportedly Expected for WrestleMania Despite Retirement

Despite announcing his retirement on the Pat McAfee Show following his loss to Oba Femi in a Hell in a Cell match at SummerSlam, there is reportedly a belief within WWE that Brock Lesnar's in-ring career isn't done yet.

According to WrestleVotes on Fightful Select (h/t Cain A. Knight of Cageside Seats), there are "high-ranking officials" in WWE who believe Lesnar will return to compete at WrestleMania 43 in Saudi Arabia next year.

It is reportedly believed that Lesnar won't turn down a huge payday to be part of the first-ever WrestleMania in Saudi Arabia in some capacity. Even if he opts against wrestling, he could potentially headline the WWE Hall of Fame class and be involved in that capacity.

After losing to Femi at WrestleMania 42 in April, Lesnar announced his retirement, but that was short-lived, as he came back weeks later and attacked The Ruler.

That led to a rematch at Clash in Italy, which Lesnar won. The rubber match occurred at SummerSlam in Minneapolis, and Oba prevailed, prompting Brock to embrace him and dub him "the future" of WWE after the match.

Lesnar appeared on the Pat McAfee Show this week to announce his retirement from wrestling, potentially ending one of the most iconic careers in the history of the business:

While it is possible that the 49-year-old veteran is indeed done, skepticism is understandable given how quickly he came back after his retirement at WrestleMania 42.

There are still plenty of dream opponents left for Brock to potentially face, including Gunther, so there is reason to believe that another return could be in the cards at some point.

Potential Return Date for Ripley After Knee Surgery

Following her announcement that she recently underwent knee surgery, WWE women's champion Rhea Ripley reportedly could be on the shelf for an extended period of time.

According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t Cultaholic Wrestling), WWE is hopeful Ripley will be back in time for the 2027 Royal Rumble, which is five months from now.

On Thursday, Ripley took to social media to announce that she had undergone surgery. Accompanied by a photo of her leg sporting a large brace, Ripley wrote, "I've survived, now it's time to start thriving again so I can get back to what I love to do! See you all down the road."

Ripley's X post came just a couple of weeks after Raw general manager Adam Pearce announced that Rhea was "close" to returning, but would not be able to compete at SummerSlam:

As a result, a five-woman ladder match was held to determine the interim WWE women's champion, and Chelsea Green was victorious.

However, with Ripley undergoing surgery and potentially missing several more months, it suggests that the interim tag could potentially be removed, making the Green the full-fledged WWE women's champ.

Ripley has not wrestled a televised match since Clash in Italy on May 31 or a match of any kind since competing at a live event on June 3.

She has already missed more than two months of action, and Meltzer's report indicates that it will be quite some time before The Nightmare is seen in a WWE ring again.

WWE's Reported Plans for Aldis as In-Ring Wrestler

Although he impressed in his WWE debut match at SummerSlam, there reportedly aren't any current plans for SmackDown general manager Nick Aldis to have another match.

According to Meltzer (h/t WrestlePurists), WWE's original creative plans called for Aldis to wrestle one match at SummerSlam with nothing beyond that in terms of in-ring work.

However, Meltzer noted that it is always possible that WWE could reverse course and allow Aldis to get back in the ring at some point in 2027.

When Aldis arrived in WWE and became SmackDown GM in 2023, he did so after enjoying a great deal of success elsewhere as a wrestler.

Most notably, Aldis was a one-time TNA world heavyweight champion and a two-time NWA world heavyweight champ.

Despite that, Aldis willingly transitioned into a non-wrestling role and excelled, but the opportunity presented itself for him to finally have a match thanks to his rivalry with Gunther.

Although Aldis came out on the losing end, the 39-year-old veteran was highly impressive, so there is reason to believe WWE would at least be open to him wrestling again under the right circumstances.

For now, Aldis is back in his GM role, and he will continue to be a huge part of the product moving forward with or without the in-ring opportunities.