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Major WWE Champion’s Injury Confirmed To Be Legitimate

By Sridhar Krishnan • Published Jan 06, 2026 11:31 EST
wwe logo over stephanie vaquer

After various suppositions, it has now been confirmed that a major WWE Champion is legitimately injured.

On the January 5 episode of Raw, Stephanie Vaquer arrived at the arena wearing a medical walking boot on her left leg.

When she came for her in-ring segment, the commentators claimed that she suffered an ankle injury during last week’s triple threat match against Raquel Rodriguez and Nikki Bella.

Following her promo, she was viciously attacked by Rodriguez, who laid her out with a Tejana Bomb, but not before smashing her injured leg on the ring surface a couple of times.

Since then, fans have debated whether the injury was a part of the storyline or legitimate.

Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful confirmed on the post-Raw show that the WWE Women’s World Champion’s injury is indeed legitimate.

It is a legit injury. I was just told that the injury was legit, and I do not know the severity of it.

With the Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia scheduled for January 31, the timeline of Vaquer’s return to the squared circle remains unknown.

Her being in a walking boot instead of a cast, and doing some physicality, is at least optimistic. Since she defended the title last week, if the injury isn’t that bad, you can buy yourself six or seven weeks. You can probably buy yourself till Chamber, considering that the Royal Rumble is coming up soon. [H/T: Ringside News]

CM Punk Retains WWE Championship Against Bron Breakker

The latest Raw episode, which collaborated with Netflix’s Stranger Things, was headlined by WWE World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk defending his title against Bron Breakker.

Over the last few weeks, both superstars built the feud by taking personal swipes at each other.

The match itself was good, with Punk and Breakker exchanging offenses. At one point, Breakker seemingly fumbled a spot, resulting in him landing on top of his head.

It was later confirmed that he had been medically cleared for the coming weeks.

In the closing minutes, the 28-year-old attempted a Spear, but the champion knocked him out with a kick to the head. Punk then followed it up with a GTS for the win.