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

Punk Reportedly 'Probable' to Wrestle at SummerSlam

WWE has yet to officially announce CM Punk's in-ring return for SummerSlam, but there is reportedly still a good chance of it happening.

According to Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio (h/t WrestleTalk), sources said last week that it was "probable" Punk would be cleared to wrestle at SummerSlam, although it's "not 100 percent."

Punk suffered a torn triceps during the men's Royal Rumble match back in January, which rendered him unable to compete at WrestleMania 40. While Punk has not wrestled since Royal Rumble, he has gotten physically involved on several occasions.

He attacked Drew McIntyre after McIntyre won the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania, he hit Drew with a low blow and cost him a chance to win the world title at Clash at the Castle, and he spoiled McIntyre's Money in the Bank contract cash-in at the Money in the Bank premium live event by smashing him with a steel chair.

McIntyre was suspended for his reaction to what happened at Money in the Bank, leading to a heated promo segment between Punk and Seth Rollins last week on Raw since Punk also cost Rollins the world title by proxy at MITB.

Drew was not on the show due to his suspension, and when he refused to apologize for his actions this week, Raw general manager Adam Pearce extended his suspension.

Punk is now feuding with both McIntyre and Rollins, so it is fair to wonder if Punk will face one or both of them at SummerSlam should he get cleared.

While Punk vs. Rollins was the original plan for WrestleMania before Punk got hurt, Punk vs. McIntyre is the money match WWE has clearly been building toward.

Should WWE go with the Triple Threat, however, it would allow the creative team to go back to Punk vs. McIntyre and Punk vs. Rollins singles matches at a later date.

If Punk is not cleared by SummerSlam, though, perhaps Rollins' insertion into the storyline was meant to make it easier to pivot to a McIntyre vs. Rollins WrestleMania rematch.

Ripley Reportedly Won't Make In-Ring Return Until SummerSlam

After missing about three months due to a shoulder injury, Rhea Ripley made her highly anticipated return to WWE programming on last week's episode of Raw.

This week, Ripley made her intentions known by challenging Liv Morgan to a Women's World Championship match at SummerSlam, and the bout was made official shortly thereafter.

According to PWInsider.com's Mike Johnson, there will be no tune-up matches for Ripley, as her in-ring return is expected to be saved for SummerSlam.

Johnson added that Ripley has not been "100 percent cleared" for physicality, which is why the plan is in place to wait until SummerSlam for her to do anything from a physical standpoint.

On this week's episode of Raw, Ripley had an in-ring promo with Dominik Mysterio and several backstage segments, but she did not come face to face with Morgan.

Instead, Liv responded to Rhea on the tron and insisted that she wasn't afraid of Mami despite her threats.

Morgan was responsible for Ripley's injury in storyline terms, and she attempted to seduce and steal Dominik away from Rhea while she was out, so their SummerSlam bout figures to be a heated and hard-hitting affair.

Ric Flair OK with Cena Potentially Breaking World Title Record

In the wake of John Cena announcing at Money in the Bank that 2025 will be his final year as an active in-ring competitor, fans immediately began fantasy booking his retirement tour.

One of the biggest debate topics has been whether WWE will or should give Cena a 17th career world title reign, which would break a tie with WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair for the all-time record.

During an appearance Monday on Busted Open Radio (h/t WrestleTalk), Flair gave his blessing for Cena to be the one to break his record:

"You want the honest to God truth? I think so much personally of John Cena. He's just one of those really great guys, in my opinion. And I've known a few. ...

"But if they do it with John, I have no problem. I'd be the first one to hit the ring and shake his hand."

Cena tied Flair's all-time record back in 2017, but given that Cena has been a part-time wrestler in recent years, oftentimes wrestling only a handful of matches over the course of a year, he has been unable to break it thus far.

However, since Cena intends to wrestle fairly regularly in 2025, having him win the world title one more time is a storyline device that could make a ton of sense and add some drama to his retirement tour.

Aside from Cena, Flair noted that he would support Randy Orton breaking his record as well, although Orton currently has 14 world title reigns, so he would need to get three more.

The Nature Boy expressed his desire to see his daughter, Charlotte Flair, get to 17 career title wins as well.

Charlotte is already the most-decorated female Superstar in WWE history with 14 world title reigns on he main roster, so there is a decent chance that she will surpass both her father and Cena by the time her career is over.

Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below.