(WARNING: Spoilers ahead for SmackDown viewers in the US.)
A WWE title change almost occurred tonight on SmackDown.
Just 24 hours before the June 28 edition of Night of Champions, WWE hosted Friday Night SmackDown in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. However, while the opening segment of the blue brand was cut off due to a sudden outage in Netflix’s feed, the rest of the show went on as planned.
In the first match of the night, JC Mateo defeated Jimmy Uso, which was followed by Giulia’s Women’s United States Championship win over Zelina Vega. Throughout the show, multiple other big matches took place, including the tease of a new feud between R-Truth and Aleister Black.
After a fast-paced SmackDown episode, in the main-event match of the night, Tiffany Stratton defended her Women’s Title against Nia Jax. Following a back-and-forth bout that saw the destruction of several tables, the final moments of the clash witnessed an almost successful Money in the Bank cash-in.
However, following an initial fumble, Stratton ruined Naomi’s cash-in as she hit her with her briefcase. Experienced with the cash-in game, Stratton was successfully able to retain her title despite the close cash-in chance. Stratton dropped Jax through a few tables to win the ‘Last Woman Standing’ match and retain her title.
WWE Veteran Heaps Praise On Student Tiffany Stratton
Long before becoming a regular face and champion on WWE, Tiffany Stratton learned the craft of pro-wrestling at Ken Anderson, aka Mr.Kennedy’s, wrestling school. Last year, while speaking on Rewind Recap Relive, Anderson heaped praise on Stratton.
Tiffany Stratton, Dante and Darius from AEW, and Julia Hart were some of my students. Gable Steveson too—though he’s been released now—he was a student. Von Wagner from NXT.
Tiffany Stratton is just a natural athlete. She’s one of those people where you show her something one time, and even if you have to offer a couple of corrections, she quickly figures it out and can replicate it over and over again.
The one thing I will say is that she didn’t have the charisma she has now. At least, not back then. I think she was more focused on the physical aspect at the time. She wasn’t putting a lot into the character work. She was just quiet when she came to class, kind of kept her nose clean, and did her thing.
To see her now with that huge character is really cool. I’ve even got her first promo she ever did. Hopefully, it’ll be used in a documentary someday—to show how far someone can come.”
In other news: Baron Corbin has formed a new tag team with a former WWE star.