Last Friday's episode of SmackDown was headlined by a WWE Women's Championship match, with Tiffany Stratton putting her title on the line against Jade Cargill and Nia Jax in a Triple Threat match.
In the closing moments of the bout, everything that seemingly could go wrong did. Stratton was late to breaking up a pin on Jax that she was clearly meant to steal from Cargill. The Irresistible Force kicked out, and when Tiffy pinned her, the referee inexplicably stopped counting at 2.
Awkwardness ensued, and Stratton ended up hitting the Prettiest Moonsault Ever on Jax to secure the victory. Fans have hopped between blaming Stratton and Jax for things going wrong, with the latter—who is prone to botches—taking the lion's share.
Talking on the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer shared his assessment of the botched finish to the match.
"This is the thing that's so interesting is that they've done this match at house shows; it's a practiced match and it's the same match that they've done," he revealed. "But that was pretty clearly what the finish was supposed to be and I didn't think it was anyone's fault on the finish, the ref just stopped counting!"
Bryan Alvarez chimed in to say, "Maybe, Tiffany was supposed to break it up and immediately steal the pin, but because Nia kicked out, because Tiffany wasn't gonna be there on time, somebody at the back was like 'She can't just be pinned now, she just kicked out, so tell her to kick out.'"
Stratton was always destined to win the match, and is now confirmed to face WWE Women's World Champion Stephanie Vaquer at the upcoming Crown Jewel PLE to decide the next Crown Jewel Women's Champion.
The match's referee, Aja Smith, has weighed in on the backlash by saying, "I see all the love. I’m just human, but I can promise that I strive to always be better. Which will forever be my goal as long as I’m on this journey. I love this just like y’all. That I can swear to you."
You can see how things played out in the closing moments of the match in the video below.