On last night's episode of WWE Friday Night SmackDown, Tiffany Stratton was involved in two backstage segments—one of which exposed why Stratton's title reign hasn't been as good as it could be, and the other which provided a perfect example of what WWE seems to be refusing to do with her.
It's a baffling situation, as it shows the writers do have the ability to interweave stories and to set up some intrigue within the division, but just actively keep choosing to go back to the same well over and over again without changing it up, when it comes to Stratton's run with the WWE Women's Championship.
To recap, Stratton won Money in the Bank in 2024 and spent half the year as Nia Jax's second-in-command backup friend. From the very onset, it was obvious she was merely sucking up to the women's champion and Queen of the Ring so that she could eventually turn on her, cash in the briefcase, and steal the title.
For several months, that was spelled out and led to a lot of tension between them. Eventually, at the start of this year, Stratton pulled the trigger and beat Jax for the title on the January 3rd episode of SmackDown.
And since then, Stratton has been unable to get away from wrestling Jax, even over eight months later.
That was made clear tonight because in Stratton's first segment, she was backstage arguing with Jade Cargill in a nonsensical moment where both of them wanted a title match, agreed to be fighting each other, and yet, SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis told Cargill she would have to wait because there are different channels to go through to properly book a title match. Mind you, this is the same show that on any whim just has someone say "What the hell, impromptu match, and that's now official!" Adam Pearce in particular does it every week on Raw.
Suspension of disbelief aside, those three were then interrupted by Jax, who said that she wasn't done with Stratton, instructing Cargill to get in the back of the line. Jax, who just wrestled Lash Legend on NXT for a two-week feud that came out of Legend eliminating her from the battle royal at WWE Evolution, has now already moved on that quickly, but to tease to the audience that they might instead have their NINTH match against each other this year.
All in all, Stratton's whole run has been fighting Jax, taking a side story for Charlotte Flair, fighting Jax, having one match with Cargill that had zero feud going on for it after weeks of doing nothing of value on SmackDown, and then right back to Jax?! The opponent that she already fought to a Last Woman Standing victory back in June, but still feels the need to "prove" that she's better than Jax, when she didn't lose a single match to her out of these nine even on a house show live event?
Stratton's other segment of the night was opposite Kiana James, who approached her with the offer of becoming her manager like she has done with Giulia.
Stratton refused the offer, which drew the ire of James, who said that if Stratton isn't with them, then she's against them, and threatened that Tiffany had only retained her title so far because she hadn't fought someone like Giulia.
Right after, Michin confronted James over dodging her phone calls, asking for a match against Giulia for the Women's United States Championship. James blew her off, and all of this was happening with the haunted visage of Nikki Cross reflecting in a crate nearby during the entire segment.
In a division that has a small roster for SmackDown specifically, but still more people than it can fit onto an episode even in a tri-weekly basis, why not cycle some new opponents into the mix for Stratton? If she's able to wrestle, put her in the ring against Zelina Vega one week. Give her a feud with one of the biggest highlights in Chelsea Green over the title. Or bring in people from Raw or NXT, if need be. But why just keep saying Stratton has to beat Jax over and over?
This is very reminiscent of how WWE a few years ago had an obsession with Bianca Belair giving Piper Niven the KOD. It happened about once every two months, it seemed, and every time, the announcers were told to act like it was a first-time ever feat that was supposed to somehow not feel less interesting the more you've seen it. Stratton beating Jax proves nothing when you have an 8-0 record. Give her someone else to work with!
Stratton's whole run so far can be summed up as "She beat Jax a lot and retained over Flair and Cargill at the two biggest shows of the year." What exactly are people supposed to remember for a nearly 9 month title reign that comes down to one win over Jax, one moment at WrestleMania, and a forgettable finish for SummerSlam?
It's well past time for WWE to either book some other rivalries for Stratton, or admit that they aren't particularly interested in writing for her—like what was clearly the case every time Shinsuke Nakamura won a midcard title and would disappear for weeks at a time—and just take the title off her. Give the belt to someone you want to write for, if need be, so this championship can do more than sit on the shelf for most shows out of each given month.