A new backstage report shed some light on what caused the wonky finish during “WWE SmackDown’s” main event on Friday night where WWE Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton successfully defended her gold against Nia Jax and Jade Cargill. The match ended shortly after a botched pin where Stratton had Jax covered, and Jax didn’t kick out, but the referee stopped the count at two in clear view of the camera.
Fightful Select reported they were told that Stratton was late to break up a pin Cargill had on Jax, and Jax had to kick out. The outlet said they weren’t sure why the three wasn’t counted for Stratton when she pinned Jax, as that was the apparent finish. The match officially ended after Stratton hit a Prettiest Moonsault Ever to Jax after the botched pin for the victory.
The finish was something WWE Hall of Famer Bully Ray addressed on “Busted Open Radio.” He explained in wrestling, it’s better to be early than late, and said he believed that the botched sequence began when Stratton was late breaking up Cargill’s fall on Jax. He said you couldn’t be sure who was the person to make the mistake, whether it be the referee not realizing that was now the finish or Jax not kicking out. Bully Ray did question why the referee didn’t just count to three if Stratton was supposed to win anyway.
Following her victory, Stratton now moves on to a non-title defense in Perth, Australia at Crown Jewel. Rather than defend the WWE Women’s Championship, she’ll be taking on Women’s World Champion Stephanie Vaquer for the Crown Jewel title.
