Backstage Details On What Happened During Women’s Title Match On SmackDown, WWE Erases Botched Finish

Submitted by Tom Araya on

During last Friday night’s episode of WWE SmackDown, WWE Women's Champion Tiffany Stratton defended her title against Jade Cargill and Nia Jax in a Triple Threat Match. Towards the end of the match, a pin attempt was severely botched. This occurred after Cargill executed her "Eye of the Storm" finisher on Jax and went for the pin, but Jax kicked out. Stratton then delivered a dropkick to Cargill and attempted her own pin, but Jax did not kick out, leading the referee to stop the count. The crowd reacted with boos, and Stratton later hit her Prettiest Moonsault Ever finisher to secure the win.

WWE uploaded a clip from the match on their YouTube channel, but edited out the botched pin. The revised version shows Stratton hitting the dropkick on Cargill, then cuts immediately to her executing the moonsault to claim victory.

According to TC from Wrestlevotes, part of the reason for the error was that the match finish was changed on the fly. It was noted that Stratton was always intended to win, but not in the manner that she did. Earlier in the match, Cargill was accidentally cut open after taking a Samoan drop onto the steel steps from Jax, which necessitated immediate medical attention. Cargill was initially supposed to play a key role in the finish, but due to the unexpected situation, a new ending had to be improvised with only three minutes remaining in the show.