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Tiffany Stratton, WWE’s fast-rising 25-year-old star, will head to Saudi Arabia for Crown Jewel (Saturday, 1 p.m., Peacock) with potentially her best oppertunity to cash in her Money in the Bank contract and become a world champion for the first time. Stratton’s storyline partner Nia Jax, the WWE Women’s champion, will face Women’s World champion Liv Morgan for the inaugural Crown Jewel championship.
Before the big event, Stratton took time for some Q&A with The Post’s Joseph Staszewski
(Edited for clarity and length.)
Q: We have seen your character in a different position working with Nia, playing secondary to the champ. What kind of layers has that added to the character Tiffany Stratton?
A: It’s my rookie year and having someone like Nia kind of guide me, I mean, she is the champion. And having her by my side and having her guide me throughout the first year of my career is actually really good for me. And I think I feel like doing everything all at once in my first year, I feel like that’s not good for anybody. So I think being in this, I guess, sidekick role and being paired with Nia is actually very good for me.
Q: As a young performer, to have that responsibility of being Miss Money in the Bank, to be tabbed as someone who can be a future world champion very quickly, what does that mean for the company to have that confidence in you?
A: I just got called up (from NXT in January), like, it’s very scary, definitely a lot of pressure. That comes naturally with this job and being new, and then only being in the industry for three years now. So just knowing that I have their confidence within me just only instills more confidence within myself.
Q: As someone who’s been a heel through pretty much their whole time, to see the audience’s investment in you and confidence in you grow to the point where they’re rooting for you in many ways now, what’s that been like to experience that change?
A: Coming in and debuting, I was so nervous. I was like, “how is the crowd gonna receive me? Are they even gonna like watching me?” So I think after (Elimination Chamber in) Australia was really when I was like, “OK, I have kind of won the crowd over, and they like me.”
It’s cool to be I guess a bad guy, but be cheered. That’s always very reassuring, especially being so new in this business. Overall, it’s just it’s been very reassuring, and it’s instilled a lot of confidence.
Q: If that babyface opportunity does come down the road, is that something you’d be comfortable with, or is it something that’s going to take getting used to with maybe some changes here and there?
A: I think naturally, my character will just kind of turn babyface, because the crowd has been slowly kind of turning me babyface. But I don’t think I’m going to change anything, just because why would you change something that’s working? I don’t think there’s going to be too much to change. I think I’m just going to be the same Tiffany Stratton, just maybe a little bit nicer to my coworkers.
Q: Does Crown Jewel feel like the best opportunity to cash in where you’re going to have both champions there?
A: There are three titles on the line, and I am getting on a flight to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday and I do have nice, pretty new gear. So you’ll have to wait. I’ll definitely be backstage. I’ll definitely be watching. So anything can happen. Like I said, there’s a lot on the line. There’s three titles on the line. And I think Tiffy three belts has a nice ring to it, or Tiffy two belts.
Q: I guess that answers my next question on if you plan on taking that Crown Jewel title with you, too, if you cash in.
A: Like I said, and you’ll have to wait and see, I’ve got everything ready for it to be an amazing night.
Q: Is there a match so far that you’re most proud of?
A: I would say my match at No Mercy with Becky Lynch. That whole day was just so hectic for me. I was so nervous. It was my second street fight. It wa, probably one of my longest matches in my career, and just the things that I did in that match alone, like, I didn’t even know I could do half that stuff. So going into that it was very nerve-wracking, but I’m very proud of that match. I’m very proud of the way that I handled it. I kept up in the ring with Becky Lynch.
Q: Is that the match that made you feel like, “hey, I belong?“
A: Yeah, I would definitely say that match, like in my singles matches, that was definitely the one that I was like, “OK, I can go, I can hang with the best.”
Q: Is there something now, after being on the main roster for almost a year, that you feel like you’ve really improved on?
A: I definitely feel like I’m a lot more confident now. I feel like I can be free and whoever I want out there. I kind of just go out and I just do me, and I just be myself. I don’t feel like I’ve been stuck into a box and told, like, “No, you have to be like this or be like that.” I’m very much on my own, and I’ve figured out who I am.
And that’s only come with reps and being on TV and the crowd cheering for me. I definitely feel like my promos have gotten a lot better. And, yeah, just overall, my character has developed beautifully, and I’m super proud of everything.
Q: Does that make you feel better prepared if that world championship opportunity comes now than say cashing in right away at Money in the Bank?
A: I definitely think I’m literally day and night, so much better than what I was three, four months ago. So those three, four months have definitely been very transformative for me, and I definitely feel like I could carry a title.
Q: Your background was originally in trampoline gymnastics. How did you get into that? And at what point did your mind did it go, “hey, this could translate into wrestling?“
A: I watched the 2012 Olympics, and that was the Olympics that made me want to become a gymnast. So after that, I joined gymnastics, and then eventually I kind of just grew out of gymnastics. It was a lot. You don’t make a ton of money with gymnastics, like you cant, you know, live off that and do that as a job.
So eventually I saw wrestling on TV, and I didn’t get into it immediately after, like, I did other things, I went to CrossFit. I did a bodybuilding show. And then eventually it was like, OK, maybe I should try this wrestling stuff because I can do all the things that they’re doing in the ring and I’m a very loud, naturally, very big personality person.
Q: When they’re trying to figure out what your persona is going to be in NXT, was there anything else interesting that was pitched for you?
A: No, I think just organically, this character kind of came about and they saw that it just kind of worked for me. So we had PC lives, that’s when you had your opportunity to pitch a character, emulate your character in the ring.
So I started acting how Tiffany Stratton would act, super prissy. And originally, my character was actually daddy’s little rich girl and me, Road Dogg and a couple other people, we were all talking in a room and I pitched it and Road Dogg liked it and we kind of were just going back and forth of how she would act and potential storylines and stuff like that. So it kind of just organically came and this persona I think just fit who I was in and outside of the ring.
Q: Has there been anybody you’ve kind of really leaned on and picked their brain, especially now on the main roster?
A: Most of the time it’s Bayley, and it’s Naomi, so I leaned on them two as well. They’ve been very sweet to me, very nice to me. But yeah, Nia, Bayley and Naomi are, like, my three major people that I look up to and go to for advice.
Q: You’ve talked about Charlotte Flair being your dream match. She gets hurt right before you get called up. Was there a little disappointment, like, I’m about to maybe get the opportunity to be in the ring with her and now we don’t know when she’s going come back?
A: I was very disappointed. But I do think everything happens for a reason, so maybe there’s something bigger that will happen down the line or something that means a little bit more. I am in this story with Nia, so I definitely think I was supposed to be paired up with Nia first. And, you know, everything happens for a reason. So I think eventually we’ll be in the ring with each other.
Q: What have you picked up from working with Nia?
A: I definitely stick to her. We travel together, we stay in the same hotel. She always reminds me to be in the moment. Like this is your rookie year, you never know what could happen. So just be in the moment. Don’t take anything for granted, and yeah, just try and love your rookie year, because in a couple of years, you never know. You may hate wrestling and traveling, it catches up with you.
Q: What would it mean for you to cash in and become a world champion at this point in your career?
A: It would mean everything to me. It would definitely instill a lot of confidence within myself and holding a title within my first year of being on SmackDown, would be so iconic, it would go down in history.
