With Tiffany Stratton currently operating towards the top of the female ranks in NXT, recently advancing to the semi-finals of a tournament for the vacant NXT Women’s Championship, it’s easy to forget she missed almost half of the year prior.
Yes, prior to her return at New Year’s Evil in January, Stratton would miss five months of action, last competing before that in a lights out match with Wendy Choo on the 23 August episode of NXT.
Whilst unclear at the time, it would later be reported that Stratton suffered a head injury during the bout, with that being the reason for her hiatus.
However now, Stratton herself has reflected on that period at length for the first time and described the challenges with dealing with her first major wrestling injury.
Speaking on the Notsam Wrestling Podcast Stratton said:
“I think at first, it’s scary but, you have to realize, for me at least, I take the time away, I come up with a game plan and how I’m gonna come back better, how I’m gonna look.
“I tried to come back more shredded, you know, have something a little different going on like new gear. I took it as an opportunity to come back and show out and that’s what I did.”
Stratton is clearly highly thought of in WWE, as a recent ratings boost for the Spring Breakin’ special episode of NXT was largely attributed to a commercial starring Stratton that had aired on Raw the night prior.
Also, when it looked like Indi Hartwell wouldn’t be able to continue the NXT Women’s Title match at Spring Breakin’ itself, Shawn Michaels’ decision was to put the title on Stratton – but obviously that got reversed when Hartwell was cleared to go back out to the ring.
Stratton is set to face Roxanne Perez in the semi-final round of the ongoing NXT Women’s Championship tournament next week, with the winner set to face either Cora Jade or Lyra Valkyria in the final at Battleground on May 28.
Here are full results from the May 16 episode of WWE NXT:
Cora Jade def. Fallon Henley in the NXT Women’s Championship tournament
Brutus & Julius Creed def. The Dyad
At a restaurant, Tony D’Angelo was taken away by police for “questioning”
Noam Dar hosted Supernova Sessions with guest Dragon Lee, which set up Dar defending the NXT Heritage Cup against Lee at NXT Battleground
Dijak kidnapped Ilja Dragunov and tortured him
Carmelo Hayes & Trick Williams def. Charlie Dempsey & Drew Gulak
Kiana James def. Thea Hail
Wes Lee and Joe Gacy set up an NXT North American Title match for Battleground, before Tyler Bate came out and added himself to make it a three-way – Lee and Bate were both attacked together backstage by Gacy’s teammates The Dyad earlier in the show
Roxanne Perez def. Jacy Jayne in the NXT Women’s Championship tournament
Carmelo Hayes and Bron Breakker brawled and the show went off the air with both men down in the ring
Transcript courtesy of POST Wrestling
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