Why Tiffany Stratton won the 2026 WWE women’s Money in the Bank ladder match

WWE

The 2026 women’s Money in the Bank ladder match left many fans scratching their heads, with fans criticizing the result following the final bell.

On October 10, Sol Ruca, Lash Legend, Jacy Jayne, Lola Vice, Tiffany Stratton and Roxanne Perez competed in the annual ladder match for the women’s Money in the Bank briefcase.

This lineup had received heavy praise for being fresh, with the likes of Charlotte Flair and Bayley remaining on the sidelines to allow the younger stars on the roster to show fans what they could do.

The match was almost guaranteed to help propel a new star into the world title picture, with no competitor having previously held a women’s world championship on the main roster, with the exception of Tiffany Stratton.

Fans were excited about the prospect of WWE highlighting a potential future titleholder, so naturally, it was Tiffany Stratton who won Saturday’s ladder match, climbing to retrieve the briefcase for the second time in her career.

If you read comments on WWE’s posts about Stratton’s victory, many fans are asking the same question; why did Tiffany Stratton win the women’s Money in the Bank ladder match?

Happy medium

With every other member of the ladder match lineup having only made their main roster debuts in the past two years, fans were confused about Stratton qualifying for the match over Tatum Paxley, let alone winning it.

At the time, many believed that WWE just wanted an experienced former champion in the bout, before it was revealed that she’d be winning the whole thing.

Because of her company, many fans forget that Tiffany Stratton is hardly a main roster veteran, having only joined the SmackDown brand in February 2024.

Stratton has achieved a lot in the past two and a half years, winning the 2024 Money in the Bank ladder match and cashing in to become WWE Women’s Champion in January 2025.

With her 301 day title reign coming to an end that November, Stratton went on to win the Women’s US Championship this past April, which she held for 112 days before losing the gold to Jacy Jayne in August.

With WWE building up Stratton as one of the top female competitors on SmackDown, she feels so much like part of the furniture that it’s easy to forget that it was her who fans were willing up the ladder not to long ago.

While Stratton’s win may feel uninspired, this was likely WWE’s attempt at a happy medium, choosing someone with world championship experience, but who is still a relatively fresh face to hold the briefcase.

The issue is, a compromise is a deal where nobody gets exactly what they want.

Chelsea Green’s successor

In reality, WWE may be satisfied about Stratton’s win getting heat, as she is now on a collision course with one of WWE’s top babyface champions.

With Rhea Ripley out of action due to a knee injury, Chelsea Green won the interim WWE Women’s Championship in a ladder match at SummerSlam.

WWE has stopped referring to Green as the “interim” champion in the months since, with the popular star being the top active champion in the SmackDown women’s division.

The Money in the Bank contract is sure to add tension to Stratton’s relationship with Green, with the two-time briefcase holder able to cash in for a title match against her friend at a time of her choosing.

Regardless of if Stratton wins the gold, having a former world champion poised to strike adds tension to Green’s title reign, which could come to an end at any given moment.

Not only does the briefcase make the WWE Women’s Championship scene more exciting in the absence of WWE’s first-choice champion, a new chapter has begun in Green and Stratton’s storyline, giving Green’s championship reign more direction.

If Tiffany Stratton does win the gold, fans will be invested in seeing Green chase the championship again, moreso than if a star who fans actually wanted to be champion picked up the gold.

“Why not X?”

The general sentiment since Stratton’s victory online has been “Why not (insert female wrestler’s name here)?”

Arguments have been made for pretty much everyone in the match to hold the briefcase instead of Tiffy, from Roxanne Perez to Sol Ruca.

Personally, I do believe that Tiffany Stratton was the least-inspired pick to win the Money in the Bank contract from all of the competitors in the match, and perhaps even out of every star in WWE’s women’s roster.

Would I have chosen for Stratton to win the briefcase? Definitely not. Do I understand why WWE chose her to hold the briefcase over everyone else in the match? “I guess bro”.

Roxanne Perez was most people’s pick to win the match, with rumors swirling about a potential title clash with her Judgment Day teammate Liv Morgan. In reality, the fact that this has been so telegraphed that people were talking about this potential match before Morgan even won back the Women’s World Title should give fans faith that Perez’ time will come.

Similar to Lash Legend and Sol Ruca, Roxanne Perez has been presented as a strong title contender, so it’d make sense to see them win the gold in a traditional match, where they don’t have the footnote that they only became champion by using the element of surprise.

Of course, WWE could not do anything with any of them and make this post age like milk, but considering Roman Reigns recently indicated that WWE is focusing on building new stars, it might, possibly, could potentially be a little safe to feel somewhat sort of optimistic, kind of.

It’s not like WWE to waste talented stars, is it…???

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• wwe
• Money in the Bank
• Tiffany Stratton

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