40-Year-Old Star Gets Busted Open After Brutal Women’s Title Match on SmackDown

The WWE Women's Championship was on the line in the main event of this week's SmackDown. It was as physical as they come.

40-Year-Old Star Gets Busted Open After Brutal Women’s Title Match on SmackDown

Tiffany Stratton and Nia Jax on SmackDown [via- WWE]

This week’s SmackDown from the Greensboro Coliseum featured a WWE Women’s Championship match between Tiffany Stratton, who was defending it against Nia Jax. The latter, 40, arguably put up the fight of her life in pursuit of regaining the coveted belt. The Irresistible Force faltered in the closing moments and ended up losing the match.

Jax’s intentions to crack Stratton with a steel chair backfired on the Sydney-born wrestler when The Buff Barbie intercepted Jax and dropkicked the chair right into her face. That piece of metal hit Jax so hard that it left her busted open. Taking to her Instagram, The Irresistible Force uploaded a couple of pictures of her face doused with blood.

It seemed as if she’d developed a cut just above her left eyebrow. Circling back to the classic in-ring display she had with her former bestie on SmackDown, Jax did pull out all the stops. She became the first woman to kick out of Stratton’s prettiest moonsault ever. In turn, The Center of the Universe also got her shoulders up after succumbing to Jax’s finisher—the Annihilator.

At one point in the match, Naomi made her way out with a steel chair, having intentions of disrupting the ongoing affair. Her archrival, Jade Cargill, soon followed suit. The Storm lost a number one contender’s match for the women’s title last week due to Naomi’s interference.

Cargill was out for revenge and eventually got the job done. The ex-AEW star eliminated Naomi from the equation as the two exited ringside and rushed backstage while swinging at each other. This certainly allowed the match to go on, and helped Jax compete extremely well even though she ended up losing.

SmackDown hosted two Money in the Bank qualifiers

With the Money in the Bank PLE not that far away, WWE commenced its qualifying matches on SmackDown. In the first one of the evening, Alexa Bliss beat Chelsea Green and Michin to book her spot in the forthcoming MITB ladder match.

SmackDown
SmackDown [via- WWE]

On the men’s side of things, Solo Sikoa shockingly got through a tricky situation against the likes of Rey Fenix and Jimmy Uso. The company has also announced a couple of triple threat matches for next Friday. They’ll see Aleister Black, LA Knight, and Shinsuke Nakamura duke it out, whereas Charlotte Flair, Zelina Vega, and Giulia will collide to seal their berth at the June-slated PLE.

In other happenings on the show, WWE made R-Truth vs. John Cena official for Saturday Night’s Main Event. It’s to be noted that the Undisputed WWE title isn’t on the line. Apart from this, a Steel Cage match between Drew McIntyre and Damian Priest was also confirmed for SNME on May 24. Both men had some words for each other that they delivered on the blue brand taping in Greensboro.

Is SmackDown going back to being a two-hour show?

Since the onset of 2025, Friday Night SmackDown has been a three-hour wrestling program. There was initial optimism within the company about the show’s 180-minute airtime providing ample opportunities to underutilized talent.

SmackDown
SmackDown [via- VICE]

However, with a lopsided roster and mundane creative effort going into the mid-card division, the fans started complaining of a deteriorated on-screen product. Road Dogg‘s promotion as the co-lead SmackDown writer sparked outrage. He received the backing of AJ Styles in a surprising way, but the former DX member hasn’t lived up to the billing, as per the general consensus.

The only way out of the ongoing mess on Friday nights looks to be the show reverting back to its two-hour format. A number of reports claim that it’s indeed in the cards, and SmackDown is expected to shed its third hour, at the latest by June.

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