Professional wrestling is full of big egos and big feelings, so it’s not out of the ordinary to see real-life heat, or real-life issues, pour into a story line to help advance the narrative, or even to bring more attention to it on an overall scale.Real stories and real beef can almost always elevate a story to the next level, even if the casual fan watching isn’t always aware at the offset whether it’s real or imagined.
During last night’sFriday Night SmackDown, the lines of kayfabe were run through asWWEWomen’s Champion Tiffany Stratton and 2025Royal Rumblewinner Charlotte Flair took liberties with each other on live television and shot verbal live rounds in a segment designed to advance their feud heading intoWrestleMania 41. What resulted wasthe most “shoot” segment WWE has broadcastsince possibly the Attitude Era, and that wasn’t a good thing.
Tiffany Stratton and Charlotte Flair’s Feud Started Out Promising but Derailed Quickly
Their First Confrontations Highlighted Tensions
Tiffany Stratton, one of the fastest rising stars in WWE in the new batch of NXT talent, won the WWE Women’s Championship after cashing in on Nia Jax during the January 3rd episode of Friday Night SmackDown. Her path seemed destined to crosswith a returning Charlotte Flair, coming back to WWE after a vicious knee injury sidelined her for over a year.
Stratton hadpreviously commented on a potential matchwith Flair atWrestleMania 41orWrestleMania 42, and had expressed high hopes that it would happen sooner rather than later:
“I definitely, totally can see that. I would love for that to happen, and I hope for that to happen. Whether it’s this Mania or the following Mania, I would love for it to happen. So I guess we’ll have to wait and see. I think she comes back soon. I’m not even sure where she is, so we’ll have to wait and see.”
After Flair won theRoyal Rumblein February,the showdown between the two was set, and although it seemed great on paper, the cracks were already starting to show, as missed spots during segments and awkward promos started to hamstring the build-up. Their first official “face off” came on the August 15, 2025 episode ofFriday Night SmackDown, and while Flair seemed fully in her element breaking the script to keep up,Stratton seemed to stumble and find her place, and fans took to social media saying that Stratton was unprepared and out of her element.
The Promo From Last Night’s SmackDown Too Real (and Not in a Good Way)
The Two Superstars Fired Live Rounds at Each Other
With just two weeks untilWrestleMania 41, Tiffany Stratton met Charlotte Flair in the ring for a face-off, moderated by SmackDown commentator Wade Barrett. Initially,Flair referred to her choosing Stratton as her opponent as “charity work,“to which Stratton asked if Flair “got her woo in” during the segment.
What followed was a full breakdown of the script, as both performers veered wildly off track and lobbed live rounds at each other to the discomfort of Barrett, the fans in attendance, and fans watching.Stratton took the first shot,aiming for an earlier appearance by Flair where she became emotional, discussing her recent divorce from Andrade, followed by telling her that she’d never be as good as her dad, Ric Flair.
Flair, trying to get a word in to respond to Stratton,was booed loudly and became visibly frustrated by the Chicago crowd, and after multiple attempts to complete her thoughts, allowed Stratton to have the last word. Stratton then stated that, while Flair was busy partying in her dad’s basement at 25 years old, she became the WWE Women’s Champion, followed by telling her that she wasn’t “the queen of s***”, invoking a response from Flair that saw her mock her voice pitch, seemingly enraging Stratton.
In the most egregious moment of the segment,Stratton stated that after beating FlairWrestleMania 41, the latter will be “alone” in wrestling, referencing her recent divorce again, followed by asking her what her marriage record was, “0 and 3?” Stratton mocked Flair’s “Woo” exclamation as she threw the microphone at her and rolled out of the ring, causing Flair to retort “is that why [Ludwig] Kaiser’s in my DMs?”
Shoot Promos In Wrestling: Not Always a Great Idea
Blurring the Lines Between Reality and Fiction Doesn’t Always Yield the Best Results
Shoot promos from wrestlers are certainly not out of the ordinary and can cause a multitude of issues for the performers with their employers and the other wrestlers they took liberties with. While some promos, likeCM Punk’s infamous “Pipe Bomb” promo and Paul Heyman’s promo with Vince McMahon from 2001, are designed to blur the edges of reality and fiction and elicit an “is it real?” response from fans, the actual, unscripted shoot promo can do a significant amount of damage to a performer’s career and trajectory, like Scott Steiner’s shoot promo towards Ric Flair in WCW,which Steiner commented that almost got him fired.
Stratton and Flair taking liberties at one another in the middle of a live broadcast islikely to cause eyebrows to be raised in the backstage area, and recent reporting seemed to confirm that both performers veered fully off-script through the segment. The fallout has yet to be revealed, but WWE has already edited almost all the shoot portions of the promo out of its reposting on their official YouTube page, as well as deleting the tweet of the segment from their X (Twitter) account after posting.
Our Take on Tiffany Stratton and Charlotte Flair’s Promo
The Heat is Turned Up, But Can It Sustain Through To Vegas?
Hate it or love it, it’s impossible to ignore Charlotte Flair’s impact on the WWE women’s division and her impact on the growth of women’s wrestling in the mainstream consciousness. So, giving the rub to an up and coming Superstar like Tiffany Stratton, on paper,seems like the best thing for all parties involved, but something seems supremely off balance with this feud build up, and last night’s shoot promo proves it.
While Flair seemed frustrated at the Chicago crowd and let it get to her, Stratton was still reeling from the March 21st war of words with The Queen that reportedly left her feeling embarrassed. It’s entirely possible, and almost completely likely,that WWE will lean into the real-life heat between the twoand allow the performers to take additional, and hopefully pre-approved, hot shots at one another. However, it remains to be seen if the newfound fire will elevate or sustain the feud through toWrestleMania 41, as the build and the chemistry have been lackluster at best so far.
