WWE Payback started the night off with the thrilling Steel Cage match between Becky Lynch and Trish Stratus, but there was another superstar taking great interest in the match. That would be NXT Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton, who was watching the match in the crowd. Stratton and Lynch have been sending some shots at each other on social media, but tonight she showed up with the Title in hand to let her presence be known at Payback. Lynch would end up winning the match, but Stratton wasn’t done, as she interrupted Lynch’s backstage interview and took more shots at The Man. Lynch then teased she might be showing up on Tuesday, and it seems more and more likely a match between the two will happen sooner than later.
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This started after Stratton declared herself the best Champion of all time, adding that she is better than past NXT Women’s Champions like Asuka, Bayley, Charlotte Flair, and Lynch. Lynch actually never held the NXT Women’s Championship, so when this was addressed later to Stratton, Stratton said she knew that fact. She also said that Lynch might be known as Big Time Becks to the fans, but she is irrelevant to Stratton.
Lynch got wind of Stratton’s comments and fired back, writing on Twitter “”I haven’t been NXT Women’s Champion…yet. #NXTHeatwave.” Since then Stratton and Lynch seem to be on a collision course, and tonight’s interview only kept things moving in that direction. Stratton wanted to apologize to Lynch for saying she was a former NXT Women’s Champion, saying they got off on the wrong foot. Lynch smiled and then said “Well I appreciate you crawling out of your Mattel box and coming here to Payback. Shouldn’t you be focusing on your Title defense on Tuesday? Maybe I’ll see you soon.”
Stratton is set to defend her NXT Women’s Championship against the new number one contender Kiana James on Tuesday, but odds are we’ll see Lynch in some form or fashion now that the table has been set like this. Lynch on NXT will be a huge deal, as it has been a while since Lynch was seen on the show, so if she does show up you can expect a major reaction from the crowd.
As for Stratton, she has a few dream-style matches she hopes to take part in whenever she eventually heads to Raw or SmackDown. In an interview with ComicBook.com, Stratton was asked who would be on her wishlist, and she quickly identified The Queen Charlotte Flair and The EST Bianca Belair as two Superstars she hopes to get in the ring with.
“I feel like Charlotte Flair, she and I have similar styles. She was a gymnast,” Stratton said. “I have always wanted to… I think Charlotte Flair is one of my dream matches, for sure. Bianca Belair, I love her. I love watching her. She’s so fun to watch. Again, we both have similar backgrounds. I did CrossFit. She also did CrossFit before coming to NXT. Yeah, Bianca and Charlotte for sure.”
You can find the updated card for WWE Payback below.
World Heavyweight Title Match: Seth “Freakin” Rollins (C) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
Steel Cage Match: Becky Lynch def. Trish Stratus
Women’s World Title Match: Rhea Ripley (C) vs. Raquel Rodriguez
Undisputed WWE Tag Team Title Steel City Street Fight: Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn (C) vs. The Judgment Day
United States Title Match: Rey Mysterio (C) def. Austin Theory
LA Knight def. The Miz
The Grayson Waller Effect with Special Guest Cody Rhodes
What have you thought of Payback so far? Let us know in the comments and as always you can talk all things wrestling with me on Threads @mattaguilarcb!
