Tiffany Stratton's cash-in kicks off 2025 on WWE SmackDown

The 2025 premiere of WWE SmackDown was the first of the new three-hour edition of the show. It needed a huge moment to kick off the year, and that came in the form of Tiffany Stratton cashing in on Nia Jax to become the WWE Women’s Champion. It was a well-done moment, which has the opportunity to present an interesting future for the direction of the SmackDown women’s division.

Stratton’s cash-in was a well-done bait-and-switch that played off the several others that were done leading up to the show. At first glance, it seemed like Stratton was just doing Jax another favor, but the escalation from that point sets up some big feuds for the future.

Obviously, Jax is going to want her revenge and with the strong booking she’s received during this five-month title reign, it would make sense for her to go on a rampage for weeks to come. Stratton versus Jax at the Royal Rumble on February 1 makes perfect sense as one of the main women’s matches. Along the way, expect Stratton to have to get through Candice LeRae as she continues to weasel her way into the title picture.

However, the January 3 cash-in also sets up angles for Stratton against Naomi and Bianca Belair. She cost Naomi the match against Jax first, then used Belair to hit a massive KOD on Jax before getting her out of the picture as well. Noami and Belair have their own interesting story brewing as the mystery of who attacked Jade Cargill continues. There’s a lot of meat on the bone there and giving them reason to have some initial interactions with Stratton as champion allows Cargill’s return to be stretched out. Unfortunately, that ties up the Women’s Tag Team titles as well, but WWE continues to be lazy when it comes to booking that championship.

Tiffany Stratton was destined for the WWE Women’s Championship the moment she hit the main roster. Post-cash-in title reigns haven’t been the best, but here’s to hoping WWE begins to turn things around with booking Stratton as a strong champion who builds the division moving forward.