The September 26 episode of Friday Night SmackDown closed with chaos, controversy, and now some brutally honest feedback from WWE Hall of Famer Booker T.
The main event saw Tiffany Stratton defend her WWE Women’s Championship against Nia Jax and Jade Cargill in a triple-threat match. While Stratton successfully retained her title, the contest was marred by missteps — including a botched pinfall sequence and a nasty cut to Cargill after a collision with the steel steps.
A Rough Finish
During the match, Cargill was busted open around the eye when Jax sent her into the steel steps. Later, a key moment went awry when Stratton pinned Jax and the referee stopped the count at two despite Jax not kicking out. Stratton then followed up with an elbow drop, hit her moonsault, and scored the three-count to close the show.
The awkward sequence drew plenty of criticism from fans, and Booker T — who was on commentary for the bout — addressed the situation directly on his Hall of Fame podcast.
“You could tell there was a lot of miscommunication,” Booker admitted on his Hall of Fame show, per WrestleTalk. “You’ve got an NIL talent, Tiffany Stratton. You’ve got Jade Cargill who’s pretty much fresh off her AEW run, and just think about that time in AEW for her — she probably didn’t learn a whole lot, because no disrespect or anything, but she was just put on a wing and she never really got a chance to really wrestle anybody.
“And then you’ve got Nia Jax, who’s been there, of course is gonna feel like, ‘I need to quarterback this thing, I feel like I know more than these girls.’
“It could have been a plethora of things, but you could tell there was a lot of miscommunication. One thing about matches like that — the only thing they’re gonna remember is the finish. You’ve gotta get everybody to that point to where that finish can happen and it goes off without a hitch. And that didn’t happen, that didn’t happen in this match.”
Booker didn’t hold back in labelling the finish what many fans were calling it: a botch.
“Was it a botch? Heck yeah it was a botch. Was it a miscommunication? Was it a screw up? Whatever term you wanna put on it — yes it was,” the former world champion said. “But one thing I do feel about that kind of stuff — that can’t happen on live television.”
The two-time WWE Hall of Famer even compared the situation to a theatre production, adding: “If I went to go and see Hamilton, and they were going home, and the guy slipped on his butt and he forgot his lines, I think I would be pretty upset about that too.”
Booker summed up the night bluntly: “They went out there and it wasn’t a good night. It wasn’t a good night at all.”
Backstage Reactions
Despite the criticism, not everyone was laying blame – with many coming to the defence of all those involved.
When one X user stated that Triple H should have Jax “eat pins until every woman in the entire company has pinned her consecutively”, stars like Tom Pestock (fka Baron Corbin) rushed to her defence.
“Dude shut the f*** up! You have no idea what you are talking about,” the former United States champion said.
Chelsea Green also came to the defence of Nia Jax after the match, replying to Pestock’s tweet with the message: “The internet not knowing that Nia is one of the best is the biggest travesty. We’re lucky to have her as a locker room leader.”
Despite being a former world and tag champion, this is not the first time Jax been criticised by fans for in-ring safety.
For Tiffany Stratton, the night ended with the championship still in her possession. For Jade Cargill, it was a painful introduction to SmackDown’s main-event spotlight. And for Nia Jax, the polarisation continues, even as her peers defend her standing behind the scenes.
Featured image credit: WWESmackDown/USA (Screenshot)/YouTube/RealityOfWrestling (Screenshot)
