Tiffany Stratton walked out of WWE Money in the Bank with the briefcase, but new backstage details reveal exactly when the decision was communicated to the women involved in the match — along with a separate creative change that took place on SmackDown.
According to Fightful Select, WWE had already settled on Stratton winning the Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match in the weeks leading up to the event. Sources familiar with the creative process indicated that there were no major last-minute changes to the planned Money in the Bank winners.
However, the women competing in the ladder match weren’t informed of Stratton’s victory until Thursday night, just before the event.
“The women involved in the Money in the Bank ladder match had learned the night before (Thursday) that Stratton would be winning.”
Interestingly, WWE had also been working on a longer-term creative direction involving Stratton and Chelsea Green. The original plan was for Stratton to eventually challenge Green for her championship and ultimately defeat her for the title. Those plans weren’t necessarily abandoned, but Stratton’s Money in the Bank victory now gives WWE another direction to explore.
While the ladder match winner remained unchanged in the weeks before the show, another decision involving Stratton was altered. Fightful learned that the outcome of a six-woman tag team match on SmackDown was initially supposed to go the other way.
The match saw Stratton team with Jacy Jayne and Lash Legend to defeat Lola Vice, Roxanne Perez and Sol Ruca. However, sources indicated that as of the day of the show, WWE had originally planned for the opposite team to win. That means the SmackDown result was changed even though Stratton’s Money in the Bank victory had already been decided.
The new information offers a better look at how WWE handled Stratton’s push behind the scenes. While the company had been considering a championship program with Chelsea Green, the decision to give Stratton the Money in the Bank briefcase was already in place before the women involved were informed of the outcome. Now that Stratton has the briefcase, the bigger question is how WWE plans to use it and whether the original storyline involving Chelsea Green will still play a role in her future.
What do you think about WWE’s decision to have Tiffany Stratton win Money in the Bank, and would you rather see her pursue Chelsea Green’s championship or cash in on another title? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
