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Tiffany Stratton Responds to Criticism of SummerSlam Match Length

Originally posted on The Sportster | By Kellie Crawford | Last updated Aug 19, 2025 8:22 PM ET

WWE SummerSlam match between Tiffany Stratton and Jade Cargill was criticized for its short length.
Tiffany Stratton defends match length, mentioning lack of long-term feud as reason for quick bout.
Stratton hopes to face dream opponents Rhea Ripley and Becky Lynch in future matches.

Even though WWE SummerSlam was nearly three weeks ago, the event is still the talk of the wrestling community. There were plenty of criticisms of the PLE, including returning talent with some legal baggage and talent getting buried and leaving the company. This match, though, deals with its length. The match in question is WWE Women's Champion Tiffany Stratton versus Jade Cargill.

What Tiffany Stratton Has To Say About The SummerSlam Match

The match, which happened on the first night of SummerSlam, lasted roughly seven minutes. The reason why fans have questioned it is, well, SummerSlam is a huge PLE. Fans expect some pizzazz because this isn't a title match airing on television. But don’t fear, Stratton doesn’t see the length as a problem. The Women’s Champion was recently a guest on the BabyFaces Podcast, where she explained that fans shouldn’t care about the match’s time because there was no long-term feud. She said:

“I feel like we didn’t have this like insane life or death story going into SummerSlam, so I didn’t really feel like we needed — like you said — an insane 40-minute long match. I thought it was a very competitive match, it was very fast. And I think that’s all we really needed. So I’m actually really pleased with how my match went at SummerSlam with Jade Cargill.” (h/t: F4Wonline)

Stratton also revealed on the podcast that she was super nervous, since it was her first-ever SummerSlam match. She didn’t do too badly for herself, seeing how she retained the WWE Women’s Title. It was also Jade’s first SummerSlam match. Jade earned the title match by winning the 2025 Queen of the Ring tournament. Cargill defeated Asuka in the tournament finals at the Night of the Champions PLE back in June. So Stratton isn’t wrong. They didn’t have a lot of time to feud.

Who Would Tiffany Stratton Like To Face Next?

During the podcast, Stratton shared two of her dream opponents — Rhea Ripley and Becky Lynch. Though she has faced them in her past, neither one was when she was holding the WWE Women's Champion.

The 26-year-old has been in two matches with Ripley so far in her career. Both matches were in 2024. The first match saw the two try to team together on the October 17, 2024, episode of RAW and then were against each other in the WarGames match at the 2024 Survivor Series PLE.

Stratton has faced Lynch a few times, and her first match against The Man didn’t turn out so good. She lost a title in the process. It was Becky who ended Tiffany's reign as the NXT Women's Champion. Lynch defeated her and became the new champion on the September 12, 2023, episode of NXT. Hopefully, if she does defend her current title against Lynch this time, things will turn out better.

This article first appeared on The Sportster and was syndicated with permission.

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