During Monday’s Wrestling Observer Radio, Bryan Alvarez provided updates on Tiffany Stratton and Piper Niven.
Alvarez had a few notes regarding Stratton.
Stratton was said to have been injured back on the September 12 episode of WWE SmackDown in a match against Jade Cargill, where she hit her head on the ringside floor after a moonsault attempt. It was later announced by NXT General Manager Ava that Stratton would not be on NXT Homecoming to compete, as she was not medically cleared. Stratton was replaced by Lyra Valkyria on the show.
According to Alvarez, WWE claims this was all part of a storyline and Stratton was never injured. He noted, “Listen everybody, Tiffany was hurt. I presume she’s going to wrestle on Friday. It was not pulled because they ran out of time. It was pulled because she was not cleared. So color me skeptical whenever they talk about anyone’s injury status or anything like that.”
Stratton will defend the Women’s Championship on this Friday’s SmackDown in a three-way match against Jade Cargill and Nia Jax.
We reported earlier on Monday that Piper Niven is currently sidelined with an undisclosed injury. Alvarez noted the initial report from Fightful Select regarding Niven, adding there is concern Niven’s injury is serious and that it could be career-ending. It was also noted that Niven, who has been out of action since the August 22 episode of SmackDown in currently in Dublin, Ireland.
During the September 19 episode of SmackDown, Chelsea Green teamed up with Alba Fyre, in place of Piper, to challenge for the Women’s Tag Team Titles. Flair and Bliss would go on to retain the championships.
Piper and Fyre were originally scheduled to challenge Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss for the Women’s Tag Team Championships at Clash in Paris, but the match was changed with Bliss facing Green instead, with Bliss getting the victory.