12 Times WWE Buried Their Own Champions

It was big news when Tiffany Stratton cashed in Money In The Bank on Nia Jax to become Women’s Champ during the first SmackDown of 2025. That 3 January episode ran on 'Tiffy Time'. After that, she defended her newly won gold vs. Bayley and Jax in hot matches before embarking on a heated rivalry with Charlotte Flair going into WrestleMania 41.

WWE sort of forgot they needed to book Stratton strongly after that. Her summer was woefully inconsequential, and included her fan-girling for Trish Stratus as arguably the main highlight. Then, Tiffy lost out to Stephanie Vaquer at Crown Jewel before being squashed by Jade Cargill on the 1 November 2025 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event.

Nah, not exactly the reign Tiffany would’ve been hoping for. It fell off a cliff post-Charlotte and never recovered. Triple H and his creative squad somehow managed to take one of 2025's biggest breakout title success stories and turn it into a run so sour even Stratton's loudest supporters weren't too fussed when she was squished by Jade at the end of it.

Episodes of SmackDown came and went without much spotlight for the Women's Champ. She cut samey promos behind the curtain and occasionally stepped foot in the ring for nothing matches few cared about. WWE weren't even trying to bury Stratton here - they did so passively, probably because they'd outright failed to build credible challengers for her after burning through the controversial Flair storyline.

So, rather than try to course correct, Hunter and pals gave up and moved on.