Tiffany Stratton isn’t lacking in self confidence.
Despite having her first pro wrestling match less than two years ago, the 24-year-old Minnesota native has seen her stock rise quickly in NXT. In fact she’s already had two shots at the NXT Women’s Championship, albeit in multi-person matches.
Stratton believes she’s ready for a one-on-one opportunity, and may get that in the current tournament to crown a new champ provided she gets past former champion Roxanne Perez in the semifinal on May 23.
So how did Stratton, whose background is in gymnastics, feel confident she could hack it as a pro wrestler? As she told Under the Ring host Phil Strum, it came down to one move she saw on one WWE broadcast.
“I was a gymnast up until I think it was 19 or 20 years old,” Stratton said. “I kind of saw wrestling on TV. I always knew about it; my brother and my dad would always watch it growing up. I never really got into it until later on.
“I was still a gymnast and I saw SmackDown on my TV one day flipping through the channels with my family. And I saw it and was immediately like, ‘wow that’s so cool, I feel that’s a lot of the things that I can do.’ I saw Charlotte Flair doing her corkscrew moonsault out of the ring. I saw that and was like, ‘that is so cool, I can totally do that, I do that on the trampoline like every day.'”
Listen to Strum’s entire interview with Stratton above to hear her talk about:
- Why she feels she doesn’t play a character in NXT
- Her history with Perez, and why she’s better prepared for a run at the championship this time
- How her mom connected her with Minnesota legend Greg Gagne to begin her journey in pro wrestling
- What skills from gymnastics translate well to pro wrestling
- The challenge of needing to be good at “everything” to succeed in the wrestling industry
Under the Ring drops new episodes every week, with Strum calling upon his longtime love for and coverage of pro wrestling to have an in-depth conversation with a wrestler or other notable personality. Recent guests have included AEW wrestler and Jericho Appreciation Society member Anna Jay, indie wrestler and AEW merchandise guru “Man Scout” Jake Manning, and WWE superstar and LWO member Santos Escobar.
To make sure you don’t miss an episode, subscribe to Under the Ring on Apple Podcasts or your podcast provider of choice, or check out the Under the Ring YouTube channel to see all of the interviews in video form.