The tension between Charlotte Flair and Tiffany Stratton may have gone off the rails on the April 4 episode of SmackDown, but one week and several flying extensions later, the situation is apparently back under control — at least according to WWE brass.
Per a new report from Fightful Select, the April 11 follow-up segment featuring the two blonde powerhouses went off exactly as planned, and WWE officials were thrilled with how the two turned last week’s verbal car crash into full-blown parking lot violence and post-match assault excellence.
Let’s recap the chaos:
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The show opened with a car park ambush where Flair attacked Stratton like it was a Fast & Furious deleted scene — sudden, intense, and with zero regard for Champion Safety Protocol.
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Later that night, after Stratton put away Roxanne Perez, Flair struck again, this time on live TV. And according to sources? It was “very stiff.”
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Not “Oops, I potatoed her” stiff. More like “You disrespected me last week and this is payback” stiff.
The whole segment climaxed with Flair raining down blows on Stratton like she was building a villain arc, only to be interrupted by SmackDown commentator and reformed barroom brawler Wade Barrett, who managed to talk her down before things got even more nuclear. Honestly, Flair was one more stomp away from turning this into an arrest angle.
This strong showing comes after reports of genuine friction backstage between Flair and Stratton. According to Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer, the two had been butting heads for weeks — and things reached a boiling point during that April 4 promo segment where they allegedly went off script and threw some not-so-scripted shade.
But now, with WrestleMania 41 looming (Night 1, baby), it looks like the drama is fully woven into the storyline — because nothing heals a working relationship quite like mutual professionalism and televised violence.
WWE officials were reportedly happy with the intensity, the execution, and most importantly, that nobody forgot their lines or went into business for themselves. This is pro wrestling diplomacy at its finest: if you can’t squash the beef backstage, squash it on-camera, with fists.