Tiffany Stratton’s road to WWE television did not happen without a major setback, as the former champion revealed that her first opportunity with the company was suddenly cut short after she had already dropped out of college to pursue professional wrestling.
While appearing on Brandi Rhodes’ Shot of Brandi, Stratton opened up about the beginning of her wrestling journey. Before WWE, she spent much of her life in gymnastics, but the idea of stepping inside the squared circle began after her mother saw Charlotte Flair on television and believed Tiffany’s athletic abilities could carry over to wrestling.
“So obviously, like you said, I was a gymnast my entire life, but I had saw a SmackDown, I believe it was on TV. I was with my family and my mom, it was Charlotte Flair on the screen, and my mother was like, ‘I think you’d be so good at that. Look, you’re doing everything she’s doing like on the trampoline, like you would easily do that in the ring.’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, whatever mom.’”
Stratton eventually walked away from gymnastics and turned to CrossFit in order to keep feeding her competitive drive. That chapter also helped her develop the strength and athletic base that would eventually become part of her WWE presentation.
“And then time passes, I quit gymnastics, I go into CrossFit ’cause I felt like I needed to like fulfill that like competitive side of me.”
“CrossFit next and it was super fun and I got super jacked and super strong. I could like power clean 215 pounds. Like it was insane, yeah.”
Getting WWE’s attention was not immediate. Stratton said she originally submitted her information online and never received a response. Her mother then used a connection with Greg Gagne, which led to Stratton beginning formal wrestling training before she ultimately attended Mr. Kennedy’s wrestling school in Minneapolis.
“So I submitted my stuff online and then they never wrote me back and then my mother had a contact with Greg Gagne, who is a old time wrestler.”
“And she got in contact with him and I’m sure at first he was like, who is really weird girl? Like why is she texting me about her daughter? And he kind of like got on the phone with us and then he agreed to train me, and then I trained at Mr. Kennedy’s pro wrestling school.”
Stratton finally received an invitation to a WWE tryout, but the timing could not have been worse. She had already made the major decision to leave college behind and commit herself to wrestling when the COVID shutdown brought her opportunity to an abrupt stop.
“And then I finally got invited to the tryout and COVID happened and we got—”
“And I dropped outta college for it. I was like, I’m gonna focus, I’m just gonna train really hard.”
Stratton explained that WWE flew the group in for the tryout, only to send everyone back home the very same day because the Performance Center was suddenly needed for Raw and SmackDown tapings during the shutdown.
“And then I go to the trial, they fly us all there and then they tell us we all have to get flown home the same day.”
“Because they gotta host Raw and SmackDown here at the Performance Center. Because everything’s shut down.”
Instead of allowing the interruption to end her pursuit of WWE, Stratton turned her attention to bodybuilding while continuing to push for another tryout. With her wrestling school closed during the lockdown, she decided to focus on transforming her physique and staying prepared for whenever WWE opened the door again.
“Yes, I fly home, obviously everything goes into lockdown and I decided to do bodybuilding, but I’m still like focused on wrestling but my wrestling school had shut down so I couldn’t even train. So I decided to get really ripped and jacked and do—”
“Exactly. I was like, I’m gonna be extra prepared for this WWE try out. And in the meantime, like I’m emailing WWE nonstop for this trial. I’m like please invite me back. Like I’ll do anything, when is your next like female tryout? ’Cause they were just doing boy tryouts and female tryouts.”
That persistence eventually paid off. Stratton said she went through a lengthy bodybuilding preparation period before finally getting another opportunity with WWE. By that point, she had already worked on the core skills she believed she needed to prove she belonged.
“I do a really long prep, I did like a 20 week prep and then I think it was in the middle of the prep where I had gotten my WWE tryout. It was amazing. Like the tryout, I killed it, there was no way I wasn’t getting a job because like I made sure everything was aligned perfectly. Like I knew how to bump, I knew how to roll, run the ropes, cut a promo, like that was all—”
Her preparation led to a remarkable run of personal milestones. Stratton revealed that she won her bodybuilding show, learned she had signed with WWE one week later, and then reached WWE television only weeks after arriving at the Performance Center.
“And then a month later was my bodybuilding show. I actually won the show.”
“And then a week later I got the news that I got signed.”
“Yes, everything just like aligned so well and then like a month later reported to the performance center and then like six weeks later I was on 205 Live TV.”
Stratton’s story makes it clear that her rapid rise on WWE television was not simply a case of showing up and being handed an opportunity. She walked away from college, watched her first tryout fall apart due to the shutdown, continued training under difficult circumstances and eventually arrived at WWE fully prepared to make an immediate impression.
What do you think of Tiffany Stratton’s journey from a canceled WWE tryout during the shutdown to reaching television just weeks after signing? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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