A major change looks to have been made to WWE’s refereeing policy.
On the September 26 edition of Friday Night SmackDown, Tiffany Stratton retained the WWE Women’s Championship against Nia Jax and Jade Cargill. The match featured an awkward moment when Stratton appeared to score a three-count over Jax, only for referee Daphanie LaShaunn to stop at two, a botch that quickly sparked discussion among fans about how WWE handles such situations.
Fightful Select have now provided an update on the matter, revealing that WWE’s usual stance of counting pinfalls “as a shoot” hasn’t been the case now for some time.
“The pin count botch was a subject of conversation backstage. The pinfalls used to be counted “as a shoot,” but haven’t for quite some time.”
-Fightful Select
The awkward moment wasn’t the only reason the match grabbed headlines, as Jade Cargill later shared graphic close-up images on social media of a nasty gash she suffered during the bout.
After the match, WWE announced that Stratton will face newly-crowned Women’s World Champion Stephanie Vaquer at Crown Jewel: Perth on October 11 in Australia, with the Women’s Crown Jewel Championship on the line.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on WWE’s policy on counting pinfalls as soon as we hear more.
