Why Jade Cargill Match Assessment By WWE Personality Confused Many People

A comment made by A WWE Hall of Famer regarding a recent Jade Cargill match was surprising to many people.

In the main event of WWE SmackDown on September 26th, WWE Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton defended the gold against Queen of the Ring, Jade Cargill, and the former champion, Nia Jax.

There was a controversial moment toward the end of the match that sparked a lot of negative discussion.

The reason for the controversy is that late in the match, Jade Cargill (who had a busted open forehead) hit the Eye of the Storm spinning slam on Jax for two, and Jax kicked out. Stratton dropkicked Jade and covered for the pinfall, which was supposed to be the finish. However, Stratton was late with her dropkick because Jax already kicked out, so when Stratton covered, the referee, Daphanie Lashaunn, stopped counting at two even though Jax lay there to take the pin.

After the referee stopped counting, Jax spoke with the referee, and then she lifted her right shoulder with a delayed kickout, which looked ridiculous. The fans booed loudly because it was an awkward situation, and the fans could tell something had gone wrong. The referee communicated with Stratton and Jax, so Stratton hit an elbow drop. Stratton went up top and hit Prettiest Moonsault Ever on Jax for the pinfall win.

It was such an awkward finish that Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer called it the worst WWE match of the year, even though it appeared as though the fans liked the match before the finish.

Booker T’s Comment About Jade Cargill’s AEW Past Left People In Wrestling “Baffled”

When two-time WWE Hall of Famer Booker T, who is the regular NXT announcer who has been on SmackDown twice in recent weeks, addressed the match on his radio show, he made a remark that surprised some people in the business.

“You could tell there was a lot of miscommunication. You’ve got an NIL talent, Tiffany Stratton. You’ve got Jade Cargill who’s pretty much fresh off her AEW run, and just think about that time in AEW for her, she probably didn’t learn a whole lot, because – no disrespect or anything – but she was just put on a wing and she never really got a chance to really wrestle anybody.

And then you’ve got Nia Jax, who’s been there, of course is gonna feel like, ‘I need to quarterback this thing, I feel like I know more than these girls.’'”

While Jade Cargill worked for AEW from November 2020 to September 2023, and was a dominant TBS Champion during that time, she has been part of WWE for nearly two years.

Fightful Select reports that there were some talents in WWE, AEW, and TNA who were “baffled” by Booker’s “fresh out of AEW’ remark. Fightful added that Cargill has actually had more matches in WWE than she did during her three-year run in AEW.

After getting cut open during the match, Jade Cargill got stitches to repair the cut on her head, and she will likely be fine moving forward.