Tiffany Stratton is already looking ahead to what the next evolution of her WWE character could look like.
During an appearance on the Battleground Podcast (full episode below), Stratton discussed learning to incorporate more of her real personality into her on-screen character. Earlier in her career, Stratton said she was focused on playing someone distinctly different from herself.
“I felt like I always wanted to just play a character and not be anything like who I am in real life,” Stratton said. “And then slowly but surely I kind of realized, like, oh, people can connect more to something that feels a little bit more real.”
Stratton believes professional wrestling as a whole has increasingly moved in that direction, with performers often presenting amplified versions of their actual personalities rather than completely separate characters.
“And I feel like wrestling slowly has become that in the past couple of years, where people aren’t really playing characters anymore,” she said. “It’s just kind of an extended version of themselves on steroids.”
The former WWE Women’s Champion added that she has gradually become more comfortable blending Jessica — her real-life personality — with the Tiffany Stratton character.
“So I wouldn’t say that was a hard pill for me to swallow,” Stratton continued. “I just think I’ve realized it more and more, and I’ve gotten better at kind of blending my two, the Jessica and the Tiffany.”
While Stratton has recently been positioned as a babyface on WWE SmackDown, she is already intrigued by what that approach could mean whenever she eventually returns to the heel side.
“And I feel like once I turn heel, it’s gonna be like me on steroids,” Stratton said. “And it’s gonna be so much, it’s gonna be different, and I’m excited.”
Stratton was in action on Friday night’s episode of WWE SmackDown in Indianapolis, teaming with Paige and WWE Women’s Champion Chelsea Green against Fatal Influence’s Fallon Henley, Jacy Jayne and Lainey Reid. Stratton’s team came up short following interference from Nikki Bella.
