Tiffany Stratton Evaluated for Knee Injury as Jade Cargill Turns Heel on WWE SmackDown

WWE announced Friday night that WWE women's champion Tiffany Stratton was being evaluated for a knee injury following an attack at the hands of Jade Cargill on SmackDown.

After Stratton's victory over Kiana James, she was attacked by both James and Giulia, prompting Cargill to run down and make the save. However, after initially holding Tiffany's arm in the air, Jade betrayed her, launching a lengthy and vicious attack:

Following that incident, WWE head of creative Triple H announced that Stratton will defend the WWE Women's Championship against Cargill on the Nov. 1 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event:

As part of the announcement regarding Stratton's knee injury, WWE noted that she is "adamant about going through with the match" at Saturday Night's Main Event.

Over the past few months, Stratton and Cargill have done battle multiple times, but it has always been as part of a friendly rivalry.

At SummerSlam in August, Stratton beat Cargill to retain the WWE Women's Championship, but Jade earned a rematch on the Sept. 12 episode of SmackDown.

The bout ended in a double count-out, though, and Nia Jax imposed her will on both women by attacking them while they were outside the ring.

Two weeks later, Stratton defended her title in a Triple Threat match against Cargill and Jax. The match is best remembered for Jade suffering a nasty gash on her face at the hands of Jax.

In the end, Tiffany hit the Prettiest Moonsault Ever on Nia and pinned her to continue her dominant reign.

Prior to Friday night's episode of SmackDown, Cargill had been off WWE programming for about a month while recovering from the injury she suffered during the Triple Threat, but she returned with a vengeance on Friday night.

All signs point toward Stratton's knee injury being part of a storyline rather than a legitimate issue, and if that is the case, it could be a sign that WWE plans to use it as a reason for Tiffany potentially dropping the women's title to Jade at Saturday Night's Main Event.