Tiffany Stratton Advances In WWE US Title Tournament Before Hometown SmackDown Crowd

The semi-finals of the WWE Women's United States Championship tournament have officially been set as of Friday's episode of "WWE SmackDown." Clad in Vikings-inspired gear, Tiffany Stratton took the win in a thrilling match — much to the excitement of her home state of Minnesota — after some key interference from Candice LeRae neutralized Naomi in their triple threat, which also involved Elektra Lopez.

Stratton, Naomi, and Lopez opened up the Minneapolis-based episode of "SmackDown" with an impressive show from Lopez. As Naomi and Stratton lunged at each other — feelings obviously rather sore from their recent WarGames collision — Lopez took advantage of the chaos to dominate the initial goings of the match. Things eventually evened out in the Triple Threat, with all women going for a series of roll-up pin combos before Lopez nearly ended the fight with a modified Blue Thunder Bomb onto Naomi. Stratton broke the hold, but a Rear View from Naomi sent Miss Money in the Bank rolling out of the ring.

Naomi nearly had the match won when she set-up Lopez for a Split-legged Moonsault, but a certain "Poison Pixie" attempted to level the top rope-bound Naomi with a right hand. Naomi countered LeRae's distraction and eventually landed her finisher, but a Swanton Bomb from an opportunistic Stratton took Naomi out of the fight. Minneapolis roared as Stratton landed a clean Prettiest Moonsault Ever onto Lopez for the victory. Shortly after the match, Naomi expressed frustration at the loss, claiming that both Stratton and LeRae were "on [her] neck."

With her victory, Stratton enters the Women's United States Championship tournament semifinals. She is slated to take on Michin in one-on-one action on the upcoming December 13 episode of "SmackDown," with the victor of that match-up destined for the tournament finals at Saturday Night's Main Event, which will happen the following day.