Tiffany Stratton at WWE Monday Night RAW on Jan. 6, 2025. Photo:
Michael Tran / AFP/Getty
WWE Superstar Tiffany Stratton’s dream of competing for a gold medal in gymnastics ended with an injury several years ago, but she sees this weekend’s WrestleMania 41 as her “Olympic debut.”
“When I do something, I do it. I want to do it at the highest level. I want to reach the elite. I want to reach the peak of it. For me, gymnastics didn’t work out. I got injured, and unfortunately, I had to quit,” Stratton, 25, tells PEOPLE.
She adds, “Then I took up wrestling, and my goal, along with everybody else when they get signed, is to go to WrestleMania. So for me, this is my Olympic moment. It’s my Olympic debut, I guess you could say. This has always been the goal once I got into wrestling.”
Specializing in trampoline and tumbling, Stratton, whose real name is Jessica Woynilko, was on her way to stardom, becoming a mini-double bronze winner in the U.S. National Gymnastics Championship. But her gymnastics life ended in 2017 after she suffered an undiagnosed stress fracture in her foot.
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From Left: Tiffany Stratton and Braun Strowman with Make-A-Wish fan in Las Vegas. Fanatics
While pivoting from her goal to compete for Olympic gold, she realized that professional wrestling fit her personality perfectly.
“I was always kind of like the problem child, if you will, on the gymnastics team. I was always arguing with my coaches. I have a big personality. I’m not one that shuts up,” the WWE women’s champion says.
“So when I saw wrestling, I was like, oh my gosh, you can have an attitude and also be athletic and do flips and stuff. So I thought it was perfect. I thought it perfectly captured everything that I was kind of good at in life,” she explains.
During Night 1 of WrestleMania 41 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on Saturday, April 19, Stratton will defend her title against Charlotte Flair in a rivalry that’s been growing more intense by the week.
However, in the days leading up to the competition, the Minnesota-born superstar had no need for her game face while surprising 25 children at WWE World for the Make-A-Wish foundation.
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From Left: Tiffany Stratton and Braun Strowman with Make-A-Wish fan in Las Vegas. Fanatics
There, Stratton and Braun Strowman, whose real name is Adam Scherr, presented the kids with authentic WWE-Fanatics title belts after each “wish kid” got a WWE-style entrance on a makeshift walkway, similar to the real one they’ll see while attending WrestleMania this weekend.
Custom graphics tailored to their self-created wrestling name filled a wall as SmackDown announcer Mark Nash presented the kids, such as Conner the Conqueror, Diego The Invincible and Destruction Dan.
As the kids had their superstar moment, parents were often seen in tears. Stratton, too, almost had to get into “character” to maintain her composure.
“I’m getting emotional now,” she tells PEOPLE afterward. “It’s definitely so inspiring to see all these kids just kind of coming out of their shells. You can tell it’s hard for them, so it’s so inspiring, and it makes me feel like all my problems are little compared to the kids and what they have to go through.”
Stratton adds, “But yeah, I’m getting emotional right now, but honestly, I guess it is hard to separate my character and who I am, especially right here watching the kids doing all this and making their dreams come true.”
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WrestleMania 41 takes place on Saturday, April 19, and Sunday, April 20, 2025, at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
