Blake Monroe is no longer the North American champion.
But according to a report, that’s not how it was supposed to go down.
Monroe was taking on Thea Hail on this week’s episode of NXT television in a match that was moving along just fine until, well, this happened:
Hail lands hard on Monroe’s stomach, and then stays there for a pinfall attempt. The referee counts to three, though he seems to slow up as he nears the final slap of the mat. Monroe has her shoulders pinned and is clearly at least trying to get an arm up, though she is late on it. Hail, for her part, looks truly shocked that the pinfall happened there.
Now, Bryan Alvarez of F4Wonline.com is reporting this was not the planned finish and the whole thing was botched. They initially played Monroe’s music, and then switched it to Hail’s. There was enough confusion that after a commercial break they replayed it and confirmed Monroe did not get her shoulders up, so the result will be official.
Later, Monroe cried to Hail during an interview backstage, claiming the referee was at fault. Jordynne Grace was there to come to Thea’s defense but it’s clear these two aren’t finished with all this just yet.
Get complete NXT results and coverage of this week’s entire episode by clicking here.