Last night on WWE NXT, a botched finish led to an unexpected title change that caused a lot of creative upheaval.
As reported already, Thea Hail pinned Blake Monroe to capture the NXT North American title after Monroe was unable to get her shoulder up in time to beat the referee’s three count. That was not supposed to be the finish and confusion ensued with Monroe’s music initially playing before it was stopped and Hail’s music instead came on.
According to multiple sources, the reason Monroe didn’t kick out is because she had gotten the wind knocked out of her before the pin attempt and simply was unable to get her shoulder up in time. PWInsider.com reported that with Hail’s inexperience, she didn’t realize that she needed to give Monroe some time to catch her breath and instead immediately went for the pin. WWE referees are instructed to call pinfalls as they play out so the official in the match had no choice but to count the three.
The timing of the botch was unfortunate as NXT is set to tape two back-to-back episodes of their weekly show tonight of which creative had already been laid out so talent could finish up tonight and then go home for a Christas break. As a result of the finish, there was a “frantic rush” to pivot and correct things that had already been filmed for the episodes. The segment with Hail being confronted by Monroe after the match was added on short notice and it remains to be seen what is taped tonight to account for the title change. With WWE taping two episodes, it’s possible a rematch could take place – possibly at New Year’s Evil – where the belt is repointed back to Monroe.
Fightfulselect.com reported that one NXT higher-up indicated that the botch is ultimately going to lead to a policy change internally amongst talent that are booked for future shows mandating them to stay all the way until the end of tapings. WWE often does pre-tapes on Monday for NXT for talent that aren’t required to be there on Tuesday and now those wrestlers are likely going to be asked to stay through until Tuesday’s show.