Steve Carrier on February 22, 2026
The December 16 episode of WWE NXT left fans stunned when Thea Hail unexpectedly defeated Blake Monroe for the NXT Women’s North American Championship. Ringside News later revealed the finish wasn’t planned, citing a miscommunication after Monroe had the wind knocked out of her late in the match. Now, Monroe herself has addressed the chaotic ending publicly for the first time.
Appearing on Notsam Wrestling, Monroe was asked directly about the controversial finish and whether there was any upside to a moment that had the wrestling world dissecting every frame. Rather than deny the drama, Monroe leaned into it.
“Yes. I mean, look, the negative is Thea Hail will always be attached to me now. I have to wrestle her next week and you're lucky I've shown up today. I was going to go to therapy, but I decided to be a company woman and show up. But no, I mean, I think the theme of my career is people will talk about me and who are you if you're not talked about, to be honest. And it was definitely shocking and I feel like the ref was clearly in a rush to get home. I mean, he counted that quick, but um no, it was definitely very exciting and um I'm going to get my revenge next week in under three minutes.”
Monroe’s comments came after reports claimed she had the wind knocked out of her when Hail came off the ropes late in the match, preventing her from kicking out in time. According to those accounts, the referee counted the fall as instructed, forcing WWE creative to scramble backstage and rewrite upcoming segments that had originally been mapped out with Monroe retaining. Monroe didn’t directly confirm the behind-the-scenes miscue, but she did add new context about what she was physically dealing with around that time.
“I can't believe you you're taking me back now to Christmas because I actually got injured, too. Like, I damaged all the cartilage in my ribs. So, I spent my Christmas break like bandaged up like this, having to do rehab, thinking of all the things I would do to Thea Hail, and then never actually got to wrestle her.”
With Izzi Dame now rocking the NXT Women’s North American Title, the whole mess has officially turned into a full-blown power shift. What started as a botched three-count has snowballed into Monroe watching someone else walk around with her championship.
Blake may be cracking jokes about refs rushing home and therapy sessions, but don’t get it twisted — she’s not laughing on the inside. The gold is gone, the division just got reshuffled, and Monroe has a receipt with everybody’s name on it.
What do you think WWE should do next? Leave your thoughts in the comments and let us know.
Please credit Ringside News if you use the above transcript in your publication.
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