What Really Went Wrong With Thea Hail’s Accidental NXT Women’s North American Title Win

Thea Hail’s unexpected title win on the December 16 episode of WWE NXT wasn’t a swerve — it was a real-life accident caused by a miscommunication during the final moments of the match.

According to PWInsider, the finish was never supposed to happen. The plan going into the night was for Blake Monroe to retain the NXT Women’s North American Title, but things went off the rails after Hail hit a move off the ropes and Monroe had the wind knocked out of her.

“Monroe had the wind knocked out of her when Hail came off the ropes and tried to recover to get her shoulder up, but wasn’t able to do it in time.”

Sources told PWInsider that Thea Hail — still young in her wrestling career — likely didn’t realize she needed to give Monroe a second to catch her breath before going for the pinfall. Instead, she locked in the cover immediately, which forced the referee to make the count.

“Since Hail is so young, we are told she likely didn’t realize she needed to give Blake a moment to catch her wind and went right for the pin. Since referees are instructed to call pinfalls as if they are legitimate, the referee had no choice but to count the three count.”

Monroe did try to get her shoulder up at the last second, which WWE later played into as part of the storyline. But the truth is, the entire finish was unplanned. In fact, WWE even played Monroe’s music first because she was supposed to win — only to abruptly stop it and switch to Hail’s theme once the botch was realized.

“Monroe did try to get her shoulder up, which WWE later used as a storyline point. The plan going in was for Monroe to retain. WWE played Monroe’s music at the finish, since she was planned to win, then stopped it and played Hail’s music.”

Fightful Select also previously confirmed the outcome was never in the script, adding that a major scramble took place backstage to rewrite the following segments and storylines. Hail’s win meant immediate rewrites for multiple talents and upcoming segments, since creative plans had already been mapped out with Monroe still holding the belt.

Now, WWE is set to tape two upcoming episodes of NXT at the Performance Center, and there’s speculation the company may use those tapings to walk back the title change and get the championship back on Monroe — but that remains to be seen. For now, Thea Hail is technically the champion, but it may not stay that way for long.

Should WWE reverse the accidental title change and give Blake Monroe her championship back, or roll with Thea Hail’s unexpected victory? Sound off in the comments and tell us how you’d handle it.