WWE Makes Major Policy Change After Accidental Title Change (WWE News)
That Thea Hail vs. Blake Monroe botch will affect WWE NXT talent going forwards.
Fightful Select reports that Tuesday's botched finish between Blake Monroe and Thea Hail will result in "some major changes" to the way WWE formats NXT tapings. It's been revealed that Hail wasn't supposed to win the NXT Women's North American Title during this week's show.
Backstage sources indicated to the website that "Monroe had the wind knocked out of her prior to what was supposed to be the kick out attempt", but they haven't been able to 100% confirm that. The referee counted to 3 regardless, and both Hail and Blake looked positively shocked at the result.
Now, WWE has leaned into the title change by plastering it all over socials/YouTube/their official website and running with it. They didn't really have a choice there, but it's believed a rematch is incoming that'll put things right. That could well happen at NXT's New Year's Evil show on 6 January 2026.
The outcome here is that all NXT workers will be required to stick around for the entire duration of cards from now on. Previously, all pre-tapes for the weekly were filmed on Mondays - if somebody was only booked to appear in one of those, then they didn't necessarily have to be in the house for the entirety of Tuesday's taping.
That'll be WWE policy from now on though.
Obviously, higher ups want to avoid this sort of thing happening again, but they'd also like the chance to wing it and shoot promos afterwards should any accidents occur. That's what Thea and Blake did on Tuesday after their botch, so at least they can roll with this as the story.
This Isn't The First Accidental Title Win In WWE
Hail's unplanned success isn't the first accidental title switch in WWE history by any means. In fact, there have been way more than some fans might think!
Kevin Owens wasn't supposed to win the United States Title from AJ Styles at Battleground 2017, for example. Unfortunately for AJ, it appeared to be his fault. He failed to kick out from a cradle pin situation, and the ref had no choice but to slap the mat 3 times.
Styles was angry with the official afterwards, but WWE corrected his mistake on SmackDown the following week. Footage of KO celebrating with the belt as AJ is quite clearly steaming mad has become legendary in years since. That had to be a mix of annoyance and embarrassment from the 'Phenomenal One'.
Other examples of this happening include wins for the likes of Hardcore Holly, Mickie James and even Razor Ramon. Hail's NXT Women's North American Title botch certainly isn't unique, but it will cause some red faces amongst those involved.
Captain Obvious incoming: Wrestling title switches aren't supposed to go off script!