Botched Pin or Destiny? NXT’s Unplanned Gift
Botched Pin or Destiny? Why Thea Hail’s Shocking Title Win Is NXT’s Best Unplanned Gift
Last night on WWE NXT (December 16, 2025), Thea Hail pinned Blake Monroe clean in the middle of the ring with a springboard senton to become the new Women’s North American Champion.
The crowd erupted. Then both women looked legitimately confused. Monroe’s music hit first—before someone in the truck panicked and switched to Hail’s theme. Chaos!
Backstage reports from Fightful Select, PWInsider, and others were unanimous: this was not the planned finish. Monroe was booked to retain. The senton knocked the wind out of her, Hail (young, excited, and aggressive) covered immediately, and the referee—calling it straight—counted three because the shoulder wasn’t fully up.
Production cued the wrong music!
Weeks of creative built around Monroe as champion got shredded on the spot.
Yet here we are: 22-year-old Thea Hail is the youngest Women’s North American Champion in history, holding her first singles title in WWE, tears streaming down her face in a backstage interview while Jordynne Grace hugged her.
Monroe stormed in furious, blaming the referee and demanding a rematch.
Everyone’s calling it a botch. Fair. It was.
But what if it’s more than that?
What if this messy, unscripted moment is exactly what NXT’s women’s midcard needed?
Hail has been the ultimate sympathetic babyface for years—bouncing around Chase U, always close but never quite grabbing the brass ring. Fans have begged for her to get a real push. Now she has gold, earned in the most organic way possible: a referee doing his job in a split-second that felt real because it was real.
The symmetry with last week’s “unofficial” tap-out during the open challenge? Unintentional, but perfect. Monroe survives controversy twice, only to fall on the third in a way nobody saw coming. It writes itself.
Most hot takes right now are “huge screw-up, fix it quick with a rematch.” That’s safe. Predictable.
The road less traveled: Don’t fix it. Embrace it.
Let Monroe chase as the bitter, entitled heel who “never really lost.” Let Hail defend the title she “wasn’t supposed to win,” proving doubters wrong every week. Give us a scrappy, emotional reign from someone the audience is dying to cheer for.
Wrestling history is littered with accidental title changes that sparked magic—sometimes the best stories are the ones nobody planned.
Botched pin or destiny? Maybe both.
But if WWE leans in instead of hitting reset, this could be the spark that turns Thea Hail from perpetual underdog into undeniable star.
Hail yeah.
