WWE Considering Big Policy Change After NXT Botched Finish

The NXT brand had reportedly wrapped up its final television tapings of the year, and the result of the Thea Hail versus Blake Monroe match has created a real dilemma.

During the December 16 episode of NXT, Hail defeated Monroe to capture the NXT Women’s North American Championship — a result that, according to Fightful Select, was not the planned finish. Internally, the belief is that Monroe may have had the wind knocked out of her during the match, preventing her from kicking out before the referee counted three.

Because the brand had finished taping its segments, anything with Monroe as champion won't make sense to the WWE Universe. That has created a problem backstage, and WWE is reportedly set to reshoot, or has reshot, many of the segments.

WWE Might Be Making A Policy Change Moving Forward

The timing of the mishap reportedly couldn’t have been worse. As a result, WWE might be considering a policy change that would save the production crew and several wrestlers a lot of headaches.

Because Monroe had been booked as champion in future segments, WWE officials were left in a “frantic rush” to rework storylines, edit footage, and reshoot material to align with the sudden title change. To avoid that in the future, it is being reported that WWE is rethinking its policy of letting talent leave before the end of any one show. It was bad enough that WWE’s website briefly listed Monroe as the winner even after Hail had been declared champion. If they can't fix mistakes with reshoots, WWE is up a creek.

WWE ultimately opted to embrace the unplanned title change. They immediately filmed a post-match confrontation between Hail and Monroe that was not in the original creative. New graphics were then made, and social media posts, which came up a bit delayed, were created to announce Hail as the winner officially.

Moving forward, WWE is considering requiring talent to remain available until all tapings conclude, even if their segments are completed. That won't eliminate botches, but it will allow us to fix mistakes after the fact, without having to drag everyone back in to reshoot their segments.

A rematch between Hail and Monroe is already being discussed.