NXT Women’s Champion Indi Hartwell successfully retained her title this past week at NXT Spring Break-in’, but the victory came at a cost. Shortly into the match, Hartwell and challenges Roxanne Perez and Tiffany Stratton spilled to the outside. Stratton eventually climbed to the top rope and landed a moonsault on her opponents. Stratton’s high-risk maneuver landed without an issue, but Hartwell fell on her ankle as a result. As fans noticed, medical staff was called to ringside to check on Hartwell. While it looked like she was not going to be able to continue, Hartwell would rejoin the match in the final moments and miraculously pick up the victory.
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Miraculous is no hyperbole either, as WWE was nearly forced to call a major audible. As reported by Bryan Alvarez on the Wrestling Observer, Hartwell was “done” shortly after suffering the ankle injury, resulting in Perez and Stratton improvising the middle section of the previously choreographed match. Alvarez reported that the referee “got word that Tiffany is going over now to win the title” due to Hartwell being unable to finish the match and therefore retain her championship. Just before that audible could be locked in, Hartwell “managed to get cleared” which allowed her to finish the match and fulfill the scheduled outcome.
There’s no word on what Hartwell’s long-term future looks like, but it was emphasized that how this next week plays out for Hartwell in terms of recovery will dictate what WWE decides to do with the NXT Women’s Championship. Hartwell’s next defense would likely come at NXT Battleground on May 28th. If she is unable to compete, look for WWE to vacate the title and crown a new champion at that event.
Hartwell’s injury continues what has been an odd couple of months for the NXT Women’s Championship. Back in December 2022, then-champion Mandy Rose lost the title to Perez and was released immediately after due to explicit content being shared on her personal subscription-based account. Rose was reportedly always set to lose the title to Perez at some point, but it was accelerated after WWE deemed her outside-of-work business inappropriate. Perez reigned up until NXT Stand & Deliver, where she lost the title in a multi-woman ladder match to Hartwell. Leading up to the premium live event, WWE blurred the lines by running an injury storyline with Perez where she fainted after a title defense. This was reportedly done to cover for an actual injury, but Perez recovered in time to compete at NXT Stand & Deliver.
Stay tuned to ComicBook.com for updates on Indi Hartwell’s recovery and the status of the NXT Women’s Championship.
