Is there heat on WWE referee Felix Fernandez for Tuesday’s title change botch on NXT?
In an unplanned moment on WWE NXT this week, Thea Hail defeated Blake Monroe for the Women’s North American Championship. This took place after NXT referee Felix Fernandez called the match like a shoot and counted to three when Monroe failed to get her shoulder up. Reports suggest that Monroe had the wind knocked out of her by Hail’s springboard senton, which resulted in her not kicking out in time.
Before the evening was over, Fightful Select released a report that revealed the botched result had caused a scramble backstage. Noting this turn of events greatly altered the creative plans set for the next several weeks. But is there any heat on the referee? Well, it seemingly depends on who you ask.
According to Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp (via Fightful Select), early word coming out of WWE suggested that Felix Fernandez got props backstage for calling the match like a shoot. This is something that was heavily stressed during the Vince McMahon era of WWE. So it initially wasn’t seen as surprising that people backstage would feel this way.
However, after the initial report went live, Sapp would hear from another source who pushed back on this report heavily, claiming he got heat for not checking on Blake Monroe when she was perceived to be hurt.
Talent had to return to the Performance Center following this match to re-tape content
Sapp was also able to confirm that multiple people needed to physically return to the Performance Center to re-tape segments following the conclusion of that match. It’s unknown how many people this result affected, but clearly more than we initially thought.
Stay tuned to WrestleZone for more information as it becomes available.
READ MORE: WWE NXT Botch Causes Surprising Change In Company Policy For Talent — Report
What do you make of this report? Are you surprised to hear the NXT referee is getting heat for checking on Blake Monroe? Let us know your overall thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
