TNA star Indi Hartwell opens up about her surprise WWE NXT Women’s title win.
Back in 2023, Indi Hartwell captured the title at NXT Stand & Deliver by winning a six-woman ladder match. A few weeks later, she defended the title against Tiffany Stratton and Roxanne Perez in a triple threat match at Spring Breakin’ on but got injured during the bout.
Following the 2023 WWE Draft, WWE moved Indi Hartwell to the RAW brand. As a result, she vacated the NXT Women’s Championship, ending her 31-day reign the shortest in the title’s history.
During an interview on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Indi Hartwell revealed that her title win came as a total surprise. “It did happen out of nowhere. I was shocked. Everyone was shocked. Because this is how it happened. I wasn’t really being used on TV at the time. I think I was on Level Up, and then I wasn’t even booked in the ladder match. It was like a week before, two weeks before I lost my qualifying match.”
“I just really wanted to be at Mania week, because everyone wants to be at Mania week. So I remember I saw Coach Bloom in the gym, and I asked him, ‘Hey, is there any way I can help with the try-out, just so I can be there?’ He was like, ‘Do you have new gear for LA?’ And I was like, No. He’s like, ‘Well, I would get gear if I were you.’ Then the next week I had a last chance qualifying match, I got into the match, and I was like, Oh, cool. That’s amazing.”
Indi Hartwell says she wasn’t told about her NXT title win until the night before
Indi Hartwell mentioned that she thought Roxanne Perez would win the title, but was shocked alongside everyone else when Shawn Michaels announced the winner of the match.
“But then they didn’t tell us the ending of the match till the night before, and so we couldn’t put together an ending to this match. That was p*ssing us all off, we can’t even plan this. Then Shawn Michaels pulled us all aside in the hotel, and I’m just eating an apple because he’s probably going to say that Roxanne’s going to win it. So I was eating an apple, and he’s like, ‘Oh yeah, okay, the winner’s going to be Indi.’ Everyone was shocked, even Sarah Amato. Everyone was like, What the hell, Indi is winning it? I was very surprised. What’s crazy is I could have had my family there because it was in LA. So it was just like a short, 15-hour flight. But unfortunately, that didn’t happen. But it was a cool moment.”
Reflecting on why WWE didn’t capitalize on her NXT Women’s Title win, Indi Hartwell believes her injury played a major role. “I think getting hurt kind of ruined everything with that. But everything happens for a reason. So I think everything happened how it was supposed to.”
Indi Hartwell details scary injury during the WWE NXT Women’s title match
“Oh yeah. I thought my ankle was like shattered inside my boot. I just remember laying there being like, I’m never getting called up. Then I looked and there was a doctor next to me. Then they took me to the back, and then Roxy and Tiffany had to call the match on the fly. I was on the medical table, taking off my boot, and I was like, no, no, I can go back out, because I felt bad for them having to do that. Also, I didn’t want my title reign to end like that, so I hobbled my way back out there and finished the match.”
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