NXT Champion Earned Respect After Recent Match

A WWE NXT Champion recently earned a lot of respect for working hurt during a live television match.

The WWE Draft took place over the last week with several NXT stars heading to the main roster. One of those wrestlers is Indi Hartwell, who is now a former NXT Women’s Champion that is headed to Raw.

On the WWE NXT TV broadcast on April 25th, Indi Hartwell defended the NXT Women’s Title against former champion Roxanne Perez and Tiffany Stratton. During the match, Stratton dove onto Perez and Hartwell on the floor with Hartwell injuring her right ankle. It was trapped under her when Stratton landed. Hartwell was helped to the back.

It was a legitimate injury to Hartwell while Stratton and Perez were left to improvise for a few minutes. It was revealed later that if Indi wasn’t able to get back into the match, WWE was going to have Stratton beat Perez to win the NXT Women’s Title. Instead, Hartwell came back into the match while limping on her right foot, she broke up a Stratton pin after a moonsault and Hartwell hit Perez with a forearm to the back for the pinfall win.

In the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer wrote about how Indi Hartwell earned a lot of respect with that performance while dealing with a high ankle sprain.

“Indi Hartwell suffered a high ankle sprain last week. She got a lot of respect from people in coming back out while she could barely walk from the trainers room to finish the match. But she was in a walking boot and needing a crutch this week.”

This past Tuesday on NXT, Hartwell gave up the NXT Women’s Title and was carried out (due to her bad right foot) by “husband” Dexter Lumis, who will join her on Raw.

Due to the high ankle sprain, Hartwell may have to wait a few weeks or even months for her Raw in-ring debut.