Referee forced to stop 34-year-old WWE star's match; crowd hijacked with "tap" chant
The referee was forced to stop a WWE star's match at a recent event, bringing a halt to proceedings. Before he had done that though, the entire stadium was chanting "tap", something unheard of for even unpopular babyfaces. The entire incident took place during Dana Brooke's match against Cora Jade.
Jade has established herself as quite a heel in NXT, but fans seemed to have her back during this week's episode of the show instead of Brooke.
Brooke returned to NXT and participated in the Battle Royal to determine Tiffany Stratton's next challenger for the Women's Championship. Thea Hail won, but Brooke was one of the final stars.
On this week's NXT, Brooke faced Cora Jade after she helped Hail beat Jade during a previous episode. At one point, Jade was working on Brooke's "injured" knee and had her in a half-Boston Crab. The crowd, usually on the side of babyfaces, was firmly on Jade's side.
A loud "tap" chant broke out, one that hardly anyone could ignore. Eventually, though, Brooke never tapped. Instead, the match was stopped by the referee, who was forced to make a judgment call, as he felt that with Brooke's knee being hurt, and being unable to get out of the move, she could not continue. This was while Brooke was still very much awake, and had not even passed out.
You can watch the moment in the video below.
this nxt run is not turning out good for dana already.. the crowd is rooting so badly against her, my god 😭https://t.co/ZXY38BjuAp
Mickie James felt that Dana Brooke was the wrong WWE star to send to NXT
In the midst of a lot of online support for Brooke, James spoke up saying that WWE had chosen the wrong star to send to NXT. She said that Brooke did not fit the usual mold of stars who were sent down and that worked against her.
"I felt like Dana Brooke was the wrong choice to send to NXT in the first place. It’s one thing when you send a Seth Rollins or you send [Natalya] back, because they have the respect and they’re workhorses, you know what I mean? Dana was taught [the] WWE style system, and now there’s this whole new generation of that same kind of system, but more elaborate," she added.
Where are my Dana Brooke fans at??? https://t.co/UlMIG0xYAS
At this point, it's not sure whether Brooke will have another match in NXT, but WWE fans have come out in her support online. The star has been continuously appreciative of support as well.
What do you think of Dana Brooke's run in NXT? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.