Triple H explains why Charlotte Flair wasn’t pinned at TakeOver: In Your House

Charlotte Flair lost the NXT women’s title in a triple threat match earlier this week at NXT TakeOver: In Your House. Io Shirai won the gold by pinning Rhea Ripley, leaving many fans incredulous at the fact that Charlotte lost her title without taking the fall. What was the point of her arriving in NXT a couple months ago, halting Rhea Ripley’s momentum, and then not taking the pin on her way out?

Here’s a quote from Triple H, on the post-TakeOver media call after the event was finished, addressing the situation:

“That finish was done tonight the way it was done for a very specific reason. Some people will read into that and go, ‘Oh Jesus, Charlotte can’t even get beat...’”

“The whole rhetoric of Charlotte Flair, her dad, and her name and all that stuff, is garbage. She works as hard as anybody I’ve ever seen. She’s a great performer [and] deserves everything she’s ever gotten and has. It was done for a very specific reason, for story-telling purposes. Hopefully, if we get to tell the story the way we want to over the coming months, I think three [or] four months from now you’ll go, ‘I know exactly why they did the finish that they did.”

Given the way Triple H explains it, it sounds like Flair could still have a major presence in NXT’s storylines in the coming months. After all, she’s the self-proclaimed hardest working woman on the WWE roster. Triple H says it’s all part of the long-term story, and in about four months we’ll understand why Flair wasn’t pinned at TakeOver: In Your House. So for those of you keeping track of the calendar, that means we should check back in around this time in October to see if The Game is right.

But that’s giving Triple H the benefit of the doubt that you can argue he doesn’t deserve. It was just a couple months ago that Triple H said the following about Roman Reigns being written out of a WrestleMania 36 storyline and replaced by Braun Strowman in the Universal championship match against Goldberg:

“I will say from our standpoint and the storyline standpoint, it’s going to play out in a unique manner and we want it to play out that way. I don’t want to give away the ending of the movie before the movie takes place. Everybody just has to watch and see how this unfolds. It will unfold in a unique way and I think it will be meaningful for everybody.”

This is one that we can definitely judge by now; there was zero attempt at all on WWE’s behalf to explain in kayfabe why Roman was removed, or why Braun replaced him. There was no grander story at play here. To say it was “meaningful for everybody” is laughable at best, and an outright lie at worst.

Of course, I understand if you want to give the storyteller some leeway and time to tell the whole story before coming to strong conclusions about it. But considering how Triple H completely whiffed and misled everyone on the Reigns/Strowman situation two months ago, I think in this case it’s very understandable why many fans are doubtful that Charlotte’s booking at TakeOver: In Your House will make any sense four months from now.