Wrestling legend reacts after Nia Jax messes up on WWE SmackDown: "There was miscommunication somewhere" (Exclusive)

Hall of Fame wrestling journalist Bill Apter recently shared his thoughts on the Nia Jax botch. The incident happened on September 26, 2025 episode of SmackDown.

Nia Jax was in a Triple Threat match against Jade Cargill and Tiffany Stratton for the WWE Women's Championship. In the final stages of the bout, Stratton had Jax pinned for the three-count. However, referee Aja Smith stopped counting after two, forcing Nia to kick out of the pin. The whole incident transpired on live TV.

On a recent episode of Sportskeeda's The Wrestling Time Machine with host Mac Davis, Apter described it as a plain, simple botch. He felt there was some miscommunication between the wrestlers and the referee, leading to the mistake. The journalist pointed out that WWE did a great job of covering up the botch and went on with the action. Bill felt that the internet wrestling community blew the issue out of proportion.

"It was a botch. The referee did what the referee was supposed to do probably. Nia Jax didn't lift her shoulder up. There was miscommunication somewhere, but they covered it beautifully. Again, if there was no internet, nobody would have talked about what happened there. In the magazines, we never would have covered anything like that. But they covered it beautifully, and they went on with the match. Everybody lived happily ever after," Bill said.

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The stars quickly rectified the error as Stratton hit the Prettiest Moonsault Ever on Jax and then pinned her again for the win. She will now face Stephanie Vaquer for the Crown Jewel Championship at the PLE this Saturday.

Later, several current and past WWE stars stood up for Nia Jax after the botch, calling her a locker room leader.

Remember to embed this video and credit Sportskeeda for the transcript while using the quotes from this article.

About the author

Prityush is a WWE news writer for Sportskeeda Wrestling who started watching wrestling in the later part of The Attitude Era. Although he holds a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Prityush was a creative writer for his college, and his flair for creativity and love of pro wrestling eventually led him to the journalism field. After an initial stint in 2016-2017, he has been writing regularly for Sportskeeda since 2021.

As someone who loves and respects the business, he prides himself on factual, clean, and ethical reporting, free of plagiarism and AI usage. One of the ways he ensures this is by transcribing videos that he reports on.

Prityush had the privilege of interviewing superstar Matt Hardy in his career so far. Although, his favorite wrestler is CM Punk, as he relates to his Straight Edge philosophy.

When he is not reporting news, he loves reading and collecting WWE action figures. He currently owns over 500 wrestling figures and merchandise.

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Edited by Prityush Haldar