Where Is Sol Ruca? NXT Just Unveiled Her Halloween Havoc Replacement
Sol Ruca’s nightmare deepened at NXT’s go-home show as she hobbled to the ring with a knee brace and crutch beside Zaria and Ava, delivering an emotional update that cast serious doubt on what comes next.
Rough night for Sol Ruca. The NXT double champ walked into the final NXT before Halloween Havoc in a knee brace, leaning on a crutch, and walked out not cleared to compete. Then the segment swerved in a way WWE almost never does.
What actually went down on NXT
Sol hit the ring with Zaria and Ava and, visibly emotional, broke the news that she is not medically cleared after getting hurt on SmackDown. WWE posted the moment on X, and she did not sugarcoat it:
"I don't know when I'm gonna be cleared."
The initial vibe was: she is out of Halloween Havoc and the NXT Women’s North American Championship is getting vacated. Blake Monroe, the number one contender, came out and basically demanded WWE just hand her the belt.
Zaria shut that down immediately. No handouts. Instead, she threw out a curveball: she would defend the Women’s North American Championship on Sol’s behalf at Halloween Havoc. Ava agreed it was unconventional but possible if the reigning champion signed off. Sol did.
That made it official: Zaria will defend the title in Sol’s place against Blake Monroe at Halloween Havoc. Monroe did not take that well, got in Ava’s face about favoritism, and got planted by Zaria for her trouble. Zaria then held the title up and gave Monroe a preview of Saturday.
So, to be crystal clear: the segment started like a vacancy announcement and ended with a proxy title defense. Not standard operating procedure, but it makes for a spicier match on Saturday and keeps Sol’s belt from changing hands without a fight.
How Sol got hurt
This dates back to Friday Night SmackDown, where Sol teamed in a Tag Team Championship match against Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss. Late in the match, Sol landed awkwardly. Flair locked in the Figure Eight to close it out and retain the belts, and Sol was left clutching her left leg. Zaria and Bliss helped her afterward.
On NXT, Sol added that she did not want to hold up two divisions while she is sidelined, since she is also the Women’s Speed Champion. The way NXT handled it means the North American title gets defended at Halloween Havoc while Sol stays champion of record and the Speed title remains paused until she is cleared.
Is the injury legit? Fans are split
The reaction online was all over the place. Some fans are worried and annoyed that Flair’s Figure Eight keeps getting people banged up and argue it should be shelved if it is hurting talent. Others are convinced this is storyline setup, pointing out Sol just returned in March 2024 from an ACL tear after surgery in 2023, so WWE clearly sees her as a top project and could be setting up a turn or a bigger return later. There is also the optimists club predicting she will get cleared the second Halloween Havoc ends. And a lot of folks are just hoping it is not the same knee.
Either way, if this is real, it adds Sol to a growing list of SmackDown-side injuries and puts her on the shelf for an unknown stretch. If it is a work, it is a pretty convincing one, right down to the brace, the crutch, and the scramble to keep the North American title in play.
What to expect at Halloween Havoc
- Zaria vs. Blake Monroe for the NXT Women’s North American Championship, with Zaria defending on Sol Ruca’s behalf
- Sol Ruca remains champion of record and is also still the Women’s Speed Champion, but she is not cleared to compete
- Event streams live October 25, 2025: Peacock in the US, Netflix internationally