Root ball collapsed

So I was transplanting to my final pots and for some reason the soil just absolutely would not come out of the pots, but eventually I worked it out, and them of course the whole mass of dirt and roots just basically collapsed on every single plant. The roots didnt really tear or break up that much, just the whole mass kinda collapsed and lost its shape.
Will they be okay?
How long should I expect them to recover for?
They were a little over 3 weeks, and very healthy before this happened

I always add a little water before I transplant to help keep everything together but as long as the roots are still connected I would say they will be ok might be shocked for a couple extra days.
Take my input with a grain of salt.

I did and they still collapsed :/
I've never had, or seen soil break up like that, or stick to the pot that way. It was very aggravating.
Thanks for quick response though

You can run a long knife down between the pot and the root ball to free it from the pot

I thought about that, but the pots were kind of an unusual shape.
Most of the pot was curved from the top to the bottom so I would have end up up cutting though a lot of root doing that.
I probably should have just cut the pots open with how hard they were getting to get out.
I'm scared to check on them and see how bad their about to start looking
My children.. my poor children!!..

AndromedaM31 said:

I thought about that, but the pots were kind of an unusual shape.
Most of the pot was curved from the top to the bottom so I would have end up up cutting though a lot of root doing that.
I probably should have just cut the pots open with how hard they were getting to get out.
I'm scared to check on them and see how bad their about to start looking
My children.. my poor children!!..

Click to expand...

For what its worth lots of people chop the shit out of root balls when they transplant.