NXT Heatwave 2026 Review

Linus O'Howell
11 minutes ago
5 min read

Title Unification Match: Zaria VS Wren Sinclair VS Kali Armstrong

After AAA Ola de Calor earlier in the day, NXT Heatwave 2026 kicked off with a Title Unification Match as Zaria, Wren Sinclair, and Kali Armstrong battled over the NXT Women’s North American and NXT Women’s Speed Championships! I do find it weird that NXT decided to add Kali to this match, given that Wren VS Zaria was perfectly fine on its own, but I guess the decision to add Armstrong was both to boost her own career and, most importantly, for her to take the pin! So, the real question was who out of Zaria and Sinclair was going to leave Texas holding two Titles, with both women having decent arguments to be made for them to win! However, the win would ultimately fall the way of Zaria, with the Aussie now following in the footsteps of her old partner Sol Ruca in holding both the Women’s North American and Speed Titles!

Grade: C+

NXT Tag Team Championships: Myles Borne and Tavion Heights VS The Vanity Project

The NXT Tag Team Championships were on the line next as The Vanity Project got their rematch against Myles Borne and Tavion Heights! Myles Borne was always going to be a key part of Heatwave given the fact that he was set to compete not once, but twice on this show, defending both of his Titles! So, for Myles’ sake, he probably should’ve let Tavion Heights do the heavy lifting, but he didn’t! Instead, Borne wrestled just as much as Heights did, which is probably more notable for his second match later tonight! However, the most interesting thing I found about this match wasn’t that The Vanity Project won the NXT Tag Team Titles back, but that Borne got pinned! After the match was over, it looked like Tavion Heights may even attack Myles Borne, but nothing came of it (for now, anyway)! Also, I’m glad that The Vanity Project won the gold back as they’re good fun!

Grade: B-

Jaida Parker VS Nattie: Submission Match

Jaida Parker and Nattie’s feud seemingly came to an end in none other than a Submission Match! This match got a decent amount of time to be able to breathe, and there was actually a story note to it as well! Throughout this feud, Nattie has taken advantage of the numbers game when it comes to Jaida Parker, despite losing Layla Diggs (and Jaida getting backup in the form of Thea Hail)! However, with AAA also in the building, Los Perros del Mal showed up on the ramp, with Karmen Petrovic walking off with them (she’s already a part of that group)! Then, when Thea Hail arrived to brawl with Nikkita Lyons to the back, this left Nattie alone with Jaida, with Miss Parker eventually forcing Neidhart to tap out in a Sharpshooter! In fairness, this was a good way to wrap this storyline up!

Grade: B-

NXT Women’s Championship: Kendal Grey VS Kelani Jordan

To my surprise, the NXT Women’s Championship match was up next as Kelani Jordan finally got her shot against Kendal Grey! This match lasted 23 minutes, and it was excellent! For years now, NXT has heavily prided itself on having the best women’s division in all of professional wrestling, and these are the type of matches that prove that they’ve been right to say as such! Kendal Grey is an incredible wrestler; she genuinely could be Top 3/5 in the entire company (on the women’s side), and I truly believe that her future is endless! On the other side, Kelani Jordan has been consistently good on NXT for years now, and she entered this match having cut a brilliant promo on Wednesday about how she only needs one match to become a Champion! So, after 4 years, Jordan finally got her opportunity at the NXT Women’s Title, and amazingly, she didn’t miss! After a terrific battle that saw Grey smash her injured ear on an exposed turnbuckle, Lani took advantage to hit a second One of a Kind Split-Legged Moonsault to get the win, securing her third Championship in 2 years! This was a bold move from NXT, but I’m so glad that they went for it!

Grade: A-

NXT North American Championship: Myles Borne VS Jackson Drake

The penultimate match of the night saw Myles Borne wrestle again, this time in a one-on-one match with Jackson Drake for his NXT North American Championship! Myles was obviously not 100% coming into this match, given he’d already lost earlier in the night, but at least he had backup in the form of Tavion Heights! However, Heights didn’t exactly do a particularly good job of dealing with The Vanity Project, as Myka Lockwood wrecked Borne with a wonderful move on the outside! Whilst the rest of the match was solid, this was a great moment, as was Jackson Drake following it up with a wonderful 450 to get the win, crowning a perfect night of Championship victories for The Vanity Project! Let’s Go! After the match was over, we got the Heel turn everyone was expecting, but rather interestingly, it came from Myles, who dropped Heights with Borne Again! Interesting development, but it makes sense given Borne lost everything after deciding to go back to teaming up with others!

Grade: B-

NXT Championship: Tony D’Angelo VS Cruz Montana VS Grayson Waller VS Zilla Fatu

And in the Main Event of NXT Heatwave 2026, Tony D’Angelo put his NXT Championship on the line in a Fatal 4-Way that included Cruz Montana, Grayson Waller, and Zilla Fatu! Honestly, this Fatal 4-Way felt more exciting and interesting than the Stand and Deliver Main Event earlier this year, as all four guys had good reasons as to why they should win! A Tony D’Angelo win would be a shock, but he’s already beaten Naraku, whilst Cruz Montana is a former 2-time TNA World Champion! Grayson Waller came back to NXT and set the wrestling world ablaze with a brilliant promo, whilst Zilla Fatu’s NXT debut did huge numbers! So, all that was needed was an actually good match, which we got! Montana definitely stood out for me; Cruz is very good, whilst his face-off with Zilla was pretty awesome! Speaking of Fatu, he needed a massive Spear and an Elbow Drop through the table to take him out of for good (as far as this match goes), and I loved this from Waller, as despite knowing that the only reason why he never became NXT Champion in the past was because he kept needing to have these viral moments, and yet he still couldn’t help himself! As a result, it felt very much like Cruz Montana was going to get the win, so when he delivered Spin the Block to D’Angelo, only for Waller to take Cruz out and steal the win by pinning Tony D, was quite excellent! This was a great callback to TNA Slammiversary 2025, where Mike Santana had the same thing happen to him there, but arguably having Waller be the one to steal away with the victory was even better! I’m very happy for Grayson Waller; he’s been great for years, so it’s nice to see The Arrogant Aussie finally hold singles gold! And the NXT Championship at that! Also, we’ll end this review by giving a shoutout to Tony D’Angelo, as The Don has had quite the career in NXT!