On August 22, 2023, WWE hosted a new episode of NXT Heatwave on the USA Network.
The show was headlined by Carmelo Hayes defending his NXT Championship against Wes Lee and with Dominik Mysterio teaming up with Rhea Ripley against Dragon Lee & Lyra Valkyria. Full results & highlights are listed below.
Refresh the site for the latest updates as the show happens.
WWE NXT Heatwave (8/22/2023).
- Ilja Dragunov def. Trick Williams.
- Tyler Bate was meditating backstage after Dabba-Kato attacked him last week. NXT Heritage Cup Champion Nathan Frazer met with Bate before asking him if he could be his second for tonight, which Bate accepted the offer to take care of Meta Four tonight.
- Dominik Mysterio & Rhea Ripley prepared backstage before Mustafa Ali interrupted them. Ali told Ripley to "break a leg" before telling Dominik to actually break a leg during his match and leave NXT for good. Ripley kicked Ali out of the locker room in 10 seconds, but Ali responded by saying that 10 seconds is something they may be used to.
- Ivy Nile def. Ava (w/ Joe Gacy, Rip Fowler & Jagger Reid of The Schism).
- Backstage, Ilja Dragunov confronted Wes Lee saying that there was nothing standing in his way to the NXT Championship. Lee told Dragunov to wait up because he would make his own destiny & win the NXT Championship, but said that he looked forward to facing Dragunov in the near future.
- NXT Heritage Cup Championship Match: Noam Dar (w/ Lash Legend, Jakara Jackson & Oro Mensah of The Meta Four) def. Nathan Frazer (R6: 2-1)/ NEW CHAMPION!
- Ava was with two masked Schism Followers to cut a promo on Ivy Nile, where she called her a failure before telling her to find her in the Schism Tree.
- NXT Women's Champion Tiffany Stratton was in the ring to cut a promo, saying that she was the "perfect champion" before declaring that she would go down as one of the greatest NXT Champions of all time. After that, Gigi Dolin made her NXT return and told Stratton to "shut the hell up" before saying that she was excited to see The Fall of Stratton. Kiana James interrupted and ran down on Dolin for being "delusional" at getting a title shot. Blair Davenport interrupted proceedings before Roxanne Perez came in and hit a vicious forearm strike on Stratton. Everything broke down before two referees broke up the fight.
- There was a segment of Damon Kemp & Charlie Dempsey training while Drew Gulak watched along. Myles Borne met with Gulak after watching tape from last week's match before Gulak asked Borne the following: "Are you tired? Because we never get tired!". Dempsey then locked in a choke on Borne as part of the "training".
- Ivy Nile confronted Ava in the woods before Ava demanded the Schism followers to grab Nile, but the followers revealed themselves to be The Creed Brothers (Brutus Creed & Julius Creed). As Nile attacked Ava, The Creeds challenged The Dyad (Jagger Reid & Rip Fowler) to a Steel Cage match next week.
- The Meta Four celebrated backstage because Noam Dar regained the NXT Heritage Cup before being informed that he would defend the NXT Heritage Cup at NXT No Mercy.
- Dragon Lee & Lyra Valkyria def. The Judgment Day (Dominik Mysterio & Rhea Ripley).
- The finish came when Raquel Rodriguez attacked Rhea Ripley at ringside. This lead to Dragon Lee hitting Dominik with the Destino for the pinfall win.
- Tiffany Stratton was interviewed backstage, where she "apologized" for accidentally saying Becky Lynch was a former NXT Women's Champion before saying she was "irrelevant". Stratton revealed that Kiana James, Blair Davenport, Roxanne Perez & Gigi Dolin will face each other in a match to determine the #1 Contender for the NXT Women's Championship.
- Thea Hail threw a rant backstage for losing before Jacy Jayne met her backstage. Jayne said that the Hail she faced backstage was not the person that walked into NXT before saying that Hail would get through it.
- Von Wagner & Baron Corbin brawled across the ringside area before Bron Breakker appeared and Speared Von Wagner across ringside. Breakker stood over Corbin & Wagner.
- Joe Gacy, Rip Fowler & Jagger Reid cut a promo backstage accepting The Creed Brothers's challenge, where Fowler & Reid promised to end this once & for all.
- There was a vignette of DIJAK calling out Eddy Thorpe after costing him the match against Wes Lee. DIJAK told Thorpe he had 7 days to get ready for their rematch.
- NXT Championship Match: Carmelo Hayes (c) def. Wes Lee.
OH MY GOD --#NXTHeatwave pic.twitter.com/oMoZgT6a1v
— WWE (@WWE) August 23, 2023
Don't think @AliWWE is the biggest fan of @DomMysterio35 or @RheaRipley_WWE --#NXTHeatwave pic.twitter.com/1qHtPFKhg2
— WWE (@WWE) August 23, 2023
You got lucky this time, @avawwe_ --@ivynile_wwe was taking out EVERYONE...#NXTHeatwave pic.twitter.com/6uK1kQdbmy
— WWE (@WWE) August 23, 2023
.@WWEFrazer could have had this if it wasn't for @lashlegendwwe --#NXTHeatwave pic.twitter.com/HD9X6n578o
— WWE (@WWE) August 23, 2023
Welp, this got out of hand --
— WWE (@WWE) August 23, 2023
EVERYONE wants the #WWENXT Women's Championship!#NXTHeatwave pic.twitter.com/mgh88gxUuS
The NXT Global Heritage Invitational begins NEXT WEEK on #WWENXT!#NXTHeatwave pic.twitter.com/EbWfLU28QB
— WWE (@WWE) August 23, 2023
.@RaquelWWE just took out @RheaRipley_WWE!@dragonlee95 just pinned @DomMysterio35!!!
— WWE (@WWE) August 23, 2023
What a chaotic ending ------#NXTHeatwave pic.twitter.com/vEbJh7tmIg
"But to me she's quite literally irrelevant."@tiffstrattonwwe isn't hiding her feelings about @BeckyLynchWWE --#NXTHeatwave pic.twitter.com/7fIvAwlNUG
— WWE (@WWE) August 23, 2023
------@bronbreakkerwwe was just shot out of a cannon!#NXTHeatwave pic.twitter.com/tQkR2dkX0Y
— WWE (@WWE) August 23, 2023
ARE YOU KIDDING ME, @Carmelo_WWE?!?!#NXTHeatwave pic.twitter.com/n0gRlBC0Oh
— WWE (@WWE) August 23, 2023
- Check out the post-show podcast for a full review of the show on Fightful's YouTube & Twitch channels. You can check Fightful's Results Section here.