Tonight’s episode of WWE NXT seemed to cement the card for NXT Heatwave in a huge way, with four Title matches being made official by the end of the night. The episode got started with the Tag Team Turmoil match, which revealed Chase U as the opponents of Axiom and Nathan Frazer. Then it was subsequently revealed that Roxanne Perez would defend her NXT Women’s Title against Lola Vice, while Kelani Jordan would defend her Women’s North American Title against Sol Ruca. Oba Femi then made his North American Title defense official against Wes Lee, and towards the end of the night, it was revealed that the NXT Title would be decided in a Fatal 4-Way match.
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One Last Shot
Early in tonight’s festivities, Wes Lee took on Joe Coffey one-on-one, as Coffey has been a hurdle in Lee’s way of getting another match against Oba Femi for the North American Championship. Lee and Coffey have also had their share of run-ins since Lee returned from injury, and Lee looked to make a statement against his foe tonight.
He did just that too, delivering a knockout finisher that put Coffey down and gave him the 3 count. Lee then celebrated in the ring briefly before Femi called him out. Femi congratulated Lee on a solid win and said it was time for their last match-up, as if Lee lost this match he would no longer be able to challenge for the North American Championship again while Femi is still Champ. Femi then made the match official for Heatwave, adding one more sure-fire banger to the card.
Good Night Roxanne
Roxanne Perez had one last challenger to deal with before Heatwave, which was Karmen Petrovic, but she also had another challenge waiting in the wings. That’s because Lola Vice came out to observe the match, and she had clearly not forgotten Perez’s attack from last week. Perez was able to defeat Petrovic in the ring, but Vice wasn’t about to let Perez walk away unscathed.
Vice hopped in the ring and Perez feigned terror before trying the same back elbow strike that worked last week. This time it didn’t fare as well though, as Vice caught the strike and delivered one of her own, knocking Perez out and holding the Women’s Title up as a possible preview of what’s to come. Vice walked away with the Title too, and later Ava Raine confirmed that Perez vs Vice would be happening for the Title at Heatwave.
Friends and Challengers
Later in the night, it was a battle for a shot at the Women’s North American Championship, which Kelani Jordan will defend at Heatwave. Sol Ruca would take on Arianna Grace for that very Title shot, and Ruca was able to string together some impressive offense en route to victory, even surfing a bit in the ring at one point in the match.
After Ruca defeated Grace, Jordan came out to hold Ruca’s arms up in victory, making the match official for Heatwave. Jordan and Ruca are friends and Ruca was actually Jordan’s first choice of opponent for this first Women’s North American Title defense, but Grace jumped into the mix and wanted to compete for that shot. Now Ruca and Jordan will put their friendship aside to battle for NXT’s newest Championship when Heatwave rolls around.
Biggest Challenge Yet
It was finally time for Trick Williams to get in the ring against Shawn Spears, but as you might expect, it didn’t take long for chaos to erupt both in and out of the ring. As the match played out in the ring, Ethan Page sat at the commentary desk to chime in, only to get attacked yet again by Oro Mensah, who has attacked Page at every single turn, and even caused Page to get essentially counted out as part of the Battle Royal.
The match continued once that died down, but then another unexpected development happened when Brooks Jensen tried to jump into the ring. Jensen was pulled away by security personnel, but he kept grasping at everything as he was moved out of the way, and that included the cover to the announce desk. As he pulled the cover away, he knocked it into direct contact with Trick Williams, knocking him a little loopy in the process.
Spears was able to get Williams back into the ring so he could hit a C4 into the turnbuckle, and that was enough to get him the pin and the win. The Title picture was a little confusing at this point, as three people now had claims to the Title. Ava then made a call to give them all a chance to claim that Title as their own, creating a Fatal 4-Way match that includes Williams, Je’Von Evans, Ethan Page, and Shawn Spears.
What do you think of the card for Heatwave? You can talk all things wrestling with me on Threads and Twitter @mattaguilarcb!
