Heatwave | |||
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Promotion | WWE | ||
Brand | NXT | ||
Date | August 24, 2025 | ||
City | Lowell, Massachusetts | ||
Venue | Lowell Memorial Auditorium | ||
WWE event chronology | |||
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Heatwave chronology | |||
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NXT major events chronology | |||
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The 2025 Heatwave, also promoted as Heatwave: Massachusetts, was a professional wrestling livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was the fourth annual Heatwave produced by the company for its developmental brand NXT, and 11th Heatwave overall. The event took place on Sunday, August 24, 2025, at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium in Lowell, Massachusetts, and was the first Heatwave to solely use the WWE logo as well as be broadcast on Netflix.
Six matches were contested at the event. In the main event, Oba Femi defeated Je'Von Evans to retain the NXT Championship. In other prominent matches, Ash by Elegance defeated Jacy Jayne and Masha Slamovich in a triple threat match to win the TNA Knockouts World Championship and Blake Monroe defeated Jordynne Grace.
This event was also the first Heatwave to feature wrestlers from WWE's partner promotion, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).
Heatwave was originally the name of a professional wrestling event produced by Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) that took place annually from 1994 to 2000. The 1997 event was an Internet pay-per-view (iPPV), while the 1998 to 2000 iterations of Heatwave aired on traditional pay-per-view (PPV). ECW folded in 2001, and WWE acquired the assets of ECW in 2003. In 2022, WWE revived the event for its developmental brand NXT as an annual television special of the NXT program. [1]
On July 10, 2025, it was reported that the fourth Heatwave under the WWE banner, and 11th overall, would be held on Sunday, August 24, 2025, at the Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium in Spartanburg, South Carolina. [2] However, during The Great American Bash on July 12, Heatwave was announced to take place at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium in Lowell, Massachusetts. [3] In addition to Peacock in the United States, the event will also be available to livestream on Netflix in most international markets and the WWE Network in any remaining countries that have not yet transferred to Netflix due to pre-existing contracts. This marks the first Heatwave to livestream on Netflix following the WWE Network's merger under the service in January in those areas. Beginning with Halloween Havoc in 2024, all major NXT events are branded solely with the WWE logo instead of the NXT logo, marking the first Heatwave to just use the promotion's logo. [4]
The event included six matches that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the NXT brand, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television program, NXT , [5] [6] as well as Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's (TNA) weekly television program, Impact! , following WWE and TNA signing a multi-year partnership in January 2025. [7] [8]
After Blake Monroe's NXT debut, she and Jordynne Grace formed an alliance, and at The Great American Bash on July 12, Grace and Monroe defeated Fatal Influence (NXT Women's Champion Jacy Jayne and Fallon Henley) in a tag team match. [9] The next night at Evolution, Grace, accompanied by Monroe, challenged Jayne for the title, but lost the match after Monroe attacked her with the championship, turning Monroe heel in the process. [10] Two nights later on NXT, a vignette aired where Monroe mocked Grace for not being worthy for a NXT Women's Championship shot, and invited Grace to watch her singles debut the following week, [11] where Monroe won. After that, Grace attacked Monroe, who would get the upper hand, injuring Grace's neck. [12] On the July 29 episode of NXT, Monroe stated that Grace was not good enough, continuing to mock her, [13] and one week later during Monroe's match, Grace appeared wearing a neck brace and chased Monroe out from the arena, costing her the match by countout. Later that night, NXT General Manager Ava announced that Grace would face Monroe at Heatwave. [14]
At Stand & Deliver, Oba Femi defeated Je'Von Evans and Trick Williams to retain the NXT Championship. [15] After that, Williams would win the TNA World Championship a month later at Battleground. [16] On the July 22 episode of NXT, Evans was thinking about what he should do next when he was approached by WWE Hall of Famer The Undertaker, who said that Evans should "go after the biggest dog in the yard". [12] The following week, Evans discussed Undertaker's advice when he was interrupted by Williams, who thought Evans was there to challenge him, however, Evans revealed he had come to challenge Femi. Williams felt disrespected, stating it would only be a matter of time before he defeated Femi and become a double champion. After that, they were interrupted by Williams' allies The High Ryze (Wes Lee, Tyson DuPont, and Tyriek Igwe) and after some exchange of words, Evans attacked Lee, but it was outnumbered by Williams and High Ryze. Later that night, Evans defeated Lee, and after that, Williams, Evans, and Femi confronted each other. [13] The following week, Femi stated that no one was worthy of facing him for the championship before being interrupted by Williams and Evans, with Evans proposing that he and Williams should face each other to determine who would challenge for the NXT Championship, with Femi stating that the match should happen on that night's episode. Williams declined, preferring it take place on the August 19 episode. It was later confirmed by NXT General Manager Ava, who also announced that the winner would face Femi at Heatwave. [14] The match was won by Evans. [17]
For months, DarkState (Dion Lennox, Osiris Griffin, Saquon Shugars, and Cutler James) had been attacking several wrestlers, including NXT Tag Team Champions Hank and Tank (Hank Walker and Tank Ledger). On the June 24 episode of NXT, Hank and Tank were attacked backstage by unknown assailants. [18] A month later, on the August 5 episode, Hank and Tank were attacked by DarkState after their successful title defense. Later that night, DarkState revealed that they were the ones who attacked Hank and Tank a month ago, while Hank and Tank demanded a match against any members of DarkState. NXT General Manager Ava then announced that Hank and Tank would defend their titles against two members of DarkState at Heatwave. [14]
On the June 26 episode of TNA Impact!, Ash by Elegance (who previously wrestled in WWE as Dana Brooke) won a battle royal to become the #1 contender for Masha Slamovich's TNA Knockouts World Championship. [19] A month later at TNA's Slammiversary, NXT Women's Champion Jacy Jayne defeated Slamovich in a Winner Takes All match, leaving with both titles. [20] On the following episode of TNA Impact!, Slamovich was granted by TNA Director of Authority Santino Marella a rematch for the Knockouts World Championship the following week, while later that night, during Fatal Influence's (Jayne, Fallon Henley, and Jazmyn Nyx) celebration, Jayne mocked the entire TNA women's division, including The Elegance Brand (Ash, Heather by Elegance, and M by Elegance). The following week, during Slamovich's rematch, Ash attacked her, costing Slamovich the match. [21] On the August 7 episode, Ash would have her championship match, where Fatal Influence and The Elegance Brand were banned from ringside. However, Slamovich attacked Ash, also costing her the match, and a brawl subsequently broke out between Slamovich, The Elegance Brand, and Fatal Influence. [22] On the August 12 episode of NXT, both Ash and Slamovich were in the crowd watching Henley and Nyx's tag team match, and later that night, NXT General Manager Ava announced that after speaking with Marella, Jayne would defend the TNA Knockouts World Championship against Ash and Slamovich in a triple threat match at Heatwave. [23]
At TNA's Slammiversary, a Winner Takes All match was scheduled for both the NXT Women's Championship and TNA Knockouts World Championship, with both Jaida Parker and Lash Legend making it clear that they would be coming after the winner. At the event, Jacy Jayne won the match, retaining the NXT Women's Championship while winning the TNA Knockouts World Championship. [20] Three days later on NXT, during Fatal Influence (Jayne, Jazmyn Nyx, and Fallon Henley) celebration, they were interrupted by both Legend and Parker. After some exchange of words, Fatal Influence brawled with Legend and Parker, with the latter two getting the upper hand. After that, both Legend and Parker confronted each other. [12] On the following episode, Parker defeated Nyx, and later, Henley defeated Legend. [13] During this time, Kelani Jordan and Lola Vice also stated their intentions of challenging for the NXT Women's Championship, and Jordan and Vice would defeat Jayne and Henley in a tag team match on the August 12 episode. [23] After the end of the show in a video posted on X, it was revealed that earlier in the show, Parker, Jordan, and Vice argued about who should challenge for the NXT Women's Championship, with NXT General Manager Ava announcing a triple threat match to determine the #1 contender for the championship between Parker, Jordan, and Vice at Heatwave. [24]
On the July 22 episode of NXT, Ethan Page debuted a custom version of his NXT North American Championship, which depicted the flag of his native Canada. [12] Two weeks later, Page cut a promo saying Canada was superior to America before being interrupted by Tavion Heights. SmackDown's The Green Regime (Chelsea Green, Alba Fyre, and Piper Niven) subsequently appeared, with Green siding with fellow countryman Page. [14] On the next episode, Heights introduced Tyra Mae Steele as his tag team partner, who attacked Page and The Green Regime. [23] On the August 19 episode, Page and Green attempted to foster a peace treaty between both Canada and America, only to argue with Heights and Steele over the two countries. After that, NXT General Manager Ava announced that the two teams would face each other in a mixed tag team match at Heatwave. [17]
Role: | Name: |
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Commentators | Vic Joseph |
Booker T | |
Spanish commentators | Marcelo Rodríguez |
Jerry Soto | |
Ring announcer | Mike Rome |
Referees | Adrian Butler |
Victoria D'Errico | |
Chip Danning | |
Dallas Irvin | |
Derek Sanders | |
Felix Fernandez | |
Interviewers | Kelly Kincaid |
Sarah Schreiber | |
Blake Howard | |
Andrea Bazarte | |
Pre-show panel | Megan Morant |
Sam Roberts |
The event began with the triple threat match between Jaida Parker, Kelani Jordan, and Lola Vice to determine the number one contender for the NXT Women's Championship. The ending saw Parker perform Hipnotic on Jordan before Vice rolled up Parker to win the match. Vice's title match was later confirmed for No Mercy. [25]
On the second match, Hank and Tank (Hank Walker and Tank Ledger) unsuccessfully defended the NXT Tag-Team Championship against DarkState (Dion Lennox and Osiris Griffin). After some distractions on the outside DarkState managed to pin the champs and win for the first time the tag-team titles. [25]
On the third match Jacy Jayne defended the TNA Knockouts Championship against Ash by Elegance and Masha Slamovich in a Triple Threat match, Jacy Jayne uses The Rolling Encore punch on Slamovich and Jayne pinned Slamovich until The Elegance Brand pulled Jayne out of the ring and Ash performed the Rarefied Air on Slamovich and pinned her for the three count to win the TNA Knockouts Championship. [25]
On the fourth match Blake Monroe exposed Jordynne Grace into the exposed steel and delivered Grace into The Curb Stomp, Monroe connected with the Double Underhook DDT on Grace to pick up the victory. [25]
The fifth match saw Chelsea Green and Ethan Page take on Tavion Heights and Tyra Mae Steele. Steele applied the ankle lock on Page, The referee admonishes Steele, because Page was not the legal competitor, Heights and Page were brawling outside of the ring. Alba Fyre superkicked Steele behind the referee's back and Green performed the Unprettier to pick up the victory. [25]
Je'Von Evans kicked Oba Femi in the back, Femi sent Evans crashing into the referee, Evans ducked the clothesline from Femi, Evans used The Leaping Cutter and connected with The Double Jump Cutter for a two count. A second referee slid into the ring and made the three count, but the original referee saw Femi's foot under the bottom rope. Evans argued with referee Derek Sanders. Femi deliverd The Toss Powerbomb through the announce table. Femi rolled Evans back into the ring. Femi planted Evans with The Fall From Grace to pick up the victory. After the match, Femi had a huge standoff with Ricky Saints as the show went off the air. [25]
Ricky Saints opened the following episode of NXT to call out NXT Champion Oba Femi. Josh Briggs interrupted, wanting his own shot at the title. NXT General Manager Ava scheduled a match between them to determine the number one contender for the title at No Mercy, which was won by Saints. [26]
Also on NXT, Jordynne Grace cost Blake Monroe a match. [26]
DarkState (Dion Lennox and Osiris Griffin) talked about their NXT Tag Team Championship win and soon engaged in a brawl with Hank and Tank (Hank Walker and Tank Ledger). Later that night, NXT General Manager Ava scheduled an eight-man tag team match pitting Hank and Tank and two other members against DarkState for next week. [26]
Tyra Mae Steele defeated Alba Fyre after preventing Ethan Page from interfering. After the match, Page took out Tavion Heights and draped the Canadian flag over him. [26]
Lola Vice teamed with ZaRuca (Zaria and Sol Ruca) to defeated Fatal Influence (NXT Women's Champion Jacy Jayne, Fallon Henley, and Jazmyn Nyx) in a six-woman tag team match with Vice pinning Henley. [26]