Welcome to Wrestling Inc.’s live coverage for “WWE NXT” Heatwave on August 22, 2023, coming to you live from the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida!

For the first time on television since successfully retaining the “NXT” Championship over Ilja Dragunov at “NXT” The Great American Bash, Carmelo Hayes will be defending against former North American Champion Wes Lee. Wes secured his spot in the match after defeating Dijak in a Number One Contenders match on last week’s episode of “NXT”, and came face-to-face with Hayes later that night during an explosive contract signing between the pair.

Speaking of Dragunov, he is set for a major match of his own tonight as he collides with Trick Williams. The animosity between the duo has not remained any secret, with the pair confronting one another in the ring two weeks ago in a heated exchange of words which ultimately ended with them both agreeing to tonight’s match.

A huge mixed tag team bout is set for tonight, as Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley teams with fellow Judgment Day member and North American Champion Dominik Mysterio to square off with Lyra Valkyria and Dragon Lee. Dragon has taken issue with Dominik since Ripley helped to ensure he would come up short against him for his title two weeks ago while Valkyria has come face-to-face with Ripley in some less than favorable encounters on a number of occasions.

Nathan Frazer will be putting his “NXT” Heritage Cup will be on the line as he faces Meta-Four’s Noam Dar. Despite his best efforts to convince himself and the “NXT” Universe that he is still the legitimate Heritage Cup Champion, Dar admitted two weeks ago that the Cup he’d been carrying around was a sham in order to earn a shot at capturing the real deal (per Frazer’s terms).

Additionally, Baron Corbin will be going head-to-head with Von Wagner following a heated exchange last week, and Ivy Nile will be taking on Ava as her quest for retribution on Schism continues after they sent The Creed Brothers packing. “NXT” Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton will also be making her return to programming following her successful defense against Thea Hail on July 30 with something to share.