Can’t Knock The Hustle: NXT Heatwave 2024 Review
A big weekend for WWE wraps up with tonight’s NXT Heatwave event.
It’s a “Night Of Champions” vibe, with all five main show matches featuring titles on the line.
NXT has seen some recent momentum, both with television viewership and outside interest on the rise. Can they continue that momentum with a solid show tonight? It’s time to find out.
Oba Femi vs Wes Lee – NXT North American Title Match
The added stipulation here is that this is Wes Lee’s last shot at the North American Title as long as Oba Femi is in possession of the belt.
Fantastic idea putting this in the opening spot. Wes Lee is as exciting as they come on the NXT roster, and Oba Femi is on an incredible roll with Match Of The Night performances at big NXT shows. This should be a ton of fun, and will get the crowd rocking and rolling.
Our first “holy shit” chant of the night comes when Oba has Wes up in an F-5 position, then throws him up in the air, causing the challenger to rise what seemed to be ten feet in the air, doing a complete 360-degree rotation before landing on the mat. Good God Almighty.
The “big man vs little man” wrestling match is a tale as old as time. When done well, it provides for some really entertaining work. Thus far, this match falls directly into that category. Oba Femi looks indestructible, as always, while Wes Lee looks like he has the heart of a lion.
Oba Femi successfully retains his title in what was a great start to the show. Wes Lee isn’t hurt whatsoever by this loss, as he brought his “A” game and continued to fight from beginning to end. They’re really making it look like it’s going to take something supernatural to take the North American Title from the champion. 4.25 Stars, and that might be too low.
We need to see Oba Femi square off with the likes of Gunther, Jacob Fatu, Brock Lesnar, and people of that nature before all is said and done.
Kelani Jordan vs Sol Ruca – NXT Women’s North American Title Match
When it comes to bright futures, these two are probably right near the top when it comes to the NXT roster.
They start things off with a “Will Ospreay vs Ricochet” type of athleticism and “dancing” that is sure to anger some people on social media. Personally, I don’t mind that stuff when it’s done in moderation. Doing it in the opening moments of a match is fine. If the entire match is full of it, that’s when I have a problem.
Kelani and Sol are two of the most athletic women in the wrestling business today, and they’re getting plenty of chances to showcase that athleticism here. If I have any complaint so far, it’s that their inexperience is also showing. There have been a few moments where one of them will just stand there and wait for her opponent to do the next cool spot. There’s more of a focus on making the audience pop than there is on putting a smooth flowing wrestling match together.
I don’t think the issue is their skill level. Not in the slightest. It just shows that neither woman has been a pro wrestler for two years yet. They’re both getting better, and as I said, their futures are really bright. Kelani retains her title here. There was enough “good” here to outweigh any “bad” that took place. Just a few timing hiccups, but that’s to be expected. 3.5 Stars
Nathan Frazer & Axiom vs Andre Chase & Duke Hudson – NXT Tag Team Title Match
I’ve said it in the past, but the members of Chase U deserve a ton of credit for making the gimmick work. The entire thing is really corny, and probably shouldn’t work. However, their dedication has helped it to get over with NXT crowds.
Axiom delivers a clothesline to the back of Andre Chase’s head, and we’re “treated” to a multi-minute discussion on commentary between Vic Joseph and Booker T on whether or not it’s legal to hit someone in the back of the head in pro wrestling. Booker is adamant that it’s illegal, while Vic keeps fighting back that it’s legal and only illegal in places like boxing. You guys are on commentary. It might behoove you to know all of the rules at this point.
We’re having another “styles make fights” contest here. The faster, more athletic champions taking on the larger, more powerful challengers. Both teams are getting ample time to shine so far.
Not that I was expecting anything bad, but this definitely exceeded any expectations I had coming in. It was a lot of fun, with multiple lengthy stretches of fast-paced action. 4 Stars
We’ve seen three title matches so far, and all three matches have seen the champions retain. Will that streak continue? Based on a lot of the predictions I’ve been seeing, the next match is the one that has seen more people call for a title change, so we’ll see.
Roxanne Perez vs Lola Vice – NXT Women’s Title Match
Dueling “let’s go, Roxy” and “let’s go, Lola” chants from the crowd. Roxanne remains popular with the NXT fans, even after she turned heel.
Like Kelani Jordan and Sol Ruca, Lola Vice made her pro wrestling debut in 2022. Roxanne Perez is in her sixth year as a pro, but she’s still only 22 years old. It’s crazy to see how much young talent is in the NXT women’s division.
The story coming in was that Lola was looking for the knockout blow. Naturally then, the story in the match itself is that Lola has now injured her dominant hand and is unable to do much with it. That’s simple, yet effective, storytelling.
Four title matches on the card… four champions walking out after successful defenses. It took a total of five Pop Rox finishers, but Roxanne Perez finally put her challenger away. The match was good, but because the rest of the show has been so much fun, it didn’t quite live up to what we’ve already seen tonight. Not a knock on either woman here. Just a compliment to everyone else that has competed on the show. 3.25 Stars
Trick Williams vs Ethan Page vs Shawn Spears vs Je’Von Evans – Fatal Four-Way for the NXT Title
We haven’t seen a title change hands yet tonight. Our main event sees the NXT Champion defending against three other men, and the rules of a Fatal Four-Way mean that Trick Willy doesn’t have to be anywhere near the center of the ring to lose his title.
Lots of “ten” chants for Spears during the pre-match introductions. Man, remember how over Spears was during his first run in NXT? His win/loss record didn’t match up to his crowd reactions, but he was able to take that into a Royal Rumble appearance in 2017.
Spears has completely changed the entire pace of the match by introducing a steel chair. He lays out all three of his opponents and gets the crowd amped up.
WWE loves to use the spot where two wrestlers crash through the ringside barricade, but Je’Von Evans just sent himself and Trick Williams through it by doing an insane suicide dive from inside of the ring. That looked really cool.
Man, the pace has picked up to an insane level. Evans is in the ring doing insane Je’Von Evans things, and he keeps getting pin attempts broken up by Trick Williams at 2.99999, and it’s exciting as hell.
The rules of a Fatal Four-Way came into play and caused our only title change of the night! Trick drops both Evans and Page with Trick Shots, which causes Page to fall on top of Evans. As Trick goes to break up the pin, Spears grabs his legs and prevents him from doing so. Just like that, Shawn Spears has helped “All Ego” Ethan Page become the brand new NXT Champion. Wow. Quite the ending.
Lots of fun here. 4 Stars. They all had their working boots on tonight. Page is the new champion, and will become insufferable now. Trick has revenge on his mind. Evans looks like a future World Champion. Spears is… also there, I guess.
A really good night of action for NXT. The entire show delivered from start to finish, and it capped a really entertaining weekend for WWE, as a whole. Heatwave is worth checking out if you didn’t already get a chance to do so.
Next up on the pay-per-view schedule is SummerSlam on August 3rd.
