NXT Heatwave 2025

For readers of my FilmIsRidley website exclusive wrestling reviews, it will be well-known that I have been well and truly drawn back into watching NXT events, thanks to a number of very high quality,.entertaining, and exciting, premium live events. Mind you, the weekly shows have been very compelling of late too, which has only helped my reinvestment in the show. 2025's 'Heatwave' event once again looked to be another strong card for the WWE's developmental brand, and I for one couldn't wait to watch it play out.

The night started strong with a triple-threat Number One Contenders match for an opportunity at the NXT Women's Championship, featuring Jaida Parker, Lola Vice, and Kelani Jordan. These are three of the top prospects in NXT, and they started out as such. It really felt like all three women were out to prove a point tonight, and it was genuinely hard to predict who would win the match, at points. In the end, I think the right woman won, based on career momentum and general development in the last few months. I'll be keen to see how she does in her upcoming title match.

Following up on that solid start was the NXT Tag Team Championship match, with Hank and Tank defending their titles against Dark State. I haven't been the biggest fan of the tag team champions - I just haven't really connected with them as characters or wrestlers. They did well with this match, and the fresh faces of Dark State continued to show intensity and improvement in each of their matches. I thought there were some good moments in this match, particularly a hot tag from the champions, which was very good. The chaotic ending was a little predictable, but I think the right team won.

It was now time for TNA Women's World Championship match, which saw Jacey Jayne, who also holds the NXT Women's Championship, defend against Masha Slamovich and Ash by Elegance, both of TNA. Jacey and Masha stood out a lot in this one, with the pair of them showcasing their talents consistently throughout the match. This was a decent match, but it didn't really pick up speed until the closing stages. That finale was very enjoyable, and managed to surprise me quite a lot with how it finished. It was definitely not what I expected, but it was still a nice moment.

Blake Monroe took on Jordynne Grace in what looked like it would be a pretty intense one-on-one match next. The story of this match was two-fold, with the physical side complimenting the mental side really nicely. It wasn't the most exciting match of the night, but it was still very watchable. Grace showcased her tremendous power game in abundance, and Monroe proved herself more than apt in the villain role. I loved the way the finish was set up, but I'm not convinced that all of the crowd understood what happened with it. Regardless, this was a good match, on the whole, if a little predictable.

Next up was a mixed tag team match, pitting the Canadian duo of Chelsea Green and NXT North American Champion Ethan Page against the American former Olympic duo of Tavion Heights and Tyra Mae Steele. This was clearly supposed to be a match that inspired American patriotism in the crowd, but, rather humorously, it backfired quite severely. The crowd was extremely pro-Canada, and even went so far as to boo the two American wrestlers, who were supposed to be the good guys, so-to-speak. This was a fun match mainly because of the work of Chelsea Green, and indeed the crowd reactions. I think that, ultimately, the right team won, and hopefully that's the end of the silly patriotism storyline.

It was, at last, time for the main event, which saw the dominant NXT Champion Oba Femi defend his title against Je'Von Evans. This was the match I was most excited for before the event began, and it ended up living up to that expectation quite comfortably. This was a really good match, with the power versus speed game playing out brilliantly. It was genuinely hard to predict the winner at times, which is all credit to the work of Evans, who more than deserved this opportunity. The ending was also very clever, and meant that options remain open for the future. The post-match segment, though brief, was also pretty exciting, so this was a very interesting main event all-round.

Overall, although the main event was genuinely superb, I thought this was one of the weaker NXT premium live events of the year so far. With that said, it was still an entertaining show, which had plenty to enjoy, particularly that aforementioned main event. Up next for NXT is No Mercy, which should be another strong event for the WWE's third brand. I will definitely be watching, and I'm sure the developmental talents on this roster will show out yet again, as they have done all year.