NXT Heatwave (2026)
WWE livestreaming event
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The 2026 Heatwave, also promoted as Heatwave: Texas, is an upcoming professional wrestling livestreaming event produced by WWE. It will be the fifth annual Heatwave produced by the company for its developmental brand NXT, and 12th Heatwave overall. The event will take place on August 30, 2026, at Bert Ogden Arena in Edinburg, Texas. The event will go head-to-head against All Elite Wrestling's All In pay-per-view event.
| Heatwave | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Promotion | WWE | ||
| Brand | NXT | ||
| Date | August 30, 2026 | ||
| City | Edinburg, Texas | ||
| Venue | Bert Ogden Arena | ||
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| Heatwave chronology | |||
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| NXT major events chronology | |||
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Production
Background
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]
At The Great American Bash on June 27, 2026, NXT announced the Heatwave event on August 30 at Bert Ogden Arena in Edinburg, Texas. The event is scheduled to take place after a Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide event in the same venue on the same day. Heatwave will go head-to-head against All Elite Wrestling's All In pay-per-view event.[2]
Broadcast outlets
Following the end of WWE's contract with Peacock in mid-March 2026 for NXT's events, and after NXT's previous livestreaming event, Stand & Deliver, aired on YouTube in early April, later that month on April 28, WWE announced a new multi-year broadcasting deal for NXT's events in the United States in which 20 livestreaming events would air on The CW's linear channel beginning with The Great American Bash; this expanded on an existing deal, as the weekly NXT program had been airing on the network since October 2024.[3] The next day, it was additionally confirmed that as part of a deal between The CW and ESPN, the latter of which acquired the rights to WWE's main roster PPV and livestreaming events in September 2025, NXT's events would also be simulcast on ESPN Unlimited starting with The Great American Bash.[4] Outside of the US, NXT's livestreaming events remain on Abema in Japan, SuperSport in Sub-Saharan Africa, and Netflix everywhere else.[3]
Storylines
The event included matches that result from scripted storylines. Results will be predetermined by WWE's writers on the NXT brand, while storylines will be produced on WWE's weekly television program, NXT.[5][6]