NXT Heatwave (2026)
WWE livestreaming event and television special
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The 2026 NXT Heatwave, also promoted as NXT Heatwave: Texas, is an upcoming professional wrestling livestreaming and television special 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 and will be simulcast on The CW and ESPN Unlimited in the United States, marking the first Heatwave to broadcast on both services. The event will go head-to-head against All Elite Wrestling's All In event.
| NXT Heatwave | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Promotion | WWE | ||
| Brand | NXT | ||
| Date | August 30, 2026 | ||
| City | Edinburg, Texas | ||
| Venue | Bert Ogden Arena | ||
| WWE event chronology | |||
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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 event, originally as a television special of the NXT program before it became a livestreaming event in 2024.[1]
At The Great American Bash on June 27, 2026, NXT announced its fifth annual Heatwave event for 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 event.[2]
Broadcast outlets
In the United States, the event will be simulcast as a television special on The CW's linear channel and via livestreaming on ESPN Unlimited. This marks the first NXT Heatwave event to air on both platforms, after a new deal with both The CW and ESPN that began with The Great American Bash in June.[3] Outside of the U.S, it will be livestreamed on Abema in Japan, SuperSport in Sub-Saharan Africa, and Netflix everywhere else.[4]
Storylines
The event will include matches that result from scripted storylines. Results are predetermined by WWE's writers on the NXT brand, while storylines are produced on WWE's weekly television program, NXT.[5][6]