Kelani Jordan wins women's title at NXT Heatwave event

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Do My LANI ONE SHOT 🫰 In her FIRST NXT Women’s Title Match, @kelani_wwe has defeated Kendal Grey to WIN the gold! pic.twitter.com/2TFo9NCvKg — WWE (@WWE) August 30, 2026 NXT put a lot of stock into the idea of its men’s locker room’s worthiness in relation to the opposite sex’s locker room. Don’t take my word for it, just think back to Grayson Waller’s first promo back in the territory he left many moons ago. I don’t often traverse the internets for opinions on wrestling but from the small number of things that enter my purview, that seems like the prevailing opinion, one of which I agree. Heatwave didn’t do anything to beat back this narrative either. If anything, it reinforced it when Kelani Jordan and Kendal Grey not only saved the show, but raised the bar so high that the men barely bumped their heads against it when given the chance. Kelani and Kendal started slow but started cooking once they got beyond feeling each other out. They effortlessly countered each other, kicked out at just the right moment during crucial near falls, and worked some psychology into the match for good measure. Kendal’s ear was an obvious target—one which Kelani hit—along with an ankle injury for Ms. Jordan. They were violent without being sadistic, graceful without sacrificing physicality, and smart. These two are intelligent wrestlers who know it has to look like a real fight while never forgetting to show their personalities. Kelani looked like an arrogant but focused competitor. Kendal never let the match take her out of being incredibly confident with tons of fire. And I think that’s part of it: These two, like a lot of the women in NXT, have personality. They’re full-blown characters with quirks, flaws, speech patterns, and unique presentations. They feel special, and that shows when they get into the ring. NXT makes them appointment television outside of the ring, and they translate that to matches that deliver on that promise. These two captivated me and the crowd not just with breathtaking moves, but with a match that made sense. If I take umbrage with anything, it’s the PIP ads. I know, I know: NXT PLEs are on CW now, which means ads are a part of the game. But those ads, even when PIP, break up the flow of a match. They rob the wrestlers, too. Kelani and Kendal deserved unbridled and full attention, not interruptions on behalf of ZocDoc. The innovation in this match has been astounding! 🙌@kendalgreywwe | @kelani_wwe pic.twitter.com/yr0SEr7WGC — WWE (@WWE) August 30, 2026 Contrast all of that with the men’s matches, including the main event. While Zilla Fatu, Tony D’Angelo, Cruz Montana, and Grayson Waller satisfied me, it wasn’t as filling as the that Women’s NXT Championship match. Like I said, a very high bar. But it hit me while conversing with the staff that the men really do get the create-a-wrestler treatment. Cruz Montana feels muted, Grayson Waller isn’t as controversial as he believes he is, and Tony D was better off as The Don. Seriously, that guy was interesting. Stereotypical and over the top at times? Absolutely. But he was interesting. Even Tony’s music now feels like the most basic thing that tells me nothing about him. Zilla Fatu was the only main event guy with a spark, but he also didn’t walk away with the W. That honor went to Grayson, who did what he usually does in big spots: He waited until someone executed a big move, took out that person, then stole the pin. Cruz Spun the Block on Tony, Grayson snuck in to Stun Cruz, then pinned Tony for the title. Again, the match was fine, I just felt nothing because these guys are rarely given any personality beyond “I want a championship opportunity.” And in Grayson’s case, it was all about his entitlement for a title, along with his obnoxiousness. Sure, I guess. But Kendal gets to literally eat cake, has a best friend, has a weird sense of humor, and feels like a fully fledged human. And the new champ, Kelani, spent years in the territory carving out who she is. While she’s done a lot of whining lately, like a ton of whining actually, now we get to see what happens when the dog catches the car. Will the moment be too big for her? Will she be a fighting champion? Will it reveal more insecurities? We’ve seen her go from heel to face, from locker room leader to pariah, from innocent kid to jaded adult. Now she’s champion and putting on the standout matches of the night on one of NXT’s biggest nights of the year. The women are more impressive because they seize the chance to do so while the men seem content with just existing. B-Sides I started the night 0-1 on my predictions. Obviously that’s the only thing that really matters but since I suppose the wrestling counts for something, I should explain why I started in a hole: Zaria is the new unified North American Champion. I picked Kali Armstrong. Kali impressed from the jump. I love her physical style and energy. Everything hits hard, everything looks like it really hurts, and she can give as well as she takes. She’s visceral in the ring, and it helps when going against someone equally physical like Zaria. In fact, the match started with those two running their mouths at one another while ignoring the the Speed Champ. Wren Sinclair wasn’t an afterthought in the match as she asserted herself quickly, and factored heavily in the finish, but it’s stark contrast watching her style juxtaposed with her opponents. Wren mixed the physical with finesse, with a focus on the latter; Zaria and Kali had no time for anything pretty. But Wren’s style put her in control for quite a while. For a bit, it looked like she might win too until Zaria capped a sequence that included Spearing Kali and hitting her with an F-5. Dope opening match. That was in stark comparison to the submission match. I’m a fan of both women and appreciate the story here. Nattie tapping to a Sharpshooter is a fitting conclusion I love. But the actual match itself was slow, plodding, and never found a rhythm. Combine that with overbooking to get Karmen Petrovic and Nikkita Lyons off the board. The former when her AAA crew showed up and she decided to roll with them, while the Thea Hail took out the latter. The match didn’t work, despite it bringing the right end result. Jaida finally moves on, I just wish she got a more effective match in which to do so. I’m covering all of Vanity Project’s war with what’s left of the NQCC in one section. One story is Vanity Project walking away with all the gold. Thanks for proving my prediction powers wrong again, boys. They defeated the tag champs and took Myles Borne’s North American Championship. The first win came in part because Tavion Heights carried most of the match and kinda fought one on two while Myles nursed a bad back. But it was Myles who took the pin. The second victory came when Vanity Project, as a whole, proved too much for Myles & Tavion to handle. Tavion tried having his boy’s back but he was no match for Myka Lockwood hitting her incredible finisher on Myles outside the ring. That was it. It was over right there. Vanity Project used the numbers game to their advantage, which put the title on Jackson Drake’s waist. The bigger story is Myles turning his back on Tavion. Nice swerve on NXT’s part as the whole night seemed prime for Tavion turning on Myles. NXT telegraphed one thing but Myles delivered the final blow. Booker T, to his credit, foreshadowed that early. He talked about Myles’ friendship as his weakness. He railed against the man defending two titles against stiff competition all to keep his friend happy. I have no problem with them going that route for Myles if that’s his reasoning. It makes sense and shows another side of his character. Heatwave was lukewarm. And that’s being polite. Kendal Grey and Kelani Jordan stole the show and basically saved it for me. I’d watch those two do that any day of the week and twice on Sundays. As an aside, NXT really needs to get its PLEs off CW. I get the business reasons behind it but it isn’t helping the presentation at all. What say you, Cagesiders? Do the men ever stand a chance of catching up to the ladies? How do you feel about Grayson as the champ?

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NXT is back at the Performance Center in Orlando tonight, 2 days after their end-of-summer PLE, Heatwave. For the fallout episode, three singles matches and a tag team match have been announced for the show. Be sure to tune in to the action on the CW starting at 8 PM ET, and follow along with all the action right here on Cageside! The Outstanding Standout She finally did it! The story heading into Heatwave with Kelani Jordan was her finally earning a shot at the NXT Women’s Championship. Vic Joseph made sure to remind us frequently throughout her match with Kendal Grey on Sunday that Jordan had lost her first nine #1 contender’s matches. The thing with Jordan, though, is that once she gets to the title match, she usually does pretty well. In June of 2024, Kelani competed in a ladder match at Battleground to crown the first-ever Women’s North American Champion, and won. In September of 2025, Jordan competed in a Knockouts Battle Royal, where the last two women standing competed later in the night for the vacant TNA Knockouts World Title. Jordan survived the battle royal, then beat Lei Ying Lee just a little while later to win TNA’s top women’s prize in her first attempt. Then, just last night, in her first title match, Kelani shocked the world and knocked off Kendal Grey, becoming the 24th different woman to hold the NXT Women’s Championship and ending Kendal Grey’s reign at 63 days. As for the match, it was arguably the best one of the show and showed why the women’s division is the best part of NXT. Now, Kelani Jordan gets her chance to show us what the show looks like with her as the main character. After spending the majority of her first year or two as a babyface, she’s been flexing her heel side for quite a while now. A run with the top championship on the brand seems to be one of the final tests the NXT writers like to put their talents through before sending them off to Raw or SmackDown. Most recently, stars like Trick Williams and Roxanne Perez took a similar route to the main roster. What will a Kelani Jordan title reign look like? We’ll start to find out tonight. NXT feels the Grayson Waller Effect When Grayson Waller resurfaced in NXT a little over a month ago, he made it pretty clear from the get-go that not only was he not impressed with the NXT men’s division, but he had his sights firmly set on the man sitting at the very top of that division, Tony D’Angelo. After Grayson’s #1 contender’s match with Cruz Montana was interrupted by a debuting Zilla Fatu, all three of those men were given a chance to knock Tony D off the top of his perch at Heatwave. In a result that not many (and only one on the Cageside crew) predicted, the opportunistic Aussie left Edinburg, Texas on Sunday night as the new NXT Champion. On the same day that his former New Day stablemates took their game to a New Level, Grayson Waller earned the first singles championship of his WWE career. Now tonight, we’ll get to see what NXT looks like with Grayson Waller on top. It’ll be interesting to see who will be the first one to step up to the new champ. Tony D is the former champion and, at least historically, would have a legitimate case for a rematch. Zilla Fatu’s debut was a big splash on Tuesday nights, but rumors are that he could be thrust into Bloodline drama sooner rather than later. Cruz Montana’s arrival in NXT came with considerable fanfare, but he’s yet to click with the NXT crowd in the same way that he became the face of TNA for the last few years. Will one of those guys stake their claim to get the first shot at the new champ? Or will somebody else come out of the woodwork looking to shoot their shot? Myles Borne loses two titles and a friend While I was the only one who predicted Grayson Waller’s win on Sunday, Geno was the only one on the Cageside staff who predicted that Vanity Project would pull off a clean sweep at Heatwave. Shortly after Swipe Right upset the former NQCC for the NXT Tag Team Titles, Jackson Drake got his own gold by beating Myles Borne for the North American Championship. Some of us saw Myles Borne losing one of his titles over the weekend, but I gotta admit, I didn’t have Myles turning on Tavion on my bingo card. It’s an interesting path to take this story for sure, but not a completely crazy one. Myles was already firmly established as the North American Champion when Tavion convinced him to jump back into the tag team division with him over the summer. While things appeared to be looking up when they knocked Vanity Project off a few weeks ago, everything came crashing down on Sunday. Is the relationship between Borne and Heights salvageable, or has their revived partnership come to its end? Quick Hits Naraku returned to NXT TV a few weeks ago, emerging from underneath the ring and spraying Shiloh Hill with the poison red mist during Hill’s match with Jackson Drake. After exchanging pre-taped promos, Hill and Naraku will meet in the ring tonight. Can Hill get some revenge on the former IWGP Champion? Or will Shiloh fall victim to a different color of mist tonight? Hopefully, the Kam Hendrix health meter is close to 100% because he’ll need it for his match with Mason Rook tonight. Rook and Hendrix reconvene tonight after Hendrix won their first encounter a few weeks back. Will Mason even the series up and set up an inevitable rubber match? Or will it be Lights, Kam, Action for Rook again? Karmen Petrovic peaced out on Nattie and Nikkita at Heatwave after her Los Perros del Mal buddies emerged on the ramp. Is Karmen done in NXT and focusing on AAA pursuits full-time now? Plus, Thea Hail attacked Nikkita on Sunday, helping keep Nattie’s submission match with Parker a one-on-one affair. Now tonight, Thea and Nikkita go one-on-one. Will Miss Parker have her buddy Thea’s back after making a member of the Hart family tap to the Sharpshooter over the weekend? With the Borne and Heights partnership seemingly done, two-time NXT Tag Team Champions Brad Baylor and Ricky Smokes are in need of some #1 contenders. Noam Dar and Romeo Moreno will square off with Sean Legacy and Dorian Van Dux in a match that could raise the winning team’s stock in the tag team division. Will one of these teams get a step closer to a title match? Are there any other teams in the NXT locker room like Hank & Tank that might throw their hats in the ring? Zaria unified the North American and Speed titles at Heatwave by beating Wren Sinclair and Kali Armstrong in a triple threat match. Wren was already talking about getting another shot at Zaria since she wasn’t the one pinned on Sunday night. Will Sinclair convince Zaria that the line starts with her? More importantly, will the Speed title be going away for good, now that the two titles have been unified? Saquon Shugars beat Dion Lennox in a Weaponized Steel Cage match last week, presumably putting an end to their rivalry. What’s next for the former and remaining members of DarkState? Keanu Carver continues to try to thrust himself into title contention the right way. After a few wins in a row, will Carver be booked in a match again tonight? If he is, will he finish it off with the Perfect Plex again? All this and more on the CW tonight as the road to Halloween Havoc begins! Let us know what you’re most excited for on tonight’s show in the comments below, and be sure to follow along with the live coverage here on Cageside tonight, starting at 8 PM Eastern!

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Booker T has praised Kelani Jordan following her WWE Women's NXT title win, and is confident that she will have a great reign with the title.