Who Will Hold the NXT Women’s Championship After Heatwave 2026?

After months of complaining, ‘The Standout’ Kelani Jordan will finally get her first NXT Women’s Championship opportunity at NXT Heatwave when the former inaugural Women’s North American Champion takes on the champion Kendal Gray. Back in June, these two superstars competed in a top contenders match to find out who would face Lola Vice at the Great American Bash. Gray won the match and then defeated Vice for the championship. Earlier this month, both Gray and Vice had a rematch for the NXT Women’s Championship in the Underground, the first time in NXT history a title was contested in the Underground, where the current champ damaged her ear pretty badly as medical attendants had to check on the blood that was pouring out of Gray’s ear. During the August 25th edition of NXT, medical personnel told the champ she’s cleared, but any further damage to the ear could cause hearing loss. Now at Heatwave, could Jordan seize the advantage and take the NXT Women’s Championship on her first try?

‘The Standout’ has gone through leaps and bounds to get this opportunity. She didn’t earn it or deserve it. Her complaining around the locker room, to general manager Robert Stone, and to Gray caused the NXT Women’s Champion to give Jordan a contract saying where and when the former inaugural Women’s North American Champion wants the match to happen. Now the question lies in: now that she has her chance at the title, can ‘The Standout’ actually pull off the win? She has all the tools, the athleticism, and the wits to defeat Gray. Jordan cannot hold back because she’ll never know when this opportunity will arise again.

Ever since Gray took that gnarly bump on the stairs and had her ear gushing blood, retaining her NXT Women’s Championship in the Underground during the process, she’s become even more admired by the WWE Universe. Each week, the audience down in Orlando has grown extremely fond of her. The WWE Universe loved Gray, but ever since she took that brutal bump, the respect and admiration have surged. The ear will be a big concern at Heatwave, but if the NXT Women’s Champion can wrestle around this injury and not take any chances at losing her hearing, her reign could last a long while.

Jordan's big advantage is Gray’s injured ear. If ‘The Standout’ can strategize enough to hurt the NXT Women’s Champion severely, the title could very much be hers. There’s also the matter of whether Wren Sinclair will be ringside during the match, as she has her own championship match against Zaria and Kali Armstrong, unifying Sinclair’s WWE Women’s Speed Championship with Zaria’s NXT Women’s North American Championship. That’s whether Gray wants Sinclair ringside after her match or not. Jordan and the WWE Women’s Speed Championship have had history, with ‘The Standout’ injuring Sinclair’s knee back in late April. Getting some revenge back while helping her best friend, and potentially being the new Women’s North American Champion, would be icing on the cake for Sinclair.

While Jordan is not wrong in the fact that she should have had those NXT Women’s Championship opportunities in the past, ‘The Standout’ most likely won’t be winning this title anytime soon. Back at Deadline 2025, Gray was the surprise winner of the Iron Survivor Match, and although she had multiple championship shots and lost, the current NXT Women’s Champion surprisingly defeated Vice, who was on a great run as champ. Gray will be holding this title for the next few months and possibly through the rest of 2026. The WrenQCC could be holding all the gold after NXT Heatwave on Sunday, August 30th.