Grayson Waller Wins NXT Title vs. Zilla Fatu, Cruz Montana, Tony D'Angelo at Heatwave 2026

Grayson Waller beat Tony D'Angelo, Cruz Montana and Zilla Fatu in a Fatal 4-Way match at Heatwave on Sunday to win the NXT Championship.

Montana appeared to have the win in hand before Waller snuck in to steal the victory, winning his first career singles title in WWE.

For about a month leading up to Heatwave, D'Angelo became a target for several members of the NXT roster, including Montana, who made his official debut as an NXT Superstar on the July 21 episode of NXT.

After D'Angelo's successful title defense against Naraku, Montana arrived in NXT and immediately made it clear that he was coming for D'Angelo and the NXT title.

One week later, Waller made a surprise appearance on NXT TV despite having been part of the WWE roster for years.

Waller cut a scathing promo on the NXT locker room and took shots at several individual talents, including D'Angelo and Montana.

With both Montana and Waller vying for an NXT Championship opportunity, D'Angelo agreed to put the title on the line against the winner of a No. 1 contender match between them.

On the Aug. 11 episode of NXT, Montana and Waller fought to what was essentially a no contest, as Fatu made his surprise WWE debut by interrupting the match and attacking both Superstars.

D'Angelo was on commentary for the match, and Zilla turned his attention to Tony D as the show went off the air, establishing that he too wanted to become NXT champion.

The next week on NXT, general manager Robert Stone announced that D'Angelo would defend the NXT Championship against Montana and Waller in a Triple Threat match at Heatwave, but that didn't last for long.

Later in the night, Stone held a contract signing for Fatu, and revealed that Fatu's first match in NXT would be for the NXT title. Zilla then announced that he was being added to the title match at Heatwave to make it a Fatal 4-Way.

It didn't take long for Waller to ascend to the top of NXT, as he was victorious Sunday in his first premium live event match since rejoining the brand, allowing him to become NXT champion in the process.