Carmelo Hayes will go through his next defense at the NXT No Mercy 2023 pay-per-view event with the WWE NXT Championship. As seen on this week’s episode of NXT, he now has a new number-one contender who will challenge him over the title at the event set for later this month.
During the September 12 episode of NXT, Wes Lee and Ilja Dragunov faced off in the opening match with the number-one contender’s spot for Carmelo Hayes’ NXT Title hanging in the balance. The two had a twenty-minute back-and-forth which Dragunov won via a shot at the back of Lee’s head.
After the match, Carmelo Hayes vs. Ilja Dragunov was confirmed for the NXT No Mercy 2023 edition. Hayes also came out and met Ilja in the ring while flexing the title. These two had previously met for the top title and it appears that the two will again meet in the headliner of the PLE which could turn out to be an absolute banger.
Hayes’ former best buddy Trick Williams played an inadvertent role in costing Dragunov his title shot against Hayes during The Bash in late July. Ilja finally defeated Williams at Heatwave to seek revenge. Now, he’s seemingly coming after the title, again at NXT No Mercy 2023 while Lee, after coming up short, has indicated to have left NXT for good.
WWE NXT: Champion Vs. Champion And More Announced For September 19 Episode
NXT No Mercy 2023: Bron Breakker issued a challenge for PLE
After the chaotic No Disqualification match against Von Wagner on last week’s episode of NXT, Bron Breakker has now turned his attention to Baron Corbin as the duo will now face each other at NXT No Mercy 2023. This came after the two had a confrontation on this week’s NXT.
After Vic Joseph announced that Von Wagner sustained a skull fracture after Breakker attacked him last week, the latter arrived at the ring and issued a challenge to Baron Corbin to a match at NXT No Mercy 2023. Breakker also threatened and told Corbin to say goodbye to his family and friends which caused a brawl between the two.
WWE NXT No Mercy 2023 PLE Match Card
NXT No Mercy 2023 will take place on September 30th, 2023, at the Mechanics Bank Arena in Bakersfield, California. The current match card for the event goes as follows,
– NXT Championship Match: Carmelo Hayes (c) vs. Ilja Dragunov
– NXT Heritage Cup Match: Noam Dar (c) vs. Winner of Global Heritage Invitational Tournament
– NXT North American Championship Match: Dominik Mysterio (c) vs. Mustafa Ali
– Bron Breakker vs. Baron Corbin
