While the WWE Universe is abuzz with the returns of more than a few familiar faces, from Karrion Kross to Hit Row, the same level of love hasn't been shown to NXT. Sure, Indi Hartwell heavily implied that she was given a love letter from her Kayfabe husband Dexter Lumis, but other than the return of Madusa, the promotion has largely kept things copasetic, with the biggest shakeup coming via the inclusions of Nikkita Lyons and Zoey Stark in the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship Tournament.

Fortunately, the WWE Universe is deep enough that Paul “Triple H” Levesque doesn't exclusively have to bring back released performers to get a pop from the fans at home. No, Levesque can always just make a call to the United Kingdom side of the NXT pond to unleash anarchy on Orlando.

On a show called Heatwave, Levesque brought the fire with an invasion angle that would make his former DX faction mates proud, even if it was noticeably without any tank rides through a parking lot.

NXT is gearing up for some serious All Out counterprogramming

When Wrestlenomics reported that WWE was looking to run a “Premium Live Event” on Peacock on September 4th, it was somewhat of a head-scratcher. Sure, the company already had one show booked for the weekend, with Clash at the Castle coming to fans live from Cardiff, Wales, on Saturday, September 3rd – with a 1 PM EST start time – but that show wasn't going to impact AEW's All Out Pay-Per-View one bit. Running directly against Tony Khan's company, however, presents a far more deliberate attempt at counter-programming, even if the “Premium Live Event”-war would likely still end in an AEW victory.

If Triple H was going to go for it and take a shot across the bow of his once, current, and future foe, his company was going to have to come correct, with a meh card having little chance to make much of an impact.

Fortunately, Levesque's preferred angle, “NXT vs. NXT UK: Worlds Collide,” might just be salacious enough to draw in fan attention, especially for Peacock subscribers who could save some money and watch the show for free.

At Heatwave, NXT saw not one, not two, but three different acts from NXT UK appear on the USA Network. It all started after the opening contest, where the Gallus faction of  Joe Coffey, Mark Coffey, and Wolfgang attacked The Diamond Mine during an in-ring segment that was rapidly falling apart. The trio attacked the Creed Brothers, Roderick Strong, and Damon Kemp while the commentary team of Vic Joseph and Wade Barrett watched on in horror.

From there, the Gallus crew continued to make waves in the WWE Performance Center, with the team confronting NXT UK Tag Team Champions Brooks Jensen and Josh Briggs in the pursuit of a match for the belts; a match that may ultimately come on NXT 2.0. UK found even more television time during a backstage segment with Hartwell, who saw a touching moment of introspection interrupted by none other than Blair Davenport – who AEW/NJPW fans may recognize as Bea Priestley – who tore her totem up and declared her intention to challenge Mandy Rose for the NXT Women's Championship.

Fortunately, that too wasn't the end of the NXT vs. NXT UK festivities. No, as the NXT segment of the WWE Universe attempted to catch their breath following a huge win by Bron Breakker over JD McDonagh, none other than Tyler Bates emerged with the NXT UK belt to face up his American counterpart for what would certainly be the main event of an NXT vs. NXT UK: Worlds Collide-level event. Now granted, this was a bit of a booking boo boo, as Bates hadn't technically won the belt yet and was in the throws of a tournament to decide the belt's winner alongside Oliver Carter, Mark Andrews, and Trent Seven, but hey, for such an exciting moment, a minor warp in the Kayfabe timeline is a small price to pay.

Is running a “Premium Live Event” against All Out a good idea? Considering CM Punk is likely going to wrestle his return match against Jon Moxley in the main event, probably not, but at the same time, it's not like fans have to pay for the show and could conceivably tune in on Labor Day Monday even if they spend their Sunday night watching AEW. For the price of, well, nothing really, why put on an exciting, multi-national card and show that wrestling has more than one promoter willing to book a Forbidden Door cross-continental show?