Ilja Dragunov vs. Carmelo Hayes set for NXT No Mercy 2023

Coming into this week’s episode of television, NXT had to figure out who would challenge Carmelo Hayes for the NXT championship in the main event of the upcoming No Mercy premium live event scheduled for Sat., Sept. 30, 2023, at the Mechanics Bank Arena in Bakersfield, California. They wasted no time getting right down to it.

That’s because Ilja Dragunov and Wes Lee opened the show with their number one contender match, the winner advancing to the big show for what would be a rematch for either.

Predictably enough, they had a fun match that the Performance Center rewarded with “this is awesome” and, at one point, “both these guys” chants. In the end, only one could advance, however, and after a hard fought back-and-forth battle, it was Dragunov scoring the pinfall.

“All those wars finally caught up to Lee,” Booker T said.

Here’s the updated No Mercy card:

• NXT Championship: Carmelo Hayes (c) vs. Ilja Dragunov
• North American Championship: Dominik Mysterio (c) vs. Mustafa Ali
• Heritage Cup: Noam Dar (c) vs. Global Heritage Invitational winner