The main event was a steel cage match, in which The Public Enemy (Rocco Rock and Johnny Grunge) squared off against The Gangstas (New Jack and Mustafa).

[2] The Gangstas (New Jack and Mustafa Saed) debuted in ECW at Barbed Wire, Hoodies & Chokeslams, where they attacked The Public Enemy (Rocco Rock and Johnny Grunge) after their scheduled World Tag Team Championship defense against The Bad Breed (Axl Rotten and Ian Rotten) was cancelled by Bill Alfonso.

[4] On the July 4 episode of Hardcore TV, it was announced that Sandman would defend the title against Rotten at Heat Wave.

Later that night, Pitbulls showed up after Raven and Richards retained the World Tag Team Championship against Tommy Dreamer and Luna Vachon.

[7] The fifth bout was a tag team match pitting Eddie Guerrero and Taz against 2 Cold Scorpio and Dean Malenko.

After a back and forth action, Sandman hit a Bitchin' Leg Drop on Rotten and pinned him to retain the title.

"[7] The main event was a steel cage match in which the Public Enemy (Johnny Grunge and Rocco Rock) took on the Gangstas (Mustafa and New Jack).

Rock executed a moonsault from the cage onto Jack onto a stack of tables and then Mustafa sprayed something in Grunge's eyes and pinned him for the win.

[7] Heat Wave received negative reviews from critics, although many appreciated Tommy Dreamer's chair shot on Raven as the true incident of the show that was worth watching.

"[7] Scott Keith of 411Mania wrote "this was the Raven v. Tommy show, which provided for some entertaining segments, although the wrestling sucked", with "Mild recommendation to avoid unless you’ve never seen the Chairshot Heard Round the World.

[9] On the July 25 episode of Hardcore TV, Raven's Nest attacked Pitbulls after their match until Luna Vachon and Dreamer made the save.