diff --git a/Lib/test/support/__init__.py b/Lib/test/support/__init__.py
@@ -2416,7 +2416,7 @@ def _findwheel(pkgname):
     filenames = os.listdir(wheel_dir)
     filenames = sorted(filenames, reverse=True)  # approximate "newest" first
     for filename in filenames:
-        # filename is like 'setuptools-67.6.1-py3-none-any.whl'
+        # filename is like 'setuptools-70.3.0-py3-none-any.whl'
         if not filename.endswith(".whl"):
             continue
         prefix = pkgname + '-'
@@ -2425,10 +2425,10 @@ def _findwheel(pkgname):
     raise FileNotFoundError(f"No wheel for {pkgname} found in {wheel_dir}")
 
 
-# Context manager that creates a virtual environment, install setuptools and wheel in it
+# Context manager that creates a virtual environment, install setuptools in it
 # and returns the path to the venv directory and the path to the python executable
 @contextlib.contextmanager
-def setup_venv_with_pip_setuptools_wheel(venv_dir):
+def setup_venv_with_pip_setuptools(venv_dir):
     import shlex
     import subprocess
     from .os_helper import temp_cwd
@@ -2460,8 +2460,7 @@ def run_command(cmd):
 
         cmd = [python, '-X', 'dev',
                '-m', 'pip', 'install',
-               _findwheel('setuptools'),
-               _findwheel('wheel')]
+               _findwheel('setuptools')]
         run_command(cmd)
 
         yield python

diff --git a/Lib/test/test_cext/__init__.py b/Lib/test/test_cext/__init__.py
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ def test_build_limited_c11(self):
 
     def check_build(self, extension_name, std=None, limited=False):
         venv_dir = 'env'
-        with support.setup_venv_with_pip_setuptools_wheel(venv_dir) as python_exe:
+        with support.setup_venv_with_pip_setuptools(venv_dir) as python_exe:
             self._check_build(extension_name, python_exe,
                               std=std, limited=limited)
 

diff --git a/Lib/test/test_cppext/__init__.py b/Lib/test/test_cppext/__init__.py
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ def test_build_limited(self):
 
     def check_build(self, extension_name, std=None, limited=False):
         venv_dir = 'env'
-        with support.setup_venv_with_pip_setuptools_wheel(venv_dir) as python_exe:
+        with support.setup_venv_with_pip_setuptools(venv_dir) as python_exe:
             self._check_build(extension_name, python_exe,
                               std=std, limited=limited)
 

@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ def setUpClass(cls):
         cls.addClassCleanup(shutil.rmtree, cls.library_dir)
 
         with contextlib.ExitStack() as stack:
-            python_exe = stack.enter_context(support.setup_venv_with_pip_setuptools_wheel("venv"))
+            python_exe = stack.enter_context(support.setup_venv_with_pip_setuptools("venv"))
             sitepackages = subprocess.check_output(
                 [python_exe, "-c", "import sysconfig; print(sysconfig.get_path('platlib'))"],
                 text=True,

diff --git a/Lib/test/wheeldata/setuptools-67.6.1-py3-none-any.whl b/Lib/test/wheeldata/setuptools-67.6.1-py3-none-any.whl
diff --git a/Lib/test/wheeldata/setuptools-70.3.0-py3-none-any.whl b/Lib/test/wheeldata/setuptools-70.3.0-py3-none-any.whl
diff --git a/Lib/test/wheeldata/wheel-0.43.0-py3-none-any.whl b/Lib/test/wheeldata/wheel-0.43.0-py3-none-any.whl
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Tests/2025-04-24-13-19-17.gh-issue-132866.8X_Zzw.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Tests/2025-04-24-13-19-17.gh-issue-132866.8X_Zzw.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Updated the setuptools.whl used in tests to 70.3.0, in order to drop the
+wheel.whl.
Original file line number	Diff line number	Diff line change
		@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
		Updated the setuptools.whl used in tests to 70.3.0, in order to drop the
		wheel.whl.