WWE NXT Deadline live results: Iron Survivor Challenge debuts
A new match type makes its debut as NXT Deadline takes place tonight.
Two Iron Survivor Challenge matches are set for the show. The bout is a 25-minute match with an innovative rule set. The winner of the men’s Iron Survivor Challenge will become the number one contender to the NXT Championship, while the winner of the women’s match becomes the number one contender to the NXT Women’s Championship.
Carmelo Hayes, Grayson Waller, Joe Gacy, JD McDonagh, and Axiom are the men’s Iron Survivor Challenge participants. The women’s Iron Survivor Challenge will feature Roxanne Perez, Cora Jade, Zoey Stark, Kiana James, and Indi Hartwell.
Two championships will also be on the line tonight. Bron Breakker is defending his NXT Championship against Apollo Crews. The NXT Tag Team titles will be up for grabs as main roster stars The New Day challenge Pretty Deadly.
Plus, Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn face off in a grudge match.
Tonight’s show streams live on Peacock/WWE Network starting at 8 p.m. Eastern time. There will also be a pre-show airing at 7:30 p.m. Eastern.
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Kickoff Show —
The kickoff show panel was McKenzie Mitchell, Sam Roberts, and our own Denise Salcedo.
Kiana James was backstage with her assistant. Brooks Jensen showed up with flowers and bumbled his way through a conversation with James. He thanked her for the tickets to the show and wished her luck in the Iron Survivor match.
JD McDonagh was in the back reading when Kelly Kincaid asked him what he was reading. He was studying how to hurt people, and let us know that he and Axiom would be starting the men’s Iron Survivor match.
The panel announced that the Women’s Iron Survivor Match would be starting the show.
Main Show —
Roxanne Perez (2) defeated Zoey Stark (1), Indi Hartwell (1), Cora Jade (1), Kiana James (0) in the Iron Survivor Challenge Match to determine the #1 Contender to the NXT Women’s Championship
Despite the confusing page of rules, this match was fairly straightforward. It was an energetic match that had the crowd red-hot, and got a new challenger set up to try and end Mandy Rose’s Sammartino-esque chokehold on the title. The Iron Survivor match is one-for-one so far.
Roxanne Perez and Zoey Stark are the first two entrants. There is a scoreboard on the screen and in the building with the running clock and everyone’s names. Perez went for a series of rollups, but none of them scored a fall. Stark and Perez did some grappling to no end. The first 5 minutes passed, and Kiana James came in at third.
James ran wild, landing big moves on both women. She picked up Perez for a slam, but Stark drilled her with a dropkick. Stark sent Perez to the floor, but James dumped her to the floor afterwards. Stark stomped Perez into the steps and threw her into the ring, but James sent Stark into the post and stole the pin for a nearfall. Perez fired up, but rolled right into a big kick from Stark. Stark hit her big twisting knee for the first fall of the match. The clock hit ten minutes, and Cora Jade entered fourth, taunting Perez in the penalty box.
Jade ran wild until Perez’s 90 seconds expired. Perez then fired up on everyone. She went for Pop Rocks on James, but Jade hit a superkick to break it up. Jade then rolled up James to score a fall and send James to the Penalty Box. Stark put a crossface on Perez, but Jade locked an Indian Deathlock on Stark to break it up. Perez then locked a figure four on Jade’s head to have a three-way submission locked in when James came out of the penalty box. 15 minutes passed, leading to Indi Hartwell coming in last. All five women are in now.
Hartwell ran wild on everyone, hitting a big boot on Perez to quickly score a fall. Stark and Jade traded shots until James sent Stark to the floor. James hit a step-up moonsault on the barricade to Stark and sent her into the crowd. Perez came out of the penalty box and ran wild on everyone until Stark cut her off. Stark went for her knee again, but Perez rolled her up and got her first fall.
Four minutes left, and everyone has a fall except James. Everyone gets a shot in, with Perez hitting a dive onto Hartwell. Jade cannonballs into the crowd, and Stark springboard dives onto everyone with 3 minutes left. We get a finisher flurry, leading to Perez hitting Pop Rocks on Jade with 2 minutes left. Everyone races for falls as Jade sits in the penalty box. Perez ranas Hartwell to the floor with one minute left. James hits a Spanish Fly as Jade re-enters the match. Jade can’t score a fall, and the time runs out. Roxanne Perez wins the Iron Survivor Challenge.
– NXT announced a Vengeance Day PLE for February 4th, 2023.
– McKenzie Mitchell is backstage with Ivy Nile and Tatum Paxley. Nile is bummed that the Creed Brothers can’t wrestle Indus Sher tonight, but she was only looking out for them and their health. Kayden Carter and Katana Chance entered the frame. They say Nile and Paxley can have a fight whenever they want.
Isla Dawn defeated Alba Fyre
A solid midcard match that devolved into NXT spooky mystical nonsense. Isla Dawn misted the ref on Tuesday. She touched his leg tonight and he started vomiting black goop? Is this a lifelong illness? Can NXT be held liable for this? Absolute junk.
The promo for this match was these two women talking complete gobbledy-gook.
Fyre went after Dawn to start off, tackling her to the floor. Dawn cut off a dive with a boot, but back in the ring Fyre caught Dawn in a Koji Clutch. Dawn got out and drove Fyre into the buckle. Running Meteora from Dawn got a two count. Dawn kept control by hitting a running boot into the corner. Meteora off the top rope only got 2.
Fyre sent Dawn to the floor and hit a step-up cannonball to the floor. Big brainbuster from Fyre got a nearfall before Dawn cut her off with a kick. Fyre sent Dawn to the floor and hit another dive before planting her with a Gory Bomb on the floor. In the ring, Dawn kicked out at 2 and smiled at Fyre.
Fyre hit a Swanton for the win, but the ref was…choking? Vomiting? He had black stuff in his mouth. Fyre hit a kick for a nearfall when another ref came in. Dawn sent Fyre into the exposed turnbuckle and hit her move to win. What is this nonsense?
– The New Day is in the back with McKenzie Mitchell. They put over Pretty Deadly, but say they will become Triple Crown Tag Team Champions.
NXT Tag Team Title Match: The New Day defeated Pretty Deadly to win the titles
A quite fun tag team title match, and a surprising finish to boot. This crowd adores New day, and more New Day on NXT can only be a good thing.
Pretty Deadly took control when Prince cut off Kingston when the ref was taken. Kingston landed on his feet on a catapult and initiated a twerk-off — I’m not making this up — before cutting Prince off with a leg lariat. A tag team combination from New Day ends in a Kingston splash and a nearfall. Wilson tagged in and got dropkicked out of mid-air by Woods. Kingston went for a dive but got cut off by Prince. Kingston knocked Prince off the apron and dived onto them.
Prince hooked Kingston coming back in the ring, allowing Wilson to hit a tag team hotshot on the ropes. Prince sent Kingston into the post and worked on him in their corner. Wilson cut Kingston off from a tag, but Kingston hit a float-over DDT and got the hot tag to Woods.
Woods ran wild hitting a rolling forearm and a dropkick, and took both men out with a squisher/dropkick combination. Tornado DDT from Woods on Wilson got a nearfall. Prince dropped Woods over the ropes and hit a lariat for 2. Prince cut off a forearm exchange with a forearm to the back of the neck, leading to an assisted codebreaker from Wilson for a nearfall. Pretty Deadly try the Eddie Guerrero fake belt shot, but it leads to a game of hot potato with the title belt and all four men down.
Woods ends up getting hit with the other title belt for a nearfall. Spilled Milk got cut off, with Kingston taking out Wilson with Trouble in Paradise on the floor. In the ring, the New Day hit the Midnight Hour to win the match and the NXT Tag Team Titles.
– Katana Chance and Kayden Carter talked to Odyssey Jones, Edris Enofe, and Malik Blade in the back. Jones has to wrestle Von Wagner on NXT, so the guys are gonna skip the afterparty and train. Chance and Carter walk into Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne, who claim that the champs are ducking them. Ivy Nile and Tatum Paxley jump Toxic Attraction from behind, and we brawl to a break.
– Someone is holding a Countdown to the New Year party on January 10th. It looked like Tiffany Stratton, but I don’t know for sure. Pretty late for a New Year’s party, but that’s their prerogative.
Grayson Waller (3) defeated JD McDonagh (0), Joe Gacy (2), Carmelo Hayes (2), Axiom (2) in an Iron Survivor Challenge Match to determine the #1 Contender to the NXT Championship
A legitimately fantastic match. A lot of people, myself included, mocked this idea. But the Iron Survivor Challenge is a winner of a concept. High energy, creative spots, and there is always something going on to keep your attention.
JD McDonagh and Axiom started fast, with Axiom avoiding a jump start from McDonagh and landing a massive dive. McDonagh cut off Axiom with a dropkick. McDonagh won a strike exchange, but Axiom cut off a powerbomb and hit a pair of kicks. Lariat to the back of the head from Axiom got a nearfall. Hesitation dropkick from Axiom got another nearfall as we approach the 4 minute mark. McDonagh drilled Axiom with a lariat of his own and followed it with a powerbomb for 2. They hit the 5 minute mark, bringing out Carmelo Hayes.
Hayes hit a massive springboard crossbody onto McDonagh and followed it with a springboard legdrop for 2. Axiom sent McDonagh into Hayes and made Hayes DDT him for a nearfall. Axiom went for a dive, but McDonagh cut him off. Hayes went for a springboard, but got superkicked in mid air. After a series of three-way spots, Hayes drops McDonagh on top of Axiom and scored the first fall on Axiom.
McDonagh and Hayes took each other out before Axiom re-entered the match with a crossbody on both men. More three-way spots lead to all three men down when the 10 minute mark passed and Grayson Waller came in and hit his roll-in stunner to pin both Axiom and McDonagh to score 2 falls in 30 seconds. Hayes and Waller got into a pinning predicament before Waller laid out Hayes with a forearm. Hayes booted Waller off the apron, but Waller hit his rolling stunner on the apron.
Axiom was set to come out of the penalty box, but decided to lock himself in with McDonagh and beat him up in the box until Waller cut him off. Hayes hit a falcon arrow on Axiom for a nearfall. Waller and Hayes got in each other’s way until Waller dropped Hayes on the announce table and cursed at Booker T on commentary. Axiom rolled up Waller to score a fall, then hit a destroyer and a Golden Ratio on McDonagh to score a second fall. 15 minutes in, Waller and Axiom have 2 falls, and Joe Gacy is entering the match.
Gacy ran wild and caught Axiom in a Rings of Saturn to quickly score his first fall as McDonagh and Waller came out of the penalty box. They beat up on Axiom in the penalty box. Gacy hit his handspring lariat on Hayes to score his second fall with 8 minutes left. Gacy took out Waller and McDonagh with a dive. McDonagh tried to keep the door shut and lock Axiom in the penalty box, but Axiom climbed out and moonsaulted onto the crowd. Hayes came out of the box and hit La Mistica on Waller for a nearfall, then transitioned into a crossface to score his second fall with 5 minutes left.
Gacy dropped Waller with a uranage on the steps. Bubba Bomb on Hayes and the Rings of Saturn from Gacy almost got a fall, but McDonagh broke it up. Gacy locked McDonagh in the Rings, but Axiom broke it up. Repeat sequence with Axiom, but double superkicks broke it up. One minute left, and we’re told that any ties lead to a sudden death overtime scenario. Hayes drops a big leg on Axiom, but got yanked out by Waller. Waller stole the fall from Hayes to take the lead with 30 seconds left. Waller dumped the other guys out of the ring, then ran away from Hayes to run the clock out. Grayson Waller won the Iron Survivor Challenge, and celebrated with a shoey. Aussie Aussie Aussie, indeed.
– NXT New Year’s Evil was announced for January 10th. Again, a bit late to celebrate New Year’s, but it’s not my company.
– Drew Gulak was in the back with McKenzie Mitchell. He says that he hasn’t reached his potential, but it starts with him. He’s back in NXT to grind and help develop talent he sees in NXT. Damon Kemp entered frame, and told Gulak that if he’s scouting, he can scout him in his match against Duke Hudson on NXT.
WWE NXT Title Match: Bron Breakker defeated Apollo Crews to retain
A solid main event to close out the show. They worked hard to show Breakker to be Crews’ equal in speed and agility, and Breakker was up to the task.
Big time entrance for Breakker, running through his title reigns so far.
These two fought over control of a knuckle lock before Crews broke the hold. Both men countered hip tosses as the announcers put these two over for their similarities. More stalemates lead to Crews getting frustrated and pushing Breakker. Crews got the first advantage with a dropkick and a moonsault from the apron to the floor. Senton over the ropes from Crews scored the first nearfall of the match.
Breakker took control with a gator roll into a suplex. He followed it with a standing moonsault for 2, then soared over the ropes with a tope. Crews caught Breakker off the ropes with a knee. Crews then zoned out, with the camera zooming in on his face, then zooming out like Okada hitting the Rainmaker pose. Crews must be watching his Ken Shamrock tapes. Crews took control with a trio of German suplexes for two.
Breakker tried to fight back, but a trio of powerbombs from Crews only got a nearfall. Crews went to the top and hit a frog splash for 2. Big splash from Crews landed, but a second one got ducked by Breakker. Breakker came back with shoulder blocks and a powerslam. Top rope bulldog from Breakker scored a nearfall. Crews reversed a military press and hit a DDT for 2.
Breakker got out of Crews’ big spinebuster and hit one of his own for a nearfall. Crews got out of the military press again and hit Breakker’s finisher on him for a nearfall. They both fire up, leading to Breakker slipping out of Crews’ spinebuster again and hitting a spear to win and retain the title.
After the match, Breakker got caught by Grayson Waller and his rolling stunner as the next challenger stood tall with the title.
A surprisingly good show. Not a lot of fat on it, with the defining Iron Survivor matches working out very well. Two solid title matches to boot make this show one to recommend, especially by NXT standards. Thumbs up.