The men’s and women’s Iron Survivor Challenges return as part of tonight’s WWE NXT Deadline from the Armory in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The winners will get title matches at January’s New Year’s Evil.
The men’s Challenge will feature Wes Lee vs. Je’Von Evans vs. Nathan Frazer vs. Ethan Page vs. Eddy Thorpe while the women’s Challenge will see Sol Ruca vs. Stephanie Vaquer vs. Zaria vs. Giulia vs. Wren Sinclair.
The NXT Championship will be on the line as Trick Williams defends against Ridge Holland. Williams is looking for his third title defense while Holland is chasing his first NXT singles title.
The NXT Tag Team titles will also be defended as Nathan Frazer & Axiom defend against Myles Borne & Tavion Heights of the No Quarter Catch Crew. Frazier & Axiom have defended the gold five times.
The main card is rounded out by a NXT Underground fight between Lola Vice and Jaida Parker.
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Countdown to NXT Deadline 2024
– As the Countdown show kicked off, we opened with an announcement from NXT General Manager Ava, saying that we’ll have a replacement in the Men’s Iron Survivor Match tonight since Eddy Thorpe is unable to compete due to the attack he suffered this past Tuesday on NXT on The CW.
– Wes Lee was interviewed about the Iron Survivor Match by Sarah Schreiber. He denied attacking Eddy Thorpe, but said that Thorpe should be happy that he won’t be winning Iron Survivor.
– While the Countdown panel talked about Trick Williams vs. Ridge Holland, we saw a clip from Williams on Instagram where he said that he’d been cleared to defend his NXT Championship tonight.
– The NXT Tag Team Champions FrAxiom were interviewed about their busy night ahead of them this evening at Deadline, with Nathan Frazer set to compete in the Men’s Iron Survivor and also defending the Tag Titles against the No-Quarter Catch Crew.
– During the preview of the NXT Underground match between Lola Vice & Jaida Parker, we got separate remarks from both competitors ahead of this showdown.
– Just as the Countdown show wrapped, we got word from the Armory that Ava has found a fifth competitor for the Men’s Iron Survivor Match, but we didn’t find out just yet.
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NXT Deadline 2024
– After the Then, Now, Forever signature, we were welcomed to the show by Vic Joseph, live from the Armory in Minneapolis, MN. We got a look at various NXT wrestlers arriving at the arena before the cold open began.
Men’s Iron Survivor Challenge: Oba Femi (3), def. Wes Lee (1), Je’von Evans (2), Nathan Frazer (1), and Ethan Page (2)
Evans drew the first spot in the match, while Lee drew the second spot in the match to start us off. Things started off fast with Evans going for the early pinfall attempt. He followed that up with a dropkick to Lee to maintain the early advantage.
Standing Shooting Star by Evans was easily kicked out by Lee, but the former Rascalz member regained momentum with a unique back suplex from the corner. Lee maintained control over Evans with repeated body shots to the back. Things picked up as Evans hit his springboard hurricanrana, but was met by a double stomp from Lee. That’s followed up by a suicide dive to the outside.
Evans answered back with punches to Lee, followed by a spinout slam for the near-fall. Evans’ cutter attempt was caught by Lee as the time almost ran out. With the time just about to hit the five minute mark, Lee got a cheap rope-assisted pin to score the first point in the match, which sent Evans to the penalty box.
Nathan Frazer has entered Iron Survivor
Frazer ran in and had the clear upper hand on Lee as he used his acrobatic offense to leave Lee rattled. At ringside, while Lee and Frazer brawled, Evans’ time in the penalty box ended and he caught both Lee and Frazer with a dive over the top rope.
The action continued in the ring with all three men exchanging offense. Evans slammed Lee with a modified pumphandle slam for the two-count. Evans sent Lee to the outside, but it left him open for a superplex attempt by Frazer. That failed, as Evans blocked it, however, Frazer nailed the Slingblade afterwards. Lots of fast paced action as we reached the nine-minute mark of the match.
Frazer soared through the middle rope to take both Lee and Evans down with a suicide dive as we reached the ten-minute mark and another entrant coming in.
Ethan Page has entered Iron Survivor
As Page entered the ring, he got immediately rolled up by Frazer for the 1, 2, 3, which gave one half of the NXT Tag Team Champions a fall, and sent Page to the penalty box. Once Page’s penalty time was done, he returned the favor and rolled Frazer up to score a fall of his own.
Oba Femi has entered Iron Survivor
Right away, Femi made his presence known and scored his first fall at the expense of Evans, who once again took a seat in the penalty box. Femi planted Frazer with a sitdown powerbomb and looked to have another fall, but Page pulled out the referee at the last second.
As Page argued with the referee, Femi stepped outside the ring and got in Page’s face and he got slammed into the penalty box door. With Evans stuck in the box as the time expired, he scaled the penalty box and leapt on to Femi and Frazer. He then dropped Evans to score his first fall. Now all five competitors were tied at one.
Evans and Femi faced off in the ring for a bit before Frazer entered the fray and teamed up with Evans against Femi in the corner. The former North American Champion overpowered both men and placed him on his shoulders. Lee stepped into the ring and kicked Femi as Frazer and Evans joined in on this impromptu superkick party.
Femi, however, stayed dominant and planted Evans with his powerbomb. Page snuck in from behind with the sneaky rollup to take the lead with 2 falls to everyone else’s 1. Just as quickly as Page’s lead was gained, it was lost as Evans got him in a pin. This now forced Page to be in the same penalty box as Femi.
Naturally, Page was scared to be in the same penalty box as Femi, and with good reason. Femi proceeded to make Page pay for his skulduggery by beating him down inside the box just as his penalty time wrapped.
As the match reached its final 90 seconds, the action just spilled out in in the ring as Femi remained as dominant as ever. With one minute remaining, Femi fought off both Frazer and Lee as he nailed a double chokeslam to score a double fall to take the lead. Five seconds to go, Evans hit his cutter on Femi, but he couldn’t get the pin in time.
A damn good way to kick things off at Deadline. These Iron Survivor matches have been fantastic and this one was no exception. The return of Oba Femi was expected, but very much welcomed. His presence was sorely missed and with a NXT Title match in his future, we’re in for something big in the coming weeks, pardon the pun.
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– We got remarks from Lexis King, who said that Minneapolis was a place that had a place in his heart, but one that brought unpleasant memories. It was where he was left on the side of the road as a kid, as King said it was worth it to be out in the cold because nothing felt better than the warm air of satisfaction.
NXT Underground Match: Lola Vice def. Jaida Parker
With no ropes for the ring and ringside being surrounded by several people in matching black shirts (said to be “fans” asked to be part of the match), both Parker and Vice made their way for this unique Underground contest.
Vice immediately started off with a kick to Parker’s gut before she mounted him for multiple punches. Parker recovered and slammed down Vice. That advantage got cut off as Vice sent Parker to the outside. Parker regained momentum by sending Vice into the apron as she repeatedly dropped her foe in the ring with slams.
Vice applied a triangle submission on Parker, but got overpowered with a powerbomb. As both women got back up on their feet, Vice responded with repeated strikes. Parker responded with a hard elbow to the face of Vice, but she got caught in an ankle lock afterwards.
Parker reached out for one of the “fans” to break the hold, as Vice then kicked that “fan” in the chest. Outside the ring, Vice tried to go for a spinning backfist, but Parker dodged, which caused Vice’s hand to make hard contact with the LED ringpost.
Inside the ring, Parker attempted to seize the opportunity as she targeted that injured hand of Vice by taking off the glove off said hand. She then put that glove she stole from Vice on her own hand as Parker continued her assault. Parker maintained the assault on the exposed hand of Vice as she grabbed a black belt from ringside.
Parker wrapped the black belt around Vice’s exposed hand used it for a submission around the ring post. Vice refused to submit as she turned it around and sent Parker into the ring post. Vice used the belt to briefly catch Parker flatfooted, but a headbutt followed by the Samoan drop brought things back in Parker’s favour.
Outside the ring, Parker scaled the ringpost and dropped onto Vice, who was splayed across the ringsteps. Inside the ring, Parker mistakenly went for a pinfall, despite the fact that there were no pins in this match.
Vice reversed a Parker submission into a sleeper hold, but got slammed on her back. Parker grabbed a brick from outside the ring and looked to use it as a weapon, but she got caught with a strike from Vice. As Parker went to grab the brick, Vice caught her with the backfist, and she put Parker to sleep with the Anaconda submission to end the match.
A fine enough match that certainly took advantage of the unique Underground gimmick, and it had the suitable amount of brutality for a match that featured someone like Vice, who has a strong MMA background.
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– Backstage, FrAxiom commiserated with one another, as Axiom promised to do most of the heavy lifting in their upcoming NXT Tag Title defense against No-Quarter Catch Club, with Frazer banged up after the Iron Survivor Challenge.
NXT Tag Team Championship: FrAxiom (Nathan Frazer & Axiom) def. No-Quarter Catch Club (Myles Borne & Tavion Heights)
Frazer agreed to start off the match despite being banged up. Borne took down Frazer with a shoulder block, which sent Frazer to tag Axiom into the match.
Heights was tagged in and he opted to use his mat wrestling prowess in an attempt to get the advantage over Axiom. At one point, Axiom tried to tag Frazer, who was in no hurry to get into the match, which gave Heights the opening to slam down his championship foe.
Frazer finally tagged in as he and Axiom hit a nice tag team move on Borne. The OTM duo appeared at ringside to get a closer look of the action, which allowed NQCC to gain some momentum. Things broke down in the ring as FrAxiom took down both Borne and Heights with repeated dives. Frazer was momentarily stopped by his hurt back, which allowed Heights to take down Axiom. Inside the ring, Heights threw Frazer into the OTM tandem, which led to them being escorted out of the ringside area.
The No-Quarter Catch Crew continued to have command of the match as Borne worked over the banged-up Frazer in the ring. Frazer’s attempt to make a tag to Axiom got cut down as Borne threw him down for a reverse-forward Fallaway Slam of sorts. Heights tagged himself in again nailed a powerful powerslam on Frazer.
Frazer tried to create some separation between him and Heights, but the Olympic wrestler snuffed that out with a Dominator for the two. Frazer finally was able to reach Axiom for the tag after he warded off Borne. Axiom was a house of fire as he teed off on Heights and Borne with a flurry of furious offense.
Heights got caught in a submission by Axiom, but he escaped and overpowered his masked opponent with a fierce slam for the near-fall. Heights rolled through and dropped Axiom with an impressive Death Valley Driver for yet another two-count. Axiom managed to stop the NQCC onslaught by sending Heights outside, which gave him a chance to tag Frazer in.
Frazer leapt off the rope for a springboard 450 on Heights, but that wasn’t enough. He ascended to the top and looked to have Heights at his mercy, but he got flattened with a release German suplex. NQCC nailed a double team powerbomb, but Axiom with the last-second rescue that prolonged this match.
With Borne on the top rope, he got caught with the avalanche Spanish Fly by Axiom, followed by Frazer’s Phoenix Splash. Heights broke up the count at two.
Axiom accidentally nailed Frazer with a missile dropkick, as he then got crushed by a clothesline by Borne. Heights dropped Frazer across the apron as he and Borne hit their double team DDT. 1… 2… NO! Heights got caught with a Canadian Destroyer as a series of rollups between Borne and Axiom ended with Axiom getting the pin on Borne to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat once more.
The story of FrAxiom continuing to defy the odds, their bickering, and accidental friendly fire was on full display here in this contest and it’s genuinely enjoyable stuff, which has led to their matches being exciting. This was another one on that list. Just tremendous tag team action once again from Axiom and Nathan Frazer. Both Borne and Heights also showed up and showed out here too. Fantastic match.
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– Je’von Evans was interviewed about just coming up short in Iron Survivor, as Wes Lee admonished him for not being upset. Lee suckerpunched Evans afterwards.
NXT Championship Match: Trick Williams def. Ridge Holland
Holland started off strong as he pounced on Williams in the corner, followed by an overhead suplex. He looked to hit the Redeemer DDT, but Williams fought out of it immediately. He then took down Holland with a spear, as he continued to punch away at his challenger. Holland floored Williams with a clothesline to the back of the head.
Williams answered with a clothesline of his own as he sent Holland to the outside of the ring. Ridge got another clothesline on Williams, but he got sent face-first onto the LED ringpost. Williams caught Holland with a neckbreaker for a two-count. The NXT Champion maintained control with a splash in the corner, but whiffed on a second attempt at a splash.
Holland took advantage of a neck guillotine on Williams as he began to target that injured neck of his wounded foe. Neckbreaker by Holland but Williams managed to kick out. He then trapped the Champion in a Tree of Woe position as he wrenched at Williams’ neck from outside the ring. Holland continued his assault on a defenseless Williams as he then tied it across the top rope.
Williams tried to stop Holland’s momentum with a surprise DDT, which left both men down and out in the ring. As both Williams and Holland got back to their feet, the Champion began his rally with a series of kicks, followed by the flapjack to Holland. Book-End attempt by Williams got countered into a Crossface by Holland.
Attempted Trickshot knee countered by Holland with a double dip of slams on Williams. One, two… no dice. Holland headed up top, but Williams got out of the way at the last second as he then nailed Holland with a kick to the head.
Across opposite corners, Williams and Holland with simultaneous kicks to one another that hit their mark as both men fall down. At ringside, Holland tackled Williams onto the apron as he tore apart the announce table. His attempt at a powerbomb got countered by Williams. Inside the ring, Holland dodged Williams, which caused him to get caught across the top and middle ropes by the neck. Holland took advantaged and hit the Redeemer. One, two… Trick kicked out!
In the closing moments, Holland missed with a shoulder thrust into the corner as Williams took him down with the spinning kick, followed by the Trickshot knee and the one, two, three to remain the ace of NXT.
Probably not as strong as what came before it tonight on the Deadline card, but it was still a rather enjoyable match, even with the crowd not quite into it as they were for other matches. This was basically a match designed to give Trick a successful and strong title defense ahead of his upcoming showdown with Oba Femi in the near future.
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– Ethan Page was interviewed about his loss earlier tonight. He complained that it took eighteen years for him to reach the mountaintop and that he doesn’t know what to do next after having failed again.
– Elsewhere, NXT GM Ava announced that Je’von Evans and Wes Lee will go one on one, and that New Years Evil in a couple of weeks will be live in Los Angeles. Tiffany Stratton paid a visit to Ava’s office and hinted that she might cash in her Money in the Bank contract when Roxanne Perez defends her NXT Title at New Years Evil against the Women’s Iron Survivor Winner.
Women’s Iron Survivor Challenge: Giulia def. Wren Sinclair, Stephanie Vaquer, Zaria, and Sol Ruca
Giulia and Sinclair were the first two to open this match as the bell sounded on our main event.
Sinclair tried for an early pin, as Giulia responded with a pin of her own. We then got a test of strength between the two that Sinclair surprisingly able to gain a momentary advantage on before Giulia turned it around. Back and forth pinfall exchanges between the two opponents ended with a stalemate.
Some really good mat wrestling between Giulia and Sinclair here in the early stages of the match as neither woman could get a definitive upper hand so far. As we got to the four-minute mark, Giulia had Sinclair in another submission hold. Once the clock hit 4:50, Giulia tried for a submission but couldn’t get Sinclair to submit as another entrant entered.
Sol Ruca has entered Iron Survivor
Ruca started off furiously with an amazing double dropkick to Giulia and Sinclair. She then lifted Giulia and spun her around before she stood on her for the surfboard. She slammed Sinclair on top of Giulia., but found herself caught in a submission by Sinclair.
Giulia doubled up Ruca and Sinclair with a dual submission on both women. We got another chain of submissions between the three women for a brief moment. Fujiwara armbar by Sinclair on Ruca is followed by a kneebar on Giulia. Some really nice submission holds being dished out here as we reached eight minutes in this match.
Sinclair sped things up with a takedown on Ruca followed by the body splash. Action was fast and furious as Giulia scored the first fall of the match with a Northern Lights Bomb on Sinclair as we got another entrant entering.
Zaria has entered Iron Survivor
Zaria unleashed her power game on Giulia and Ruca as she took both of them down with a double suplex, two for the price of one. And speaking of two for the price of one, Ruca managed to hit a double Sol Snatcher on Giulia and Zaria, but couldn’t get a pin on them as they rolled out. As Sinclair got out of her penalty, she instantly fell victim to a Sol Snatcher from Ruca and the one, two, three, which sent Sinclair back to penalty.
Ruca and Zaria fought it out on the apron as a German suplex attempt was blocked. Giulia joined in and hit a double team powerbomb on Zaria through the announce table! Sinclair left the penalty box and tried to get an easy pin, but to no avail. With Giulia and Sinclair fighting at ringside, Ruca did a somersault splash over the top rope onto the two opponents.
Stephanie Vaquer has entered Iron Survivor
We now have all five Iron Survivor competitors in the fray as Vaquer went after Sinclair and Ruca across opposite corners. Sinclair tried to kick away at Vaquer, but got slammed for his trouble. A breakup by Giulia led to a staredown between her and Vaquer. Before there could be any fighting between the two long-time rivals-turned-friends, Zaria dragged Vaquer out of the ring and threw her into the penalty box.
As Zaria cleared out the ring, she got caught in a sleeper hold by Giulia. However, the Australian was too powerful as she placed Giulia on her shoulder and hit a cannonball onto a prone Vaquer in the corner. Zaria with the F5 on Giulia and she was on the board now, tied with Ruca and Giulia for one falls a piece.
Zaria headed up top and got Sinclair and Ruca with a double moonsault that took both women down. As Giulia’s penalty ended, she went right after Zaria and took Ruca and Sinclair down with a double DDT. Double missile dropkick on Sinclair and Ruca, which itself doubled as a senton onto Zaria. What a move.
Vaquer re-entered the contest with a kick to the back of Sinclair’s head as she and Giulia finally got a chance to face off. They took down Ruca and Zaria and traded headbutts briefly before Vaquer hit his signature head slam with her legs.
Things began to get crazy as Vaquer scored a pin on Sinclair to create a four-way tie with two minutes to go. Ruca landed a springboard double clothesline on Vaquer and Giulia as we reached the last minute of play with Sinclair leaving the penalty box.
Uncharted territory as Sinclair got a pin on Ruca as we got a five way tie momentarily. With about 30 seconds to go, things picked up immensely as Giulia scored the Arriverderci knee on Zaria to get the last-second lead. Vaquer tried in vain to tie things up, but time ran out on her. Giulia is your Iron Survivor.
As expected, the women knocked it out of the park and this was by far the match of the night for me. This was the perfect showcase for how top-heavy and deep NXT’s women’s division is. As the action picked up with all five women in the ring, it just became a whirlwind to the finish and I enjoyed the sense of urgency that took over by the end. A hell of a main event to end a solid night of action for WWE’s silver and black brand.
