NXT Deadline (2025)

The 2025 NXT Deadline (stylized as DEADL1NE), also promoted as NXT Deadline: San Antonio, was a professional wrestling livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was the fourth annual Deadline held for wrestlers from the promotion's developmental brand NXT as well as partner promotions Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) and Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide. The event took place on Saturday, December 6, 2025, at the Boeing Center at Tech Port in San Antonio, Texas and was the first Deadline to broadcast on Netflix in international markets.

The event is based around the Iron Survivor Challenge for men and women, a 25-minute five-person match in which a wrestler attempts to score the most falls in order to win and earn a match for the NXT Championship and NXT Women's Championship, respectively at NXT: New Year's Evil. Deadline was the first WWE livestreaming event in-ring match debut of former TNA wrestler Joe Hendry as a full-time member of the WWE roster.

Five matches were contested at the event. In the main event, Je'Von Evans won the men's Iron Survivor Challenge, while Kendal Grey won the women's Iron Survivor Challenge. In other prominent matches, Oba Femi defeated Ricky Saints to win the NXT Championship in the opening bout. The event also saw the return of Tony D'Angelo after a five-month hiatus.

The event received generally positive reviews, with the main event garnering universal acclaim as well as both the opening match and the women’s Iron Survivor Challenge receiving praise.

Deadline is an annual professional wrestling livestreaming event held in December by the American promotion WWE for its developmental brand NXT since 2022. The event is based around the Iron Survivor Challenge for both the men and women, which is a five-person match in which a wrestler attempts to score the most falls before the 25-minute time limit (the "deadline") expires to earn a future match for the NXT Championship and NXT Women's Championship, respectively.^[1]

On October 25, 2025, at NXT Halloween Havoc, WWE announced that the fourth Deadline would be held on Saturday, December 6, 2025, at the Boeing Center at Tech Port in San Antonio, Texas. The event was available to livestream on Peacock in the United States, Netflix in most international markets, and the WWE Network in any remaining countries that have not yet transferred to Netflix due to pre-existing contracts. This marked the first Deadline to livestream on Netflix following the WWE Network's merger under the service in January in those areas.^[2]

The event included five matches that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the NXT brand, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television program, NXT.^[3][4]

At Week 1 of NXT: Gold Rush on November 18, NXT General Manager Ava announced that the participants in the men's and women's Iron Survivor Challenge matches would be selected by John Cena at Week 2 of Gold Rush.^[5] There, Cena announced that the men's participants would be Je'Von Evans, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's (TNA) X Division Champion Leon Slater, Joe Hendry, Dion Lennox, and the last spot would be determined by a match between Trick Williams against Myles Borne, where Borne won. Cena also announced that the women's participants would be Sol Ruca, Lola Vice, Kelani Jordan, Jordynne Grace, and WWE Evolve Women's Champion Kendal Grey.^[6] The following week, a eight-man tag team match took place between Evans, Slater, Hendry, and Borne against DarkState (Lennox, Cutler James, Osiris Griffin, and Saquon Shugars), with the stipulation that had DarkState won, Lennox would choose his entrance spot in the men's Iron Survivor Challenge, however, had Evans, Slater, Hendry, and Borne's team won, whoever made the pin would choose their entrance spot. The latter team won, with Borne making the pin.^[7]

At NXT No Mercy, Ricky Saints defeated Oba Femi to win the NXT Championship.^[8] More than a month later, on the November 11 episode of NXT after Saints successfully defended the title, Femi returned, staring down Saints, wanting a rematch. The following week at Week 1 of NXT: Gold Rush, Femi interrupted Saints, and after some exchange of words, Saints agreed to defend the title in a rematch against Femi at Deadline.^[6] The following week, during the contract signing of the match, NXT General Manager Ava announced that the match would open Deadline, marking the first time that an NXT Championship match would open an NXT livestreaming event.^[7] On the December 5 episode of SmackDown, Femi and Saints were called out by SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis, with Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes announcing that the winner of the NXT Championship match would face him at Saturday Night's Main Event XLII.^[9]

At Week 1 of NXT: Gold Rush, during Tatum Paxley's NXT Women's Championship defense, Paxley was betrayed by her stablemates of The Culling (Niko Vance, Shawn Spears, and Izzi Dame) after Dame attacked Paxley, costing her the title.^[5] Two weeks later on NXT, Dame explained that she betrayed Paxley because she did not take her advice, referring to the numerous times Dame told Paxley to not give away free title matches. Dame also said that Paxley acted like The Culling was not good enough for her, while Dame stated that she was the reason why Paxley became champion and the reason that Paxley was no longer champion. After that, Dame also revealed that she would be facing Paxley at Deadline.^[7]

At Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide's (AAA) Alianzas on November 2, Ethan Page and Chelsea Green defeated Mr. Iguana and La Hiedra to win the AAA World Mixed Tag Team Championship.^[10] Three weeks later on Alianzas, Page and Green retained the title against Iguana and Lola Vice after Page hit Iguana with a kendo stick.^[11] On the December 2 episode of NXT when Page was about to leave, NXT General Manager Ava reminded Page that he had not defended his NXT North American Championship since NXT Halloween Havoc. Page then stated that nobody wants to face him, however, Ava stated she found someone who did, before introducing Iguana, who stole Page's car. It was subsequently announced that Page would defend his title against Iguana at Deadline.^[7]

The opening match saw Ricky Saints defend the NXT Championship against Oba Femi. Saints attempted to gain an early advantage over the larger challenger by employing technical maneuvers, including a wristlock and the Old School. However, Femi's power quickly took over, which he used to shut down Saints' crossbody attempt with a backbreaker and a press slam. Saints eventually mounted a major comeback with a combination of a hurricanrana and a spear for a dramatic near-fall, followed by a stunner. The brawl intensified outside the ring when Saints pulled the top rope down, sending Femi crashing out, and later executed a DDT on the steel steps after Femi collided with the ring post. Back in the ring, Femi was able to block Saints' attempt to hoist him and converted it into a jackknife powerbomb for a close two-count. Femi finally secured the victory and became a two-time NXT Champion by catching a charging Saints and delivering the Fall From Grace. As a result of the win, Femi also earned a Champion vs. Champion match against Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes at Saturday Night's Main Event XLII on December 13.^[12]

The next match was the Women's Iron Survivor Challenge between Kelani Jordan, Sol Ruca, Jordynne Grace, Lola Vice, and the reigning WWE Evolve Women's Champion Kendal Grey. The contest began with technical exchanges between Grey and Jordan. Grey scored the first fall at the 4:53 mark, pinning Jordan after a snap powerslam. Jordan later evened the score by rolling up Grey for a pin. Vice then immediately scored a point on the returning Grey. Grey scored her second point by putting Grace in a roll-up for a pinfall. Grace scored her first point by pinning Jordan. Ruca entered the match but was immediately attacked on the outside by Jordan, sustaining a knee injury. Ruca later returned with a knee brace and quickly scored two falls by pinning Jordan and Vice. The final minutes saw a flurry of scoring, with Grace pinning Jordan after a Blue Thunder Bomb and Vice pinning Grey, resulting in all five competitors being tied with two points. In the closing moments, Jordan landed a 450 Splash on Vice, but Grey quickly capitalized, immediately following up with the Shades of Grey on Vice to grab the pinfall, scoring her decisive third point just as the time expired. Grey won the 2025 Women's Iron Survivor Challenge.^[12]

The third match was the Ethan Page's NXT North American Championship defense against AAA's Mr. Iguana. Iguana utilized mind games and theatrics, including playing dead and using his puppet as a distraction. Iguana managed to counter Page's offense and used a hurricanrana to send Page outside the ring. Page regained control by throwing Iguana into the steel steps. After returning to the ring, Iguana used his puppet to pinch Page's hand, temporarily enraging him. Page threw the puppet up the ramp, causing Iguana to pop up with renewed fury, leading to a DDT. Page attempted a Super Ego's Edge from the top turnbuckle, but Iguana countered it into a super hurricanrana. Iguana tried a top-rope maneuver but was caught and thrown off by Page. Page then executed the Twisted Grin to secure the pinfall victory.^[12]

The next match was between Tatum Paxley and Izzi Dame (accompanied by Shawn Spears and Niko Vance). The match began with interference before the bell by Spears and Vance, who intimidated Paxley. After a fake attempt at reconciliation, Dame quickly turned on Paxley, throwing her into the steel stairs to begin her aggressive offense. Dame dominated the early portion of the match, utilizing a spinning backbreaker and a Boston Crab, repeatedly mocking Paxley. Paxley unleashed a flurry of strikes after Dame slapped her. The action escalated to the outside, where Paxley launched herself off the announce table to attack Dame, then laid Dame on the table and executed a slam through the announce table. When Dame was thrown back into the ring, Spears handed Paxley her dolls before dramatically ripping the head off the Paxley doll. Dame ambushed Paxley by hitting her with the big boot to secure the pinfall victory.^[12]

The main event was the Men's Iron Survivor Challenge which featured Leon Slater, Je'Von Evans, Myles Borne, Dion Lennox, and Joe Hendry. The first two entrants were Evans and Slater. The match began at a high pace, with Evans scoring the first fall just before the five-minute mark with a hurricanrana pin on Slater. The third entrant was Borne, followed by Lennox, who scored his first fall after executing a Doomsday Device/scoop slam combination on Evans. Hendry entered and immediately secured a fall by pinning Borne. Slater scored his first point with a swanton 450 on Hendry, followed by Borne scoring his first point with a cutter on Evans, briefly tying the match. The final minute saw intense action and outside brawling, with Evans escaping the penalty box and the final four competitors trading maneuvers. In the match's closing seconds, Evans caught Borne with a scoop slam and secured a quick pinfall just as the time expired. Evans won the match with a total of two points, becoming the winner of the 2025 Men's Iron Survivor Challenge. After the match, new NXT Champion Oba Femi arrived and stared down Evans. The lights then went off, with Tony D'Angelo making his return after a five-month absence. Evans attempted to welcome back D'Angelo, but D'Angelo laid out Evans with a side slam and stared down Femi.^[12]

• Entry Order: Kelani Jordan, Kendal Grey, Jordynne Grace, Lola Vice, and Sol Ruca.

• Entry Order: Leon Slater, Je'Von Evans, Myles Borne, Dion Lennox, and Joe Hendry

• WWE NXT official website