NXT Deadline (2022)

The 2022 NXT Deadline (stylized as DEADL1NE) was a professional wrestling event produced by WWE. It was the inaugural Deadline held for the promotion's developmental brand NXT. The event took place on December 10, 2022, at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida and aired via WWE's livestreaming platforms. Deadline replaced NXT WarGames as the brand's December event, as the WarGames concept was moved to the main roster for that year's Survivor Series event for the Raw and SmackDown brands. Additionally, Deadline debuted the Iron Survivor Challenge match-type in WWE, with one each for the men and women, which is 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.

Seven matches were contested at the event, including two dark matches that were later streamed on Level Up. In the main event, Bron Breakker defeated Apollo Crews to retain the NXT Championship.

Event

Dark matches

Before the event went live, two dark matches took place that would later stream on the December 16 episode of Level Up. In the first, Ivy Nile (with Tatum Paxley) defeated Lash Legend, while in the second, Chase University (Andre Chase and Duke Hudson) (with Thea Hail) defeated the team of Javier Bernal and Xyon Quinn.

Preliminary matches

The actual event began with the women's Iron Survivor Challenge, featuring Indi Hartwell, Cora Jade, Kiana James, Roxanne Perez, and Zoey Stark as the five participants. Perez and Stark were the first two entrants. James entered third. Stark performed a K-360 on Perez to score the first point. Jade entered fourth. Perez attempted Pop Rocks on James, but Jade tossed Perez aside and performed a Superkick on James to score a point. Hartwell entered last and pinned Perez after a big boot to score a point. Perez pinned Stark with a roll-up to score a point. Perez performed Pop Rocks on Jade to bring herself in the lead. In the end, Jade performed a DDT on Perez, who rolled out of the ring as the time expired. As a result, Perez won the match with two points, and was named the women's Iron Survivor.

In the second match, Alba Fyre took on Isla Dawn. In the end, Fyre performed a Swanton Bomb, but the referee coughed up black goo. Dawn took advantage by shoving Fyre into an exposed turnbuckle, and then performed the Eye of the Hurricane to win the match.

In the third match, Pretty Deadly (Kit Wilson and Elton Prince) defended the NXT Tag Team Championship against The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods). During the match, all four competitors tossed one of the title belts to the other to pretend that they were hit by them, in an homage to Eddie Guerrero. In the climax, Wilson and Prince attempted Spilt Milk on Woods, but Kingston pulled Wilson out of the ring and performed Trouble in Paradise. Kingston and Woods then performed the Midnight Hour on Prince to win the titles for the first time, making them the third WWE Tag Team Triple Crown Champions. This also marked their record 12th WWE-branded tag team championship as a team, and record 15th WWE-branded tag team title for Kingston individually.

The penultimate match was the men's Iron Survivor Challenge, with Axiom, Joe Gacy, Carmelo Hayes, JD McDonagh, and Grayson Waller as the five participants. McDonagh, the first entrant, attacked Axiom, the second entrant, during the latter's entrance. The third entrant was Hayes, who pinned Axiom after suplexing McDonagh onto him to score the first point. The fourth entrant was Waller, who performed Ace Crushers on Axiom and McDonagh to pin both men and score two points. Axiom rolled up Waller to score a point, and performed the Golden Ratio on McDonagh to score another. The final entrant was Gacy, who forced Axiom to submit to the Rings of Saturn to score a point, and pinned Hayes after performing the Upside-Down World to score another. Hayes forced Waller to submit to a crossface to score another point. In the closing moments, Hayes performed a diving leg drop on Axiom, but Waller dragged Hayes out of the ring and pinned Axiom himself to score his third point. Waller then ran around the ring until the time expired, winning the match and being named the men's Iron Survivor.

Main event

In the main event, Bron Breakker defended the NXT Championship against Apollo Crews. This was an evenly contested match. At one point, Crews performed a Military Press Powerslam of his own on Breakker for a nearfall. In the end, Breakker performed a Spear on Crews to retain the title. After the match, Grayson Waller appeared and performed an Ace Crusher on Breakker. Waller then held the title over Breakker as the event ended.

Aftermath

After Deadline, it was announced that Roxanne Perez and Grayson Waller would get their respective championship matches at NXT: New Year's Evil on January 10, 2023.[13] On the following episode of NXT, however, NXT Women's Champion Mandy Rose attacked Perez. The women's title match was subsequently rescheduled for that episode's main event, where Perez defeated Rose to win the title for the first time, ending Rose's reign at 413 days.[14] The next day, Rose was released from WWE due to violating the terms of her contract by posting explicit content on her FanTime page (a subscription website similar to OnlyFans).[15]

Also on NXT, NXT Tag Team Champions The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods) celebrated their win at Deadline, only for Pretty Deadly (Kit Wilson and Elton Prince) to interrupt. Kingston and Woods told them that they would get a championship rematch if they recited the Pledge of Allegiance. However, Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen interrupted, and recited the pledge themselves. As a result, they became the new number one contenders. The match was scheduled for the December 20 episode,[14] where Kingston and Woods retained. Prior to the match, Kingston and Woods agreed to give Wilson and Prince a rematch if they found everything on a list.[16] On the January 3, 2023, episode, Wilson and Prince stated that at New Year's Evil, they would be competing in a gauntlet match against three other teams to determine the number one contenders for the NXT Tag Team Championship.[17] At New Year's Evil, Pretty Deadly were the last team eliminated by a returning Gallus (Mark Coffey and Wolfgang).[18] The following week, Pretty Deadly interrupted The New Day as they spoke in the ring, followed by Gallus, and then a brawl between the three teams, which led to Pretty Deadly being added to the match, turning it into a triple threat tag team match, and the match was subsequently scheduled for Vengeance Day.[19]

At New Year's Evil, Grayson Waller's match against Bron Breakker for the NXT Championship ended when the middle rope snapped, causing Waller to fall out of the ring and be counted out, allowing Breakker to retain the title. Due to the issue of the ropes, a Steel Cage match between the two for the title was subsequently scheduled for Vengeance Day.[18]

An Extreme Resolution match between Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn was scheduled for the January 3, 2023, episode of NXT,[20] where Fyre was victorious.[17] After failing to win the NXT Women's Tag Team Championship three weeks later, Fyre walked backstage, and Dawn met her there.[21] On the January 31 episode, Fyre sided with Dawn, thus turning heel in the process.[22]

A second NXT Deadline was confirmed for December 9, 2023, thus establishing Deadline as NXT's annual December event.[23]

promotion	WWE
brand	NXT
date	December 10, 2022
city	Orlando, Florida
venue	WWE Performance Center
wwenlast	Survivor Series: WarGames
wwennext	Royal Rumble
event	NXT Deadline
lastevent2	First
nextevent2	2023
event2	NXT major events
lastevent3	Halloween Havoc
nextevent3	Vengeance Day

NXT Deadline (2022)

Production

Background

Storylines

Event

Dark matches

Preliminary matches

Main event

Reception

Aftermath

Results

Women's Iron Survivor Challenge statistics

Men's Iron Survivor Challenge statistics

External links

References