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TJR: WWE NXT Deadline 2022 Preview

By John Canton • Published 9th December 2022
wwe nxt deadline preview dec 10 tjrwrestling

The WWE NXT Deadline event features the first two Iron Survivor Challenge matches in WWE history, plus Bron Breakker defending the NXT Title against Apollo Crews and more.

NXT Deadline is the final WWE Premium Live Event of 2022 taking place on Saturday, December 10th. They are going to have five matches on the show including the Iron Survivor Series Challenge matches that will go for 25 minutes. They aren’t going to have Mandy Rose defend the NXT Women’s Title, Wes Lee defend the NXT North American Title and Kayden Carter/Katana Chance defend the NXT Women’s Tag Team Titles. Only two title matches is a bit low for a PLE event, but the Iron Survivor Challenge matches are a big selling point of this show. That’s probably why they decided on just two title matches.

You can watch NXT Deadline on Saturday, December 10th at 8 ET/5 PT streaming exclusively on Peacock in the U.S. and WWE Network everywhere else.

Since there are two Iron Survivor Challenge matches on this show, I’ll post the rules from WWE.com here:

The rules for the Iron Survivor Challenge are as follows:

  • Five Superstars will compete in this unique 25-minute match as they battle each other and the clock.
  • Two Superstars will start the match, and every five minutes a new Superstar will enter the match until all five are in the ring.
  • The goal is to have the most falls when the clock hits 25 minutes.
  • Falls can be won at any time via pinfall, submission, or disqualification.
  • When a Superstar scores a fall, they will earn one point.
  • However, when a Superstar loses a fall, that Superstar must pay the penalty. They are forced out of the ring and into a penalty box for 90 seconds.
  • Once the 90 seconds are up, the Superstar can re-enter the match.
  • The Superstar who has scored the most falls when the clock hits 25 minutes will be named the Iron Survivor and become the No. 1 Contender to the NXT Championship and NXT Women’s Championship, respectively.

It’s a bit confusing when reading it, but I think they will be fun matches.

Alba Fyre vs. Isla Dawn

This was set up because Dawn debuted in NXT (she was in NXT UK with Fyre in the past) when Fyre was about to win the NXT Women’s Title from Mandy Rose in a Last Woman Standing Match. Dawn shoved Fyre off a ladder through a table to cost Fyre the match. I feel like this is a rivalry that is just beginning here, so I’ll go with the heel Dawn getting the win, which can lead to a rematch on NXT TV and Fyre will get the win at that point. Since Dawn is new in NXT, they should book her strong by having her win this match.

Winner: Isla Dawn

NXT Tag Team Championships: Pretty Deadly (Kit Wilson & Elton Prince) (c) vs. The New Day (Xavier Woods & Kofi Kingston)

This one is very interesting after being set up this past Tuesday on the December 7th episode of NXT. The New Day showed up saying they wanted a title shot, Pretty Deadly got their asses kicked and here we are. Pretty Deadly have held these titles for a few months, so it’s certainly possible they might lose them. Normally, I wouldn’t think that it’s like when Ricochet put over Carmelo Hayes for the NXT North American Title at Worlds Collide, but we also had a title change earlier in the year when Dolph Ziggler won the NXT Title when most people assumed Bron Breakker would win.

The obvious choice is for Pretty Deadly to win, but we featured this story from a Shawn Michaels conference all this week where he said The New Day is open to staying in NXT for a while. If that’s the case, why not put the titles on the established names and maybe create some buzz for NXT by having The New Day in NXT for a few months. Put the titles on New Day and then whoever beats them (whether it’s Pretty Deadly, Creed Brothers, Indus Sher or somebody else), then that team will have a lot of credibility since Kofi & Woods are established as an all-time great tag team.

The New Day winning sounds great, but I’m going with Price & Wilson cheating to win somehow. I’m certainly fine with a title change if it happens. This should be fun with a super hot crowd.

Winners: Pretty Deadly (Kit Wilson & Elton Prince)

Women’s Iron Survivor Series Challenge Match: Zoey Stark vs. Cora Jade vs. Roxanne Perez vs. Kiana James vs. Indi Hartwell

I think the lineup for this match is okay, but I don’t know if I would call it great. I thought Nikkita Lyons would be in this match for sure when it was announced. However, they are having her sell a knee injury, so she’s not a part of it. Of the five women, I think all of them have a good chance of winning except Kiana James. No offense to her. I just don’t think Kiana James is pushed enough to get the win here.

There has been a solid push for Indi Hartwell of late, so she might win. Zoey Stark recently turned heel after turning on Lyons, which means NXT will have to do that feud at some point soon. We might even see Lyons show up toward the finish to cost Stark the match. That would a lot to this story. It’s easy to like Jade and Perez as two talented 21-year-olds who already looked like polished wrestlers in some ways even though they have a long time to go in their careers. I admit I haven’t had a good read on this match in terms of a winner. Since I think whoever wins this will be one to take the NXT Women’s Title off Mandy Rose in January or February, I’m picking a babyface to win, so that’s Perez or Hartwell. My pick is Hartwell, who has been in NXT longer than any woman in this match and I think it’s time for her to get that title push.

Winner: Indi Hartwell

NXT Championship: Bron Breakker (c) vs. Apollo Crews

The build to the match has been fine, but I wouldn’t call it great due in part to the fact they showed them talking at a diner and going fishing instead of putting them in front of the crowd. I would have liked to see them get into a physical exchange or do promos in front of the fans to try to build up the anticipation for this match. Instead, it’s just a match between two babyfaces with NXT’s biggest prize on the line.

I think Bron and Apollo are going to have a very entertaining match that will see Breakker keep his title. Crews should come close a few times. Maybe the crowd will buy it a few times. It wouldn’t shock me if Crews turned heel after the loss to keep the feud going for a bit more, but if Crews stays face that would be fine. Breakker should win and when he faces the winner of the Iron Survivor Challenge, it should be a first time ever match that NXT fans are going to love.

Winner: Bron Breakker

Men’s Iron Survivor Challenge Match: Carmelo Hayes vs. JD McDonagh vs. Grayson Waller vs. Joe Gacy vs. Axiom

This is the match that I think will main event the show. When this match was announced, my initial feeling was that Carmelo Hayes would win and that’s still my prediction. Since the NXT 2.0 brand started in September 2021 and got re-branded as regular NXT a few months back, Melo has been part of the NXT North American Title picture. They kept him out of the NXT Title scene until now. I feel like this match was created for Melo to get the win so he can go after Breakker’s NXT Title.

I think Grayson Waller and JD McDonagh have a good chance to win the match too. They are both heels that are pushed fairly well. Waller hasn’t been pushed to the main event scene yet while McDonagh has failed against Breakker multiple times, but he did come close. Axiom should do some cool moves throughout the match and he’s really fun to watch. I just don’t see him as a potential winner. Joe Gacy being in this match is a big step up for him. He’ll do okay, but again he’s a guy that really doesn’t have a shot to win.

The two most pushed male wrestlers over the last 15 months (when NXT 2.0 started) are Bron Breakker and Carmelo Hayes. They have not faced each other in a televised singles match. I think we’re going to see it soon after Melo wins this match and Breakker keeps his title. Bring it on.

Winner: Carmelo Hayes

And Finally…

The Match I’m Looking Forward To The Most

The Men’s Iron Survivor Challenge match. The women’s match should be good too, but I think the men’s match will be better.

The Match I Care About The Least

Alba Fyre vs. Isla Dawn.

Longest Match

The two Iron Survivor Challenge matches going 25 minutes will be the longest. Other than that, I think Pretty Deadly vs. New Day will be the longest of the other three matches.

Shortest Match

Alba Fyre vs. Isla Dawn.

Excitement Level on a Scale of 1-10 (1 being low, 10 being high)

I’ll go with a 7.5 for this show. I like the card for the most part and I think the Iron Survivor Challenge matches will be a success just because I trust a lot of the talent as well as the vision of NXT’s boss Shawn Michaels. The non-ISC matches are fine, but they could have been built better and I think the card could have used one more title match. With that said, I’m still looking forward to the show on Saturday night.

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Thanks for reading. My contact info is below.

John Canton

Email mrjohncanton@gmail.com

Twitter @johnreport