TJR: WWE NXT Deadline 2025 Preview
It’s WWE NXT Deadline with Ricky Saints facing Oba Femi, two Iron Survivor Challenge matches, and more.
The WWE NXT Deadline PLE is back again this year as the final WWE PLE of the year. It features the two Iron Survivor Challenge matches, plus two title matches and a grudge match.
I’m a bit surprised that neither of the women’s singles titles is featured on the card. I get that they want to give time to the Iron Survivor Challenge Matches and they will carry the show in a lot of ways, but there are a lack of title matches on this card. Plus, I really like Blake Monroe as the NXT North American Women’s Champion, and Jacy Jayne does a good job as the NXT Women’s Champion. There are still two women’s matches on the card, but I think they could have used one more title match.
Here are the rules for the Iron Survivor Challenge Matches, which is from my review of last year’s show. I assume the rules will stay the same.
You can watch NXT Deadline on Saturday, December 6, at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT, exclusively on Peacock in the United States and on Netflix for many of us internationally including me in Canada. These NXT PLE shows usually go 2.5 hours or sometimes up to 3 hours.
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NXT Championship: Ricky Saints (c) vs. Oba Femi
It was announced on NXT TV this week that this match is going to open the PLE, so I’m going to lead off the preview with it. When Ricky Saints beat Oba Femi for the NXT Title at No Mercy I didn’t expect it. After the title change, Femi went back to Nigeria for over a month and came back to make it clear he wanted the title back. Do I think Femi will get the title back? Nope.
I think with SmackDown going to three hours again in January, it’s going to lead to some NXT wrestlers being called up to the blue brand soon. I think Trick Williams will be one of them, joining his fiancée Lash Legend, who was just called up. Tony D’Angelo is another one since he’s been off TV for months. I also think Oba Femi will be there as well. With Oba, they could also save his main roster debut for the Royal Rumble at the end of January, so we’ll see how it goes. That also means that I don’t think Femi is going to win here. When Saints won at No Mercy it was with a Tornado DDT. I think this time they might go for a closer finish with Saints doing an inside cradle or some kind of counter pin to win. Just a hunch.
Winner: Ricky Saints
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Women’s Iron Survivor Challenge for an NXT Women’s Championship match: Sol Ruca vs. Lola Vice vs. Kelani Jordan vs. Jordynne Grace vs. Kendal Grey
The winner gets an NXT Women’s Championship Match against the heel champion Jacy Jayne at New Year’s Evil, which is usually a special TV episode of NXT in early January. I’ll go over every woman in the match with some general thoughts and who I think might win.
Kelani Jordan– She recently lost the TNA Knockouts Title and has gone through a heel turn, which she is doing well. I wonder if they will call her up to the main roster soon to join fiancé Carmelo Hayes on SmackDown. I don’t think she has much of a chance to win since Jacy Jayne is a heel champion.
Kendal Grey – The Women’s Evolve Champion is a rising star who has developed quickly as a former amateur wrestler. They are working on her character a lot, and she’s come across as a very likable babyface. I can see Grey getting a fall or two in the match, but I don’t think she’ll win.
Sol Ruca– I think Sol is a possible winner, but she currently has the awkward storyline with Zaria where they are having issues even though they are best friends. Zaria is jealous of Sol’s success as a woman who held two titles while Zaria has yet to hold a title, so I think Zaria is going to cost Sol this match. I think it might be something where Sol hits a Soul Snatcher on somebody, she goes for the pin to get the most falls, and Zaria pulls her out to stop it.
Lola Vice– She has more NXT history than Jordynne Grace, and she came close to beating Jacy Jayne in the past, so you could make the point that she deserves it. I’d say she has a decent shot to win, and if she did win, I’d be cool with it because she’s a likable face, but she’s not my pick.
Jordynne Grace– Here’s my pick to win. Jordynne Grace has been hunting the NXT Women’s Title, but then she had to fight off Blake Monroe and she won that feud. That led to Grace going away from the title picture for a while, then she failed to take the TNA Knockouts Title from Kelani Jordan, and now she’s one match away from that NXT Women’s Title shot. I think this is the perfect time to give Grace a big win.
To sum it up, I think it could be Ruca, Grace, or Vice as the winner. Since Vice and Grace came close to winning in the past, I wonder if they will finally pull the trigger on one of them as the champion at New Year’s Evil. Jacy Jayne has been in NXT for over four years at this point, so calling her up to the main roster for the Royal Rumble makes a lot of sense. As I said earlier, I’m going with Jordynne Grace to win.
Winner: Jordynne Grace
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NXT North American Championship: Ethan Page (c) vs. Mr. Iguana
Ethan Page might be my favorite performer in NXT, but this is the weakest match on the show due to the lack of build. I know they have interacted on AAA shows. Let’s be honest, though, that’s a much smaller worldwide audience than even NXT. Iguana has an iguana hand puppet that he uses during matches, and the fans react positively to it, so he is a good babyface. I think Page winning is very likely and is the most obvious result on this show.
I think Page will probably drop the North American Title to Myles Borne in the next few months. That would be a good choice as the next champion. Joe Hendry is another option. Page is also a guy who is more than ready for the main roster, having wrestled for nearly 20 years and doing it all. For this match, I’ll go with Page to retain.
Winner: Ethan Page
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Tatum Paxley vs. Izzi Dame
This has become a personal rivalry because Paxley was the NXT Women’s Champion, Dame turned on her like everybody turns on Paxley, and it cost Paxley the title. I wonder if they will build Paxley back up to have her become the champion again or if there is some other plan for her. I was disappointed that Paxley’s title reign was so short, but I understand that it was part of the story because we could all tell that Dame was going to turn on her naïve friend.
I don’t think Dame has had many singles matches on NXT PLEs, so it’s a big match for her to show what she can do. Paxley doesn’t have that many singles matches either. I think they’ll probably keep it shorter, around 10-12 minutes, and I’m going to go with Dame winning by cheating. The feud will continue from there, they’ll have a gimmick match, and I think Paxley will win the rematch to end the feud.
Winner: Izzi Dame
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Men’s Iron Survivor Challenge for an NXT Championship match: Je’Von Evans vs. Leon Slater vs. Joe Hendry vs. Dion Lennox vs. Myles Borne
I’ll go over the competitors just like I did for the women. The winner gets a shot at the NXT Title at New Year’s Evil in about a month.
Leon Slater – The TNA X-Division Champion is likely a future WWE superstar. For now, he’s an exciting 21-year-old who can have good matches with anybody. Slater will make you say “wow” when you watch him because he makes difficult things look easy. I don’t see him as a threat to win here.
Dion Lennox – As the lone heel in the match, I think he’s a sleeper option to win. If you want to have the NXT Champion have a longer title reign and not lose at New Year’s Evil, then Lennox is a fine choice as somebody who can be beaten. Since Lennox has mostly been in tags with Darkstate, we haven’t seen him a lot in singles. I think he’ll do well in this match.
Myles Borne– A rising star on the WWE NXT brand who may be a future NXT Champion, but I think it makes more sense for him to become the NXT North American Champion, which I mentioned earlier when writing about Ethan Page. Borne should have a good showing, he’ll get some falls and come close to winning. It just doesn’t feel like his time yet.
Joe Hendry– Now that Joe Hendry is a full-timer on the WWE NXT brand, it would make sense for him to win a match like this and put him in a main event position as an NXT Title contender. I think it’s an option for sure. Joe is probably my second pick to win in this match.
Je’Von Evans – I think 2026 will be the year where 21-year-old Je’Von Evans (he turns 22 in April) wins the NXT Title. The question is, do you do it at New Year’s Evil or save it for Stand & Deliver during WrestleMania weekend? They could even do it at Vengeance Day in February. They already had Evans talk to Ricky Saints in the locker room, where they spoke like friends, and teased about potentially facing eachother. That makes me think they are going with Evans to win here. I’m going to go with Evans as my pick.
I think Je’Von Evans winning this match and then winning the NXT Title at New Year’s Evil would set up NXT on the right path in 2026.
Winner: Je’Von Evans
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BONUS TOPICS FOR WWE NXT DEADLINE
The Match I’m Looking Forward To The Most
Both Iron Survivor Challenge matches. I look forward to both about the same.
The Match I Care About The Least
Ethan Page vs. Mr. Iguana because there’s a lack of a story
Longest Match
Iron Survivor Challenge matches at 25 minutes.
Shortest Match
Tatum Paxley vs. Izzi Dame for about 12 minutes.
Excitement Level on a Scale of 1-10 (1 being low, 10 being high)
It’s a 7.25 out of 10. I like the Iron Survivor Challenge matches, and they should be very good, so that’s what I’m looking forward to the most. I think the rest of the card could have been stronger, though.
I’ll be back with a review of the WWE NXT Deadline on TJRWrestling.net on Saturday. It won’t be live because I’m going to be out when the show starts, but I’ll get it done later in the evening. You can also tweet me on X/Twitter at @johnreport as well.
If you want to send an email, send it to me at [email protected]. Thanks for reading.