The 2022 NXT Deadline (stylized as DEADL1NE) was a

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

event Event may refer to: Gatherings of people * Ceremony, an event of ritual significance, performed on a special occasion * Convention (meeting), a gathering of individuals engaged in some common interest * Event management, the organization of eve ...

produced by

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

. It was the inaugural

Deadline Deadline(s) or The Deadline(s) may refer to: * Time limit, a narrow field of time by which an objective must be accomplished Arts, entertainment, and media Comics * Deadline (DC Comics), a fictional villain * ''Deadline'' (magazine), a Britis ...

held for the promotion's

developmental brand In sports, a farm team (also referred to as farm system, developmental system, feeder team, or nursery club) is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful pl ...

NXT. The event took place on Saturday, December 10, 2022, at the

WWE Performance Center WWE Performance Center (WWE PC) is a group of professional wrestling schools owned by American company WWE. They serve as tryout and training facilities for WWE, and also contain sports science and medical facilities as well as live events and ...

Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...

and aired via WWE's

livestreaming Livestreaming, live-streaming, or live streaming is the streaming of video or audio in real time or near real time. While often referred to simply as ''streaming'', the real-time nature of livestreaming differentiates it from other non- liv ...

platforms. Deadline replaced

NXT WarGames NXT WarGames (originally known as NXT TakeOver: WarGames) was a professional wrestling event produced annually by WWE, a Connecticut-based professional wrestling promotion. Held exclusively for wrestlers from the promotion's developmental territo ...

as the brand's December event, as the WarGames concept was moved to the main roster for that year's

Survivor Series Survivor Series, branded as Survivor Series: WarGames since 2022, is a professional wrestling event produced annually since 1987 by WWE, the world's largest professional wrestling promotion. Held in November generally the week of Thanksgiving ( ...

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 The NXT Championship is a men's professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion, promotion WWE, defended as the top men's championship of NXT (WWE brand), NXT, the promotion's Farm team, de ...

and

NXT Women's Championship The NXT Women's Championship is a women's professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE. It is defended on NXT, the promotion's developmental brand. The current champion is Jacy Jayne, who is in her fi ...

, respectively. Seven matches were contested at the event, including two

dark match Professional wrestling has accrued a considerable amount of jargon throughout its existence. Much of it stems from the industry's origins in the days of carnival Carnival (known as Shrovetide in certain localities) is a festive season that o ...

es that were later streamed on '' Level Up''. In the main event,

Bron Breakker Bronson Rechsteiner (born October 24, 1997) is an American professional wrestler and former football player. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Bron Breakker. He is a former two-time WWE Intercontinenta ...

defeated Apollo Crews to retain the NXT Championship. For the event's Iron Survivor Challenges, Grayson Waller won the men's, while the women's, which was the opening bout, was won by Roxanne Perez. In another notable match, SmackDown's The New Day (

Kofi Kingston Kofi Nahaje Sarkodie-Mensah (born August 14, 1981) is a Ghanaian-born American professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw (WWE brand), Raw WWE brand extension, brand under the ring name Kofi ...

and

Xavier Woods Austin Watson (born September 4, 1986) is an American professional wrestler and YouTuber. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Xavier Woods and is part of The New Day and is one-half of the current World ...

) defeated Pretty Deadly ( Elton Prince and Kit Wilson) to win the

NXT Tag Team Championship The NXT Tag Team Championship is a men's Professional wrestling championship, professional wrestling tag team championship created and promoted by the United States, American professional wrestling promotion, promotion WWE. It is defended on NXT ...

for the first time, becoming the third WWE Tag Team Triple Crown Champions. This also marked their record 12th WWE-branded tag team championship as a team, and Kingston's record 15th WWE-branded tag team title individually. The event received positive reviews, with critics praising both Iron Survivor matches, but were very critical of the

Isla Dawn Courtney Stewart (born 2 February 1994) is a Scottish professional wrestler. She is best known for her tenure in WWE, where she performed under the ring name Isla Dawn. She was one-half of The Unholy Union with Alba Fyre, with whom she was a one ...

vs.

Alba Fyre Kayleigh Kerr (Birth name, née Rae; born 11 August 1992) is a Scottish professional wrestler. She is signed to WWE where she performs on the SmackDown (WWE brand), SmackDown WWE brand extension, brand under the ring name Alba Fyre and is a membe ...

match.

Production

Background

On October 15, 2022, the American

promotion

filed to trademark the name "NXT Deadline" for their

, NXT. During a media conference on October 21 the night before NXT Halloween Havoc, WWE executive

Shawn Michaels Shawn Michaels (born Michael Shawn Hickenbottom on July 22, 1965) is an American retired professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he is the Senior Vice President of Talent Development, Creative, and oversees the creative aspects of th ...

confirmed that NXT's next

event would be Deadline. It was scheduled to be held on Saturday, December 10 at NXT's home venue, the

, and aired on

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for two bird species of the genus '' Pavo'' and one species of the closely related genus '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae (the pheasants and their allies). Male peafowl are referred t ...

in the United States and the

WWE Network WWE Network is a subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and digital television network owned by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE, a division of TKO Group Holdings. The service relied on technology develo ...

in international markets. Deadline replaced

as the brand's December event, after the WarGames concept was moved to the main roster for the 2022 Survivor Series for the Raw and SmackDown

brands A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and ...

Storylines

The card included matches that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed

heroes Heroes or Héroes may refer to: * Hero, one who displays courage and self-sacrifice for the greater good Film * ''Heroes'' (1977 film), an American drama * ''Heroes'' (2008 film), an Indian Hindi film Gaming * ''Heroes of Might and Magic'' ...

villains A villain (also known as a " black hat", "bad guy" or "baddy"; The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.126 "baddy (also baddie) noun (pl. -ies) ''informal'' a villain or criminal in a book, film, etc.". the feminine form is villai ...

, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the NXT brand, while storylines were produced on the weekly television program, '' NXT'', and the supplementary online streaming show, '' Level Up''. On the November 15 episode of ''NXT'', WWE executive Shawn Michaels announced a new match format for WWE called the Iron Survivor Challenge, which would occur at Deadline, with one each for the men and women. The rules are as follows: *Five wrestlers compete in the match, which lasts 25 minutes. *Two wrestlers start the match, which begins the timer, and every five minutes, another wrestler enters with the fifth and final participant entering at the 15-minute mark. *Each time a wrestler scores a pinfall, submission, or being the victim of a disqualification, they gain a point. Points can be gained even before other participants have entered. *A wrestler who is pinned, submitted, or is disqualified goes into a penalty box for 90 seconds. *The winner of the match, dubbed the Iron Survivor, is the wrestler who scores the most points at the end of the 25-minute time limit (the "deadline"). In the result of a tie, those who are tied enter sudden death overtime. *The winners of the men's and women's matches become the number one contenders for the

and

, respectively. On the November 29 episode of ''NXT'', the first four contestants for the men's Iron Survivor Challenge were revealed as

Carmelo Hayes Christian Brigham (born August 1, 1994) is an American professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown (WWE brand), SmackDown WWE brand extension, brand under the ring name Carmelo Hayes. He ...

JD McDonagh Jordan Devlin (born 15 March 1990) is an Irish professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name JD McDonagh and is a member of The Judgment Day. In WWE, he is a World Tag Team Champion and N ...

, Grayson Waller, and

Joe Gacy Joseph Ruby (born August 8, 1987) is an American professional wrestler. As of August 2020, he is signed to WWE, on the WWE SmackDown, SmackDown brand, where he performs under the ring name Joe Gacy and is a member of The Wyatt Sicks faction. Gac ...

, while for the women's match, Zoey Stark, Cora Jade, Roxanne Perez, and Kiana James were revealed as the first four participants. The following week,

Axiom An axiom, postulate, or assumption is a statement that is taken to be true, to serve as a premise or starting point for further reasoning and arguments. The word comes from the Ancient Greek word (), meaning 'that which is thought worthy or ...

won the fifth and final spot in the men's match by defeating Von Wagner and Andre Chase in a

triple threat match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called " gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a storyline. ...

, while Indi Hartwell won the fifth and final spot in the women's by defeating Wendy Choo and Fallon Henley, also in a triple threat match. On the November 15 episode of ''NXT'', Apollo Crews warned NXT Champion

that his goal was to become champion. Later, after Crews' match, Breakker appeared to confront him. The following week, Breakker was scheduled to defend the NXT Championship against Crews at Deadline. On the December 6 episode of ''NXT'', while

NXT Tag Team Champions The NXT Tag Team Championship is a men's professional wrestling tag team championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE. It is defended on NXT, the promotion's developmental brand. The current champions are Hank and Tank (Han ...

Pretty Deadly (Elton Prince and Kit Wilson) were reading a

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

story, they were interrupted by SmackDown roster members The New Day (

and

), who attacked the duo and challenged them for the titles. The match was made official for Deadline. On the November 15 episode of ''NXT'',

lost her NXT Women's Championship match thanks to interference from

, who made her NXT debut. On the December 6 episode, Fyre attacked Dawn after the latter's match. Later that night, a match between Fyre and Dawn was made official for Deadline.

Event

Dark matches

Before the event went live, two

es 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 Eduardo Gory Guerrero Llanes (October 9, 1967 – November 13, 2005) was an American professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He was best known for his tenures in WWE, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and World Championship Wrestling ...

. 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.

Reception

Thomas Hall of ''411Mania'' gave the event an 8.5 out of 10. He was critical of the twist ending during the Dawn-Fyre match but praised the rest of the card, highlighting the men's Iron Survivor Challenge for being the energetic "race against the clock" he hoped the women's Challenge would be (which he also found good). He concluded: "It's definitely not a Takeover, but for the new generation of NXT, this worked out very well ... Not a classic, but it's an easy watch with good stuff throughout and that's a nice way to go." Kevin Berge of ''

Bleacher Report ''Bleacher Report'' (often abbreviated as B/R) is a website that focuses on sports and sports culture. Its headquarters are in San Francisco, with offices in New York City and London. ''Bleacher Report'' was acquired by Time Warner's Turner B ...

'' gave praise to the NXT Tag Title bout and men's Iron Survivor Challenge but was critical of the "deflating" finish to the Dawn-Fyre match and felt the NXT Championship main event came across as "a filler title defense for NXT television."

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. On the following episode of ''NXT'', however, NXT Women's Champion

Mandy Rose Amanda Rose Saccomanno (born July 18, 1990) is an American professional wrestler, television personality, and fitness and figure competitor. She is best known for her career in WWE, where she performed under the ring name Mandy Rose, and was ...

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. 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 OnlyFans is an Internet content subscription service based in London, England. The service is widely known for being popular with sex workers who produce pornography, and also hosts other content creators including athletes, musicians, and com ...

). 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 The U.S Pledge of Allegiance is a patriotic recited verse that promises allegiance to the flag of the United States and the republic of the United States. The first version was written in 1885 by Captain George Thatcher Balch, a Union Army o ...

. However,

Josh Briggs Joshua Bruns (born March 5, 1993) is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Josh Briggs. He is signed to WWE where he performs on the NXT brand. He was a one-time and the final NXT UK Tag Team Champion. Bruns previou ...

and

Brooks Jensen Benjamin Buchanan (born August 21, 2001) is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE where he performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Brooks Jensen. He is a former one-time and the final NXT UK Tag Team Champion. Buchanan ...

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, 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. On the January 3, 2023, episode, Wilson and Prince stated that at New Year's Evil, they would be competing in a

gauntlet match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "Glossary of professional wrestling terms#Gimmick, gimmick matches" in the Glossary of professional wrestling terms, jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick m ...

against three other teams to determine the number one contenders for the NXT Tag Team Championship. At New Year's Evil, Pretty Deadly were the last team eliminated by a returning Gallus (

Mark Coffey Mark Anthony Coffey (born 13 February 1990) is a Scottish professional wrestler. He is best known for his time in WWE, where he performs on the NXT (WWE brand), NXT WWE brand extension, brand as a member of Gallus (professional wrestling), Gall ...

and Wolfgang). 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. 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 Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "Glossary of professional wrestling terms#Gimmick, gimmick matches" in the Glossary of professional wrestling terms, jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick m ...

between the two for the title was subsequently scheduled for Vengeance Day. An Extreme Resolution match between Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn was scheduled for the January 3, 2023, episode of ''NXT'', where Fyre was victorious. After failing to win the NXT Women's Tag Team Championship three weeks later, Fyre walked backstage, and Dawn met her there. On the January 31 episode, Fyre sided with Dawn, thus turning heel in the process. A second NXT Deadline was confirmed for December 9, 2023, thus establishing

as NXT's annual December event.

Results

Women's Iron Survivor Challenge statistics

*Entry Order: Roxanne Perez, Zoey Stark, Kiana James, Cora Jade, and Indi Hartwell

Men's Iron Survivor Challenge statistics

*Entry Order: JD McDonagh, Axiom, Carmelo Hayes, Grayson Waller, and Joe Gacy

References

External links

* * {{2022 WWE Network events 2022 in professional wrestling in Florida 2022 WWE Network events December 2022 in the United States Events in Orlando, Florida Professional wrestling in Orlando, Florida WWE NXT