Every WWE NXT Deadline Iron Survivor Challenge Match, Ranked

This year's "WWE NXT" Deadline will see the return of the annual Iron Survivor Challenge this weekend. The match was introduced in 2022, with both men's and women's fields of five competitors tasked with getting the most falls in 25 minutes. The bout starts with two competitors in the ring, with each of the three remaining competitors making their entrance after five-minute intervals. 

That of course puts the advantage with those entering the bout earlier, with the 25-minute time limit counting down from the moment the first two tie up. Falls can be scored the moment the match starts, with the caveat that anyone getting pinned or submitted has to be sent to a penalty box for a minute. Thus, the last entrant has just 10 minutes to catch up on falls purely based on the format. This year's Iron Survivor Challenge is due to feature Je'Von Evans, Leon Slater, Dion Lennox, Myles Borne, and Joe Hendry on the men's side; the women's match will include Sol Ruca, Lola Vice, Kelani Jordan, Jordynne Grace, and Kendal Grey. 

There have been six iterations of the match thus far, split between men and women, with the winner getting a shot at their respective NXT Championship. There have been faces of the brand born from stand-out performance in the bout, win or lose, and four out of the six winners went on to hold gold after their victory. So with editions seven and eight on the fast approach, new would-be champions determined, and everything that comes in between, it feels like the right time to look back on the past, assessing which possessed the better action, overall story, and long-term consequence — in other words, ranking every Iron Survivor Challenge match so far.

The inaugural men's Iron Survivor Challenge at Deadline 2022 saw a field of Axiom, Joe Gacy, Carmelo Hayes, JD McDonagh, and Grayson Waller. McDonagh entered first and attacked Axiom during his entrance, kicking the match off with the advantage before Hayes made his entrance. Hayes pinned Axiom to take the lead before Waller emerged and got falls over Axiom and McDonagh to take the lead for himself.

Axiom rolled up Waller to get his first point, getting a second on McDonagh before Gacy made the final entrance. Gacy submitted Axiom for a point and Hayes submitted Waller to further tie things up. In the closing moments, Hayes looked to have the match won with Nothing But Net to Axiom, but Waller threw him from the ring and took the fall for himself. Waller then ran around the ring until the time expired, winning the bout to become the inaugural Iron Survivor.

Waller failed to dethrone Bron Breakker with his opportunity and although a consistent face on Monday nights during "WWE Raw," has only held the WWE Tag Team Championship once alongside Austin Theory. Waller's win also took a lot of steam out of the closing stretch, removing himself from the ring and eliminating any chance of last-moment drama. It wasn't a terrible debut for the men's version of the format, but it nowhere near carried the action or the stories told in later iterations. 

The 2023 women's Iron Survivor pitted Blair Davenport, Lash Legend, Fallon Henley, Tiffany Stratton, and Kelani Jordan against one another. And it would be the one name no longer with the company that got the win, arguably undermining the value of the concept in this instance.

Davenport started the bout against Henley, with Stratton entering next. Stratton softened up Henley before Davenport cast her from the ring, getting the fall on Henley to get her first fall. Jordan entered the match next, and Henley got her first fall over Stratton before Legend came out as the final entrant; Legend pinned both Stratton and Henley to take the lead, with Meta-Four emerging to keep them inside the penalty box. Meanwhile, Davenport got her second fall on Jordan. Stratton got her first fall after a Prettiest Moonsault Ever to Legend. Davenport hit the Kamigoye to Jordan and got another fall against her, taking the lead with three. And the buzzer sounded to declare her the winner.

Davenport used her opportunity to challenge Lyra Valkyria for the NXT Women's Championship. But she would never manage to hold a title with the company at all before her departure earlier this year.

Deadline 2022 kicked off with the inaugural women's Iron Survivor Challenge, eventually won by current "WWE Raw" stand-out Roxanne Perez. But also competing in the bout were Cora Jade, Indi Hartwell, Kiana James, and Zoey Stark.

Perez and Stark started the match, with James entering third; Stark recorded the first fall over Perez. Jade entered next and stole a fall from Perez, throwing her out of the ring after a Pop-Rox to James to get her first point. Hartwell emerged last and got another pin on Perez, but Perez would return to the ring and get a roll-up on Stark to draw the bout level – for all but James. Perez then hit Pop-Rox to Jade, taking the lead with her second fall. Jade did look to have the match tied after a DDT to Perez, but the eventual winner managed to roll out of the ring before the time expired, just surviving.

Perez used the match to go on and wrest the NXT Women's title from Mandy Rose, chalking up another reign with the title before graduating to "Raw" and reigning as Women's Tag Team Champion within the Judgment Day. While she is no longer with the company, much of the story in the bout had been the rivalry of friends-turned-enemies-turned-eventually friends again between Perez and Jade, and that helped to anchor the drama with the rest of the competitors navigating around it. 

The 2024 women's Iron Survivor bout saw a field of Giulia, Sol Ruca, Zaria, Stephanie Vaquer, and Wren Sinclair competing. Giulia, Vaquer, and Zaria all coming into the brand at a similar time and looking to stamp their mark on the title picture.

Giulia and Sinclair started the bout, with Ruca entering third; Giulia got the first fall with a Northern Lights Bomb to Sinclair. Zaria entered fourth, and Ruca pinned Sinclair after a Sol Snatcher to get her first fall. The final entrant in the match was Vaqer. After which, Zaria got her first fall on Giulia, Vaguer pinned Sinclair for her first, and Sinclair later pinned Ruca to draw the match even. Giulia took the lead with a running knee strike to Zaria, and managed to hold on until the very end despite Vaquer attempting two pinning combinations as the time limit elapsed. The bout was tightly worked from start to finish, and the tight margin helped deliver on the idea that it was anyone's contest.

Especially looking back at the match and the trajectories of the talent within, Giulia and Vaquer used this match to spur on their dual pursuit of gold in "WWE NXT," winning the NXT Women's and NXT Women's North American Championships respectively. With Vaquer eventually beating Giulia to become double champion. That all started from this bout, and the story of the competition between the new marquee signings on the block.

The 2024 men's Iron Survivor saw a dramatic, last-second finish to set up perhaps the clearest successful long-term consequence of the concept; a match that Je'Von Evans arguably would have won with a few more seconds, eventually won by Oba Femi to spur his rule atop "WWE NXT" this past year.

Evans and Wes Lee started the match, with Lee getting the first fall with a rope-leveraged pin. Nathan Frazer entered the bout next followed by Ethan Page, with Frazer pinning Page to get his first point. Femi then entered to pin Evans, and went for a second fall as Page dragged the referee out of the ring. Evans got his first fall on Lee, and Page later pinned Femi to draw things level all ways. Evans then pinned Page to take the lead, but Femi pinned both Lee and Frazer to take himself to three points; Evans then caught Femi with a springboard cutter, going for what seemed to be a sure equalizer when the time limit expired.

The match portrayed a comeback story that never was for Evans, while also reinforcing the role Femi plays as "The Ruler," dominating over all with sheer will. Femi went on to reign as NXT Champion for 263 days after using his contract to challenge Trick Williams at New Year's Evil, and heads into this year's Deadline for a rematch with the current NXT Champion Ricky Saints. Which should speak to the significance of this Iron Survivor win, setting the wheels in motion for him to legitimize himself a the next big thing. 

The 2023 men's Iron Survivor saw Bron Breakker, Tyler Bate, Dijak, Josh Briggs, and eventual winner Trick Williams competing.

Dijak and Briggs started the match, the former getting the first fall with a Feast Your Eyes to the latter. Bate then entered, and Briggs got a fall back on Dijak to make it 1-1-0, and Bate equalled the score with a roll-up once more on Dijak. Williams entered the match next, getting pinned by Bate for him to take the lead. Breakker was the final entrant in the match and delivered three consecutive spears to Briggs, Bate, and Dijak, recording falls on each of them to take the lead. Dijak pinned Williams when he returned to the ring, and Bate tied with Breakker by pinning Dijak; Briggs and Dijak delivered stereo moonsaults to Williams and Breakker to get falls two and three respectively. Williams pinned Briggs to get his first fall, and with the help of an interfering Eddy Thorpe got a further fall over Dijak. He further rolled up Bate to tie up the score, catching Breakker mid-spear with a buzzer-beating pump knee strike and fourth pinfall to win the match.

The match delivered on the format's potential for a comeback story, presenting each competitor as capable in their own way; Breakker was the dominant favorite, Dijak and Briggs were the clashing titans, Bate was the plucky technician, and Williams was the one to overcome. The bout spurred what would become Williams' run atop the "WWE NXT" brand, and two NXT titles as well as a TNA World title prove it to be a pivotal milestone in his career.