With 2024 quickly coming to an end, it is time for NXT to deliver their final pay-per-view event of the year.
Deadline brings us the fastest, most hectic, and most exciting 30 minutes of the NXT year with the men’s and women’s Iron Survivor Challenge matches. We have a five-match card tonight, but there is a lot going on with every match featuring some high stakes. Let’s not waste any more time and get right to the action.
Je’Von Evans vs Ethan Page vs Wes Lee vs Nathan Frazer vs A Mystery Opponent – Men’s Iron Survivor Challenge to crown the #1 Contender for the NXT Title
Eddy Thorpe won his way into the match, only to be attacked backstage and then taken out. As the Deadline pre-show goes off the air, we were given the information that NXT General Manager Ava has found a replacement for Thorpe, but we weren’t told who the replacement was. Oooh… mysterious.
Je’Von Evans is out in the first spot, with Wes Lee coming in next. That’s a helluva way to get this match kicked off.
It took approximately one minute for play-by-play guy Vic Joseph to speculate that the replacement for Eddy Thorpe could come from Raw or Smackdown thanks to the newly announced “transfer window” that allows for wrestlers to be moved from brand-to-brand.
By the way, The Armory in Minneapolis, Minnesota looks great as a venue on television.
Wes Lee picks up the first fall of the match, pinning Evans seconds before Nathan Frazer makes his way out as the next competitor. Looks like the pedal will continue to be pressed against the metal.
I like that the match has been as wild and crazy as you would expect with the three men involved, but that you can still tell that they’re pacing themselves and saving a lot of energy for the deep water stage of the match, so to speak.
Ethan Page is out next, and he is almost immediately rolled up and pinned by Frazer. Okay then. Frazer and Lee are on the board with one fall each.
Frazer looks to have a broken nose, as he has blood pouring out of it. That may not bode well for him, as he not only has half of this match to go, but he’s pulling double duty tonight with an NXT Tag Team Title defense later in the show. Page takes advantage of Frazer’s weakened state to get a pin.
Oba Femi has returned! He is the fifth entrant in the match, and everything has changed now. In quick fashion, Oba gets a pin on Evans to get on the board. At the 16:30 mark of the match, everyone except for Evans has one fall each.
Just like that, Evans pins Lee two minutes later, and now, we’re all tied up at one fall each.
My boy Oba is a fucking monster. He took superkick after superkick right to the face, and continued rising to his feet. That was a great looking spot.
Of course, as I say all that, Page gets in the ring and sneaks a pin on Oba, but then Page himself is on the receiving end of a roll-up pin by Je’Von Evans. With only a couple minutes left in the match, Page and Evans are in the lead with two falls each.
Like a fucking moron, Wes Lee goes to put Oba in a sleeper with 50 seconds left in the match. Why in the fuck would you do that in that spot?
Double Chokeslam from Oba, and that leads to two falls with mere seconds left! Oba Femi is the winner and goes on to New Year’s Evil on January 7th to compete for the NXT Championship. The match was everything it was promised to be, and that made it a lot of fun. Not a Match Of The Year classic, but still a ton of fun from start to finish, with a great mix of styles, and frankly, the right man getting the win. It’s his time. Strap the rocket to his back. 4 Stars
Lola Vice vs Jaida Parker – NXT Underground Match
These NXT Underground matches are very weird to me. Obviously, the matches are to be presented as something of a “shoot” contest, but the people put in the matches either aren’t skilled at that style, or they’re handicapped by a family-friendly environment. This isn’t MMA. It isn’t even Bloodsport.
Ahh, nothing like using pro wrestling moves in a “fight” like this. I love Jaida Parker, but come on, nobody is watching these types of things to see bodyslams.
I could really do without all of the “fans” at ringside doing the constant pounding of the mat for the entire duration of the match. It’s annoying. Their comedically over-the-top facial expressions and reactions to every strike and move in the match aren’t helping, either.
Lola picks up the win after putting Jaida to sleep with an Anaconda Vice. The match was decent enough for what it was, but I think it would’ve been better as a wrestling match. They’re just difficult to pull off underneath the WWE umbrella, like I said. 3 Stars
Nathan Frazer & Axiom vs Tavion Heights & Myles Borne – NXT Tag Team Title Match
After a rough outing in the opening match of the night, Frazer returns for his second bout. Not only is his nose taped up and stuffed, but his ribs are also wrapped up now, too.
Hmm… Frazer tags out almost immediately. Then, moments later, he refuses to tag back in, indicating that he’s not quite ready to re-enter the match. None of it really mattered, though, as he tagged in almost right away after that.
The champions are trying to play to their strengths and keep the pace up, but Frazer continues to sell his multiple injuries, never truly allowing the team to reach their fullest potential yet.
This crowd has been asstastic all night. They’re not really reacting to much of anything. They just started an “R-K-O” chant, directed at Borne, who does look an awful lot like a young Randy Orton, but that’s probably as loud as they’ve been in a long time.
Even though you wouldn’t know it by listening to the crowd, this match has been a lot of fun so far. I love the mix of styles between the speedy champions and the mat wrestling expertise of the challengers.
Axiom was able to overcome some miscommunication with his tag partner to pick up the victory, retaining the titles for himself and Nathan Frazer. That was really entertaining. 4.25 Stars. Even in a loss, Heights and Borne looked great and could be major names to watch out for in NXT for 2025.
Trick Williams vs Ridge Holland – NXT Title Match
I’m a fan of Ridge Holland, especially with the strides he has made in recent times to improve, both in the ring and as a character, but he just doesn’t feel like someone who is a main event talent in NXT. Perhaps that’s why this match is not, in fact, in the main event spot.
To show Trick’s popularity, his reactions are the loudest the crowd has been in a while, and perhaps all night. They still aren’t a good crowd, but it’s something, at least.
This hasn’t been the fastest paced match you’ll ever see. It has been laid out well, though. Trick is fresh off of having his neck injured at the hands of Ridge, so he isn’t 100% right now, and Ridge continues to slow things down and work on that injured neck.
LOL @ like ten people doing a “this is awesome” chant. The crowd can’t even do that right.
Trick is thrown over the top rope, and he ends up with his neck caught up in the top two ropes, just like Mick Foley did in Germany in 1994 before his ear was ripped off of his head. You don’t see that spot very often these days.
Trick Willy picks up the win and retains the NXT Championship. The match was okay. It just didn’t seem to fit in on a pay-per-view, and wasn’t really put together to leave first gear very often. 2.75 Stars. I’m not saying I wanted Ridge to become the NXT Champion tonight, but damn, that’s what Chase U was killed off for? Come on. That’s not cool.
Get ready, Trick. Oba Femi is coming for you.
Sol Ruca vs Giulia vs Wren Sinclair vs Zaria vs Stephanie Vaquer – Women’s Iron Survivor Challenge to crown the #1 Contender for the NXT Women’s Title
We’re going to start things off here with Giulia vs Wren Sinclair. That could actually be fun.
After some nice back-and-forth wrestling with counters and reversals, Sol Ruca is out as the next entrant in the match.
As athletic as she is, sometimes it seems like Sol Ruca is running in slow motion.
Seconds away from the ten-minute mark, Giulia picks up the first fall, pinning Wren. Now, power and chaos are going to take over, as Zaria is the next entrant in the match.
Wren gets out of the penalty box and immediately finds herself on the receiving end of a Sol Snatcher. Sol gets the pin, and now, Wren is back in the penalty box. Poor thing.
At the 15-minute mark, Stephanie Vaquer enters the match as the fifth and final competitor. There have only been two total falls, so she isn’t at much of a disadvantage.
Man, this fucking crowd sucks.
Zaria picks up the pin on Giulia, putting the NXT newcomer on the board. The pin got literally ZERO crowd reaction. My goodness.
With four minutes left in the match, we’re tied at one fall between Giulia, Zaria, and Sol Ruca. I’m going to need Giulia and Steph Vaquer to find another way to communicate with each other, though. They just went through a stretch of back-to-back spots where they very clearly stopped what they were doing to whisper the spot to one another. That looked ugly.
Steph is on the board now, pinning Wren Sinclair, who goes back to the penalty box with just over two minutes to go in the match. The crowd has started a small “let’s go, Wren” chant as they try to motivate her. She’s running out of time.
Well… she was, anyway. As soon as she left the penalty box, she was able to pick up a pin on Sol Ruca. We’re all tied at one fall.
No, we’re not! Giulia gets the pin with ten seconds left on the clock, and she is the new #1 Contender for the NXT Women’s Title!
The match was clunky in spots, and nowhere near as smooth as the men’s match that opened the show, but it was still fun. Iron Survivor Challenges are pretty much guaranteed to be a wild ride, and this was no exception. 3.5 Stars
All in all, it wasn’t an NXT Takeover show where seemingly every match was in contention for Match Of The Night, but it was a more than acceptable show performed in front of a doodoo stain of a crowd. A mild recommendation to check the show out if you haven’t done so already.
