The 2025 NXT Deadline (stylized as DEADL1NE), also promoted as NXT Deadline: San Antonio, was a professional wrestling premium live event (PLE) produced by WWE, held primarily for wrestlers from the promotion's developmental brand, NXT, alongside talent from partner promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) and WWE subsidiary Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide. It was the fourth annual Deadline and took place on Saturday, December 6, 2025, at the Boeing Center at Tech Port in San Antonio, Texas. This event marked the first Deadline event to livestream on Netflix in international markets.
Five matches were contested at the event, including its signature matches: the men's and women's Iron Survivor Challenges, where each 25-minute, five-person match required competitors to score the most falls, via pinfall, submission, or disqualification, to earn a guaranteed championship match at NXT: New Year's Evil. The winner of the men's Iron Survivor Challenge was Je'Von Evans, while the winner of the women's Iron Survivor Challenge was Kendal Grey. Also, Oba Femi defeated Ricky Saints to win the NXT Championship in the opening bout. The event featured the first WWE livestreaming event match for former TNA wrestler Joe Hendry after signing with WWE and the return of Tony D'Angelo after a five-month hiatus. This was also the final Deadline to air on Peacock in the United States, as The CW and ESPN Unlimited acquired the rights to broadcast NXT's PLEs in April 2026.
Production Background Deadline is an annual professional wrestling premium live event (PLE) held in December by WWE for its developmental brand, NXT, since 2022. The event is based around the Iron Survivor Challenge for both the men and women, which is a five-person match in which a wrestler attempts to score the most falls, via pinfall, submission, and disqualification, before the 25-minute time limit expires to earn a future match for the NXT Championship and NXT Women's Championship, respectively.
On October 25, 2025, at Halloween Havoc, WWE announced that the fourth Deadline would be held on Saturday, December 6, at the Boeing Center at Tech Port in San Antonio, Texas, United States. The event was available to livestream on Peacock in the United States, Netflix in most international markets, and the WWE Network in a select few countries that had not transferred to Netflix due to pre-existing contracts. This marked the first Deadline to livestream on Netflix following the WWE Network's merger under the service in January in those areas.
Storylines The event included five matches that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the NXT brand, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television program, NXT.
During the first week of NXT: Gold Rush on November 18, NXT General Manager Ava announced that John Cena would select the participants for the men's and women's Iron Survivor Challenges. The following week, Cena revealed the participants for both bouts. For the women's match, Cena announced Sol Ruca, Lola Vice, Kelani Jordan, Jordynne Grace, and WWE Evolve Women's Champion Kendal Grey as the participants. For the men's match, Cena selected Je'Von Evans, TNA X Division Champion Leon Slater, Joe Hendry, and Dion Lennox as the first four competitors. The final position was determined in a qualifying match later that evening, where Myles Borne defeated Trick Williams to secure the spot. On the December 2 episode of NXT, Evans, Slater, Hendry, and Borne defeated DarkState (Lennox, Cutler James, Osiris Griffin, and Saquon Shugars) in an eight-man tag team match, where had DarkState won, Lennox would have earned the right to choose his entry position. Since they lost, the wrestler who secured the pinfall earned the right to select his entry position; Borne got the pinfall victory for his team.
At No Mercy on September 27, Ricky Saints defeated Oba Femi to capture the NXT Championship, ending Femi's reign at 264 days. Femi subsequently took a month-long hiatus from television, returning on the November 11 episode of NXT to confront Saints after the latter had successfully retained the title against Trick Williams in a Last Man Standing match. On the first night of NXT: Gold Rush on November 18, Femi formally challenged Saints, asserting his intent to reclaim the title. During the exchange, Saints offered Femi a title rematch at Deadline, which Femi accepted. The match was later finalized during a formal contract signing moderated by NXT General Manager Ava, who announced that the NXT Championship match would serve as the opening bout of an NXT livestreaming event for the first time. The stakes for the match were further heightened on the December 5 episode of SmackDown, where Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes informed both competitors that the winner at Deadline would face him at Saturday Night's Main Event XLII. This arrangement followed a request from Cena, who envisioned his final event to feature exhibition matches pitting top WWE wrestlers against talent from the NXT brand.
On November 18 at NXT: Gold Rush, Tatum Paxley defended the NXT Women's Championship in a Halloween Havoc rematch against Jacy Jayne, where Paxley's The Culling stablemates Shawn Spears, Niko Vance, and Izzi Dame interfered. While Spears and Vance prevented Paxley from returning to the ring while the referee was distracted by Jayne grabbing the title, Dame attacked Paxley at ringside, effectively kicking Paxley out of The Culling. This betrayal allowed Jayne to capitalize and pin Paxley to reclaim the NXT Women's Championship. On the December 2 episode of NXT, Dame addressed the betrayal, asserting that she had corrected a mistake by removing Paxley from the group and that Paxley could never be her equal. Dame characterized her actions as a necessary consequence of Paxley's perceived selfishness and stubbornness, ultimately challenging her former partner to a match at Deadline. Paxley responded via a pre-recorded video segment, appearing visibly distraught while acknowledging her apprehension about competing solo for the first time. Despite her reservations, Paxley accepted the challenge, vowing to avenge the loss of her title and the betrayal by her former stablemates.
In August, NXT North American Champion Ethan Page formed an alliance with Chelsea Green, which included a victory over Tyra Mae Steele and Tavion Heights at Heatwave. Leveraging their momentum, Green challenged La Hiedra and Mr. Iguana for the AAA World Mixed Tag Team Championship "Alianzas" on November 2; Page and Green successfully captured the titles, ending Hiedra and Iguana's reign at 329 days. On November 22, Page and Green successfully defended the titles against Lola Vice and Iguana after Page hit Iguana with a kendo stick while the referee was incapacitated. On the December 2 episode of NXT, Page confronted General Manager Ava, expressing frustration over not being selected by John Cena for the men's Iron Survivor Challenge. Ava noted that the NXT North American Championship had not been defended since Halloween Havoc and informed Page that she had secured a challenger for Deadline. Mr. Iguana appeared, surprising Page by stealing his vehicle. Following the segment, a match between Page and Iguana for the NXT North American Championship was made official for Deadline.
Event + Other on-screen personnelRole:Name:CommentatorsVic JosephBooker TSpanish commentatorsMarcelo RodríguezJerry SotoRing announcerMike RomeRefereesAdrian ButlerVictoria D'ErricoChip DanningDallas IrvinDerek SandersFelix FernandezInterviewersSarah SchreiberKelly KincaidBlake HowardPre-show panelMegan MorantSam Roberts
Preliminary matches The opening match saw Ricky Saints defend the NXT Championship against Oba Femi. As they battled on the outside of the ring, Saints hit a tornado DDT off the barricade, jumping off the elevated platform onto Femi before while swinging around to drop his head down. He then attempted another tornado DDT for a near-fall. Femi reversed a subsequent attack by Saints into the "Fall From Grace", in which he flung Saints up into the air before catching and slamming him down, for a near-fall. He then hit another "Fall From Grace" for the pinfall victory to win the NXT Championship. Femi also earned the right to fight the Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes in a non-title match at Saturday Night's Main Event XLII.
The second match was the women's Iron Survivor Challenge, where two wrestlers began the match and the remaining wrestlers entering every five minutes with the aim to score the most falls via pinfall, submission, or be the victim of a disqualification by the end of the 25-minute time limit with the loser of every fall forced to be suspended in the penalty box for 90 seconds. WWE Evolve Women's Champion Kendal Grey and Kelani Jordan were the first two entrants. Grey dodged Kelani's dive before hitting her with a powerslam, in which Grey slammed her as Grey fell face-down on top of her, to get her first fall. Jordynne Grace was the third entrant, and Jordan later pinned Grey for her first fall. Lola Vice entered fourth and pinned Grey for her first fall. Grey executed a roll-up on Grace, in which Grey backwards rolled Grace sit on Grace's legs, for her second fall. After leaving the penalty box, Grace pinned Jordan for her first fall. Sol Ruca was the final entrant, who later hit Vice and Jordan with a double "Sol Snatcher", in which flipped 360° off the ropes before grabbing and forcing their heads down, to score two falls. As Grey tried to pin Grace, Jordan landed a diving splash, diving off the top rope. She then pinned Grace for her second fall. Grace then hit Jordan with a "Blue Thunder Bomb", in which Grace lifted and spun Jordan around before slamming her down, for her second fall. Vice then pinned Grey for a five-way tie with two minutes left. Grey later hit Vice with the "Shades of Grey", reaching Vice's torso before falling backward to drive Vice into the mat face-first. Grey then scored the pinfall as the time expired to become the 2026 women's Iron Survivor Challenge winner.
The third match featured Ethan Page defending the NXT North American Championship against Mr. Iguana from Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide. Page threw Iguana off the top rope before hitting him with the "Twisted Grin", in which Page fell backward to drive Iguana into the mat face-first, to get the pinfall victory and retain the title.
Next, former The Culling stablemates Tatum Paxley and Izzi Dame, who was accompanied by Shawn Spears and Niko Vance, battled. Paxley hit Dame with the "Cemetery Drop" on the announce table, using her left arm and legs to hook Dame's arms and legs before falling sideways to slam Dame. Spears then handed Paxley with dolls to calm her down, but Spears broke one of the dolls' head. Tatum then slapped spears. Dame kicked Paxley's head and hit the "Sky High", in which Dame lifted up Paxley before slamming her down back-first while dropping to a seated position, to win the match via pinfall.
Main event