WWE NXT Deadline 2024 Predictions: Wrestling Inc. Picks The Winners

It's the last month of 2024, and "WWE NXT" is closing out the year with a bang, presenting the latest installment of Deadline from Minneapolis, Minnesota! While there are two titles on the line, including the NXT Tag Team Championship and the NXT Championship currently held by Trick Williams, the true focus of Deadline is the Iron Survivor Challenge. As has become standard, two editions of this unique match format (one for men and one for women) will take place at Deadline, with the winners receiving potentially career-changing title shots — Williams himself became NXT Champion after first winning the Iron Survivor Challenge. Throw in an NXT Underground match between bitter rivals Lola Vice and Jaida Parker, and you've got a hard-hitting PLE card waiting to slam into the Minneapolis Armory on Saturday night.

Our collective PLE/PPV picks here at Wrestling Inc. have been hit almost as hard in recent months, though we did pretty well for ourselves at WWE Survivor Series, going 4-1 and boosting our overall record to 136-29-7 for the year — back up past 81%! That said, we still have a lot of ground to try and make up before "Raw" moves to Netflix and all that, so we're here to go 5-0 at Deadline! It's not going to be easy — with five potential Iron Survivors in each match, we have a mathematically slim chance of guessing the right ones, though we did manage to achieve something resembling consensus on both. NXT Underground at the tag titles are a little easier to call, but not much; fortunately, we do have the NXT title match, on which we all agree. Knowing our luck, that will be the one to go the other way.

With all that in mind, let's get to the picks!

What began as a short term alliance to combat the evil ways of Fatal Influence has developed into a legitimate blood feud as Jaida Parker and Lola Vice look to settle things in brutal fashion in an NXT Underground match. No matter the outcome here, Vice is set to make history by simply setting foot into the ring with no ropes, with this being her record-setting third Underground match after previous wins over Natalya and Shayna Baszler. That, paired with Vice's legitimate MMA background as well as the fact that Parker recently went over against Vice in their Hardcore match at the former ECW Arena, is the likely inspiration for two-thirds of our punditry panel pegging Vice for the win at Deadline.

If Parker isn't the breakout star of the year on "NXT," she has to be considered as much for the back half of 2024, launching herself into the main event scene with notable showings like her Street Fight win over Michin, securing an NXT Women's Championship opportunity by winning a No.1 Contender's Gauntlet Eliminator, and coming up just short thereafter against defending champion Roxanne Perez at No Mercy. Since then, she's been nearly unstoppable, and has hit just about everyone's radar in terms of names to watch in 2025 and beyond.

The feud between these two reached a breaking point most recently when Vice ruined both of Parker's chances to qualify for the Iron Survivor Challenge match on back-to-back episodes of "NXT." Following the latest interaction, Parker brought a brick to the ring and, while accepting this Underground challenge, tossed it to an unsuspecting Vice before laying her out definitively. What we have here, ultimately, are two stars clearing on the rice for WWE but a loss for Parker in what has quickly become Vice's signature match won't do her much harm at all. And if this pans out the way we see it, Vice can be right back in the title picture, even what has become a stacked "NXT" women's division.

Written by Jon Jordan

Nathan Frazer and Axiom are on the verge of eclipsing 100 days as NXT Tag Team Champions, but most of us here at WINC believe that before they can reach triple digits on their title reign, No Quarter Catch Crew will be crowned new champions.

Despite Frazer and Axiom finding it difficult to stay on the same page as of late, they've continuously found a way to keep their titles, but with "NXT" teasing Frazer turning heel for weeks, it's very likely that their partnership ends here. In addition, Frazer will be competing twice at Deadline, as he will also be a participant in the Men's Iron Survivor Challenge, which could have implications on his title defense with Axiom. Will Frazer have enough gas left in the tank to defeat No Quarter Catch Crew? If he loses the Iron Survivor Challenge as well as the NXT Tag Team Championships, does he take out his anger on his tag partner? Fraxiom's relationship has been holding on by a thread, and failing to be victorious at Deadline could be the last straw.

Frazer and Axiom's ability to retain their titles throughout their own personal challenges could be convincing enough for others to have faith that they will pull out the win, especially if there's a secondary plan to hold off Frazer's heel turn until the new year. However, due to Frazer pulling double duty on Saturday, his treatment of Axiom as of late, and the possibility that he could lose everything in one night at Deadline, 67% believe NQCC will come out victorious.

Written by Julien D'Alessandro

Competing in this weekend's men's Iron Survivor will be Wes Lee, Je'Von Evans, Ethan Page, Nathan Frazer, and Eddy Thorpe, with each earning qualification in recent weeks of "NXT" TV in qualifier matches; Thorpe had lost to Frazer initially, but emerged victorious from the last-chance four-way on Tuesday to take the final spot. All competitors this year are fresh to the format, and have their own stories going into the bout, with Frazer one half of the NXT Tag Team Champions and Page looking to re-gain his NXT Championship. However, it's former NXT North American Champion Wes Lee who is the favorite to win with 50% of voters in the Wrestling Inc. staff picks predicting him to become the third Iron Survivor.

Lee turned heel to cut ties with his MSK and Rascalz partners, Trey Miguel and Zachary Wentz, earlier this year after losing his North American title to Oba Femi and a subsequent shot at Frazer and Axiom's tag titles. He has maintained his hunt for the NXT Championship after vanquishing Wentz, losing two triple threats for number one contendership, and has had parallel issues with the bout's second favorite to win in Evans in recent weeks, defeating his tag partner Cedric Alexander to qualify a week after Evans had got the win in a grudge match. Evans was predicted to win by 25% of voters, having had a breakout year to remember in the orbit of several championships at 20 years old. Evans fought against Page, Shawn Spears, and Trick Williams for the NXT Championship on the same night Lee lost his title, coming close to winning the bout himself but ultimately falling short to Page. Williams re-gained the title from Page on October 1 and Page failed in a rematch at Halloween Havoc, but 17% of voters have a feeling he will get another shot at the title. Meanwhile, 8% voted for last-chance entrant Thorpe, while no one foresaw Frazer advancing on the path to becoming double champion.

Written by Max Everett

The "NXT" women's division is stacked, and the Women's Iron Survivor Match is going to showcase some of the best of the best, including former CMLL Women's World Champion Stephanie Vaquer and former World of STARDOM Champion Giulia. While the vast majority of the WINC staff believe one of these two will become the women's Iron Survivor, the "Dark Angel" narrowly takes the vote, with 50% of us calling her to win and challenge NXT Women's Champion Roxanne Perez at New Years Evil. Giulia took 33% of the vote, with 8% each going to Zaria and Wren Sinclair, who won the Last Chance Contender's Match on Tuesday. The match's fifth participant, Sol Ruca, did not receive a vote.

While it's true Giulia has pinned Perez twice in multi-women matches, Vaquer also has one up on the women's champion, and has yet to receive a one-on-one match with her. When Giulia had her shot, the match was interrupted by a returning Cora Jade, costing Giulia her chance at Perez's gold. Zaria seems to be tied up within the Women's North American Championship, terrorizing champion Fallon Henley and Fatal Influence, but she'll have a good showing in the match, as will Ruca and Sinclair. We predict it might come down to the wire between Vaquer and Giulia, with potentially just one fall making the difference between them as who goes on to New Years Evil.

Written by Daisy Ruth

Ridge Holland may have ended Chase University, but we aren't convinced that he'll do the same to Trick Williams' second NXT Championship reign.

Like "WWE NXT" Halloween Havoc, a major concern lies in the possibility of hot-potatoing the NXT Championship, as it could weaken the value of the titleholder, in this case Trick Williams, and the title itself. Williams' first NXT Championship run came to a dramatic conclusion at just 75 days. Meanwhile, Ethan Page — the man who dethroned Williams — lost the NXT Championship at a not-much-better 86 days into his respective reign. Heading into Deadline, Williams is under 70 days into his second NXT Championship run, with the entirety of Wrestling Inc. staff feeling it is much too soon for him to drop the title again.

Furthermore, we aren't sure if WWE sees Holland as a singles champion right now, specifically the top singles champion in "NXT." In his WWE run, much of Holland's success has come in the tag team division, as seen by his previous stints with the Brawling Brutes on WWE's main roster and Chase U in "NXT," the latter of which also came with a reign as NXT Tag Team Champion.

Another underlying timing factor lies within the date of Deadline itself, which happens to fall the same week as a shocking heel turn that saw The New Day's Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods evict their long-time stablemate Big E from the group. Big E, of course, has been out of action for nearly three years after Holland accidentally broke his neck on "WWE SmackDown," though he returned to television this week for what was supposed to be The New Day's 10-year anniversary celebration.

WWE has leaned into Holland's history of causing accidental injuries before, as proven by last year's injury angle with Ilja Dragunov, and having Holland dethrone the beloved Trick Williams the same week as Big E's banishment would certainly attract more heat for his own heel character. But WWE wouldn't break our hearts like that twice in the same week ... right?

Written by Ella Jay