Deadline is an annual professional wrestling event held in December by the American promotion 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 before the 25-minute time limit (the "deadline") expires to earn a future match for the NXT Championship and NXT Women's Championship, respectively.

The first two men's spots were determined by two matches where Wes Lee and Je'Von Evans defeated Cedric Alexander and Lexis King, respectively, while the first women's spot was determined by a match where Sol Ruca defeated Cora Jade.

[11] At the day of the event, it was announced that Thorpe would not be medically cleared to compete in the match, with a replacement taking his place.

[12] On the August 13 episode of NXT, Chase University (Andre Chase and Ridge Holland) defeated Axiom and Nathan Frazer to win the NXT Tag Team Championship,[13] only to lose the titles back to them 19 days later at No Mercy.

After initially refusing, Holland changed his mind and accepted after Williams added the stipulation that the winner would challenge him for the NXT Championship at Deadline.

The two agreed to put their differences aside to team up against Jayne and Henley for NXT's October 1 premiere on The CW, which they lost after Parker walked out on Vice.

[7] On the November 19 episode, Parker lost her Iron Survivor qualifying match after interference from Vice.

[10] On the December 3 episode, Parker competed in a Last Chance fatal four-way match for the final spot in the Iron Survivor Challenge, but failed to win after interference from Vice as a brawl ensued between the two.