Roxanne Perez Wins 1st-Ever Women’s Iron Survivor Challenge Match at NXT Deadline

Roxanne Perez recorded two points to win the women’s Iron Survivor Challenge and become the No. 1 contender for the NXT Women’s Championship at NXT Deadline on Saturday.

On Nov. 15, WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels announced the creation of a new match type called the Iron Survivor Challenge. He said five men and five women would face each other in separate Iron Survivor Challenges, with the winners earning future title shots.

The rules are as follows:

Perez was out first, but she went to the penalty box early after Zoey Stark pinned her. Cora Jade tied Stark at one after pinning Kiana James.

Perez hit the box a second time after Indi Hartwell pinned her. However, she bounced back with a schoolboy pin on Stark to tie it up:

Perez then pinned Jade with Pop Rox with two minutes left to become the only competitor with two points. She held on from there for the win.

Two weeks after that announcement, Michaels hosted a panel with fellow Hall of Famers Road Dogg, X-Pac, Molly Holly and Alundra Blayze to determine which men and women should be chosen for the Iron Survivor Challenge.

On the women’s side, Michaels revealed Perez, Jade, Stark and James would compete, with the fifth and final spot being determined by a wild-card match.

Hartwell earned her way into the Iron Survivor Challenge by beating Wendy Choo and Fallon Henley in the wild-card Triple Threat.

The initial choices made sense, as Perez, Jade, Stark and James have all enjoyed a great deal of success recently.

Perez and Jade are former best friends turned enemies due to the latter betraying the former, and they met at Halloween Havoc in a hard-hitting match that was won by Rok-C.

Perez then scored a win over former NXT women’s tag team champion Indi Hartwell on the Nov. 29 episode of NXT to impress the panel enough to earn a spot.

Meanwhile, Jade did well to bounce back from the Halloween Havoc loss, winning matches over Valentina Feroz and Choo.

Stark turned her back on Nikkita Lyons after a loss to Kayden Carter and Katana Chance in an NXT Women’s Tag Team Championship match, and that new attitude fueled her to victories against Ruca on NXT and Dana Brooke on Main Event.

James won matches over Thea Hail and Henley in November, plus she had a good showing against Ivy Nile despite falling short.

As for Hartwell, she is a former NXT women’s tag team champion who had televised wins over Ruca, Stark and Tatum Paxley leading up to her Triple Threat victory.

All five participants in the women’s Iron Survivor Challenge seemingly had a legitimate chance to win, but Roxanne outlasted the field and put herself in position to challenge Mandy Rose for the NXT Women’s Championship.

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