Who Wins the 2025 Women’s Iron Survivor Challenge?

The five women chosen to compete in the Women’s Iron Survivor Challenge by John Cena have been set in stone, and the field is stacked. This is arguably the most star-studded Women’s Iron Survivor Challenge match since its creation in 2022. There are former NXT and TNA Champions, as well as the Women’s Evolve Champion, Kendal Grey. While we’ve predicted in the past who Cena could pick for the match, we’ll now debate who could walk out of NXT Deadline with a championship opportunity at NXT New Year’s Evil.

Lola Vice

Back in September at No Mercy, Lola Vice failed to capture the NXT Women’s Championship in front of essentially her home crowd in Fort Lauderdale. It seems like with every opportunity Vice gets, she gets closer and closer to winning her first singles title, yet comes up short. NXT Deadline could be the perfect place to create a comeback story for Vice’s journey to the NXT Women’s Championship. The Miami native, being the face of the Women’s Division, come the start of 2026, would show how much she has grown and overcome throughout her time in NXT.

Jordynne Grace

Speaking of comeback stories, Jordynne Grace has also gotten close on multiple occasions to winning the NXT Women’s Championship but failed. She lost in a fatal-four-way for the title at Stand & Deliver, was defeated by Stephanie Vaquer at Battleground, and failed to win against Jacy Jayne at Evolution. With multiple opportunities squandered, NXT Deadline may be the moment Grace gets her shot to win the Iron Survivor Challenge and challenge Jayne again for the belt. Just like Vice, Grace is another name that could lead the Women’s Division at the start of the new year.

Kelani Jordan

While Kelani Jordan is a heel at the moment, and we don’t typically see two heels face one another, I put Jordan above names like Sol Ruca and Kendal Grey because of what Jordan has done over the past two years. She is the inaugural NXT Women’s North American Champion, and she is also a former TNA Knockouts Champion. She continues to elevate her craft in the ring and her work on the mic. Sooner or later, she will be the NXT Women’s Champion; it's just a matter of time. Having Jordan win the 2025 Women’s Iron Survivor Challenge would just add to the list of her accolades from this year.

The reason I did not choose Sol Ruca and Kendal Grey to win this match is for different reasons on its own. It seems like we will finally be gearing up towards Ruca’s friendship with Zaria disintegrating, with the two eventually becoming rivals. Zaria speared Grey on the latest episode of NXT, yet the spear looked like it was supposed to be for Ruca, with the segment ending with both friends arguing in each other’s faces. It’s quite possible that Zaria cost Ruca her chance to win in the Women’s Iron Survivor Challenge, setting the stage even further for their feud. I don’t believe Grey will win this match either. She’s certainly a great addition to the match, and this showcases what Evolve and the Evolve Women’s Champion are all about, yet with the field she’s going up against, it seems unlikely Grey will come out victorious at Deadline.