Whether you’re a hardcore sicko, a casual, or an outside observer, it’s been a thrilling and compelling year to follow the sport and industry of pro wrestling. For fans of almost any major promotion (and many smaller ones), this was a year when a breadth of styles, characters, and experiences really shone through, breaking up the industry’s homogeneity from only a few years ago. I like to joke in the old group chat that the more wrestling starts to resemble a video game like Street Fighter or Tekken, with a diversity of characters, fighting styles, international talent, and settings, the more I love it. 2025, more than anything else, felt like the first steps to achieving that dream. From Mexico to Japan to Australia to the UK and even a dalliance through Uganda, wrestling truly felt like it was a worldwide industry this year.
And so, as we roll up 2025 in the old inside cradle and listen for the ref’s hands to slap the mat for the three, the wrestling fans of BBP came together to chat about some of the things that hit the hardest with us over the last year.
Character/Gimmick of the Year
Sachin Hingoo: It’s going to be nigh impossible to talk about characters in wrestling this year without discussing “Timeless” Toni Storm, one of the most compelling gimmicks I’ve seen in some time. The rare ‘comedy’ character that can actually back it up in the ring, Toni faced down her former protege, Mariah May, in a series of matches culminating in a “Hollywood Ending” fit for a Golden Age starlet. She also held the AEW Women’s World Championship for the majority of the year, defending it against all comers. She’s already a ‘made’ character, and to me it feels like a triumph of all aspects of the creativity that wrestling can foster – promo segments, interviews, matches, and even merch – where Timeless Toni was consistent throughout, and fit seamlessly with any situation and opponent with whom she was paired. As the groupchat will attest, the key to my heart is sticking to one’s gimmick, and no one stuck harder than Toni did in 2025.
Jeffery X Martin: Almost imperceptibly, Marina Shafir has become the most feared woman in AEW. As the den mother of the Death Riders, Shafir has been there for every match. She exists mostly in the shadows, slapping Jon Moxley in the face before he hits the ring. Shafir barely speaks during Death Riders promos, choosing instead to hang in the background, glowering at the camera. When she does get the camera to herself, Marina hardly blinks while staring into the camera, making direct threats to her opponents in English and Russian (I think it’s Russian. It might be Romanian. Marina is from Moldova, where they speak a whole lot of languages). She’s the motivator and the disciplinarian of the group, not afraid to sweep the leg of an opponent from outside the ring. There’s a strong feeling among fans that if Moxley falls, Marina should be the one to rise up and become the leader of the Death Riders. Without saying much of anything, Marina Shafir has become my favorite character of the year. She’s the Dread Pirate Roberts of the company, biding her time, taking care of her boys while understanding she may have to kill them in the morning.
Josh Wallen: “Timeless” Toni Storm is the greatest sports entertainer in professional wrestling. She’s past the point of wins and losses. She’s taken some surprising L’s and her character has only grown because of them. In a crowded women’s division, she doesn’t need to carry gold. When she’s on screen she IS gold. I’m constantly amazed at what she’s able to get away with. Have the parental groups that used to demand the cancellation of Monday Night Raw stopped watching wrestling? I’m starting to think it was all just manufactured outrage.
Andy Burns: Seeing as I’m the only one who watches WWE on the regular, it won’t come as a surprise that my pick comes from Stamford. While the Last Time was definitely divisive, inarguably flawed, and ofttimes underwhelming, it also kept audiences talking and gave WWE a lot of exposure outside of its core audience. Give it to John Cena for making his retirement tour the talk of professional wrestling, and tip the hat to him as, on his way out, he gave both Dominik Mysterio and GUNTHER the rub.
Show of the Year
SH: There are a few shows this year that I feel really broke out of the established molds and patterns that wrestling has laid down in the past. Once a fairly insular business with siloed promotions that had their own particular flavour, 2025 felt most of all like someone taking those styles and putting them in the old Vitamix to blend them, producing some of the coolest and most compelling results we’ve seen in years, or possibly ever.
I think the most emblematic example of this worldwide concept is AEW’s two Grand Slam shows, held in Brisbane in February and in Mexico City in June. Since AEW has been in the business of putting on cards that would make the Sachin of even five or six years ago lose his entire mind with glee, these two cards took this concept to the extreme. Brisbane’s Grand Slam kicked off with one of the best tag matches of the year that saw Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay teaming up against Kyle Fletcher and Konosuke Takeshita in a 21-minute classic. The Mexican edition of Grand Slam took place in a red hot Arena Mexico in collaboration with CMLL and featured many of both companies’ best talents in an electric lucha libre setting where all the culture and chaos of that particular flavour of wrestling was on full display.
JXM: Those who claim that AEW can’t tell stories must not have settled down for All In: Texas. Yeah, the show was freakin’ eight hours long, but so much happened at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas on that hot July 12, it only felt like seven-and-a-half hours. Almost every match had long-ranging implications for AEW in the rest of 2025 that All In: Texas may as well be a historical document. Jon Moxley’s long downward spiral began here after he lost the AEW World Championship title to Hangman Adam Page in a Texas Death Match. Timeless Toni Storm beat the britches off of Mercedes Mone to retain the Women’s World Championship. Swerve Strickland and Will Ospreay beat The Young Bucks, leading directly to the Broke Bucks story arc as they were stripped of their EVP positions. In a surprisingly emotional win, Texan Dustin Rhodes finally got gold after becoming the AEW TNT Champion. And that’s not even counting Kenny Omega losing to Kazuchika Okada, who became the inaugural AEW Unified Champion.
All In: Texas was an endurance test, even for hardcore sickos like me, but there wasn’t a more satisfying PPV in 2025. We’re still seeing the ripple effects of that show as we head into a new year. For a company known for putting on spectacular papes, All In: Texas exceeded all expectations and became the most important AEW show of the year.
JW: All Out 2025 in Toronto was my show of the year. I made the trip from Detroit to catch it live with a good friend that flew in from North Carolina. We also had the pleasure to be joined by Biff Bam Pop! Royalty Andy Burns and Sachin Hingoo. (Here’s hoping we can get X to the next one!) Getting to watch Sachin’s eye roll in real time as Adam Copeland paid tribute to John Cena by hitting an Attitude Adjustment into a Five Knuckle Shuffle was pure bliss. Not only did we get to see the Cope and Christian reunion, we also got a historic AEW moment with the return of Jurassic Express. The combination platter of cool vignette, surprise return and immediate reconciliation was perfection. Who wants to suffer through weeks if not months of “Will they? Won’t they?” when you can get it all done in less than 5 minutes?
AB: The Saturday Night’s Main Event featuring the final John Cena match was an excellent two hours, during which some of the brightest stars of NXT faced main roster talent. If you’re not psyched to see Oba Femi go toe to toe with GUNTHER and Brock Lesnar at some point, you weren’t watching. From a personal standpoint, I was at Elimination Chamber in Toronto, and regardless of what happened afterwards, John Cena’s heel turn was an incredible moment to experience live.
Breakout Star/Rookie of the Year
SH: For me, this is the hot pink Protostar‘s category to run away with. Kyle Fletcher went from being one half of an – admittedly great – tag team in Aussie Open to being one of the most promising properties in AEW this year, which is really saying something with the talent on display up and down the card with this roster. Kyle had strong showings against some of the best that AEW has to offer in 2025, with a killer run in the Continental Classic to close out the year that included wins over Kevin Knight, Kazuchika Okada, and Jack Perry. He also had one of my favourite matches of the year against Jon Moxley at Worlds End. Look for Kyle to turn things up even more in 2026.
I’d also like to give a shoutout to Kyle’s Don Callis Family stablemate, the lucha wizard/alchemist Hechicero, who isn’t brand new but had some of my favourite performances on both sides of the border. It feels like every time that dude goes out for a match, I see a move or a combination that I’ve never seen before, which is pretty heckin’ rare after watching this stuff for decades. And, of course, I remain hopeful that Mr Mercedes himself, The Beast Mortos breaks through in a big way next year.
JXM: Harley Cameron has become one of the brightest points of the AEW women’s roster. Whether she’s harassing Mercedes Mone with her ventriloquism and puppets, singing and playing multiple musical instruments, or surprising everyone with a pair of brass knuckles during the first women’s Blood & Guts match, Cameron has gone from background goofball to becoming one-half of the inaugural Women’s Tag Team Champions. With only three years of experience in the business, Cameron may be the best modern example of a wrestler making the most of her opportunities and becoming a bona fide homegrown star. There’s no one like Harley Cameron on the roster right now, and she’s just getting started. She’s not been around long enough to get the sainted middle name yet, but here in about five years, she won’t be just Harley Cameron. She’ll be Harley Fucking Cameron, and we will say her name with reverence.
JW: X makes the perfect case for Harley Cameron. She would have been my pick as well, but let me instead sing the praises of her tag team partner Willow Nightingale. I have been a huge fan of Willow since the moment I heard her entrance music and saw her smile coming to the ring. Her personality is infectious. “Nothing matters, smile anyway.” Has been her motto since the beginning and she’s lived that life. She’s suffered a lot of start/stop booking and has finally started to get the success she deserves in an exciting Women’s Tag Division. Willow benefited from Mercedes ankle injury when she captured the inaugural New Japan Strong Women’s Championship in 2023. It would be fitting if Willow closed out an impressive 2025 by defeating a healthy Mercedes to reclaim the TBS Championship at New Year’s Smash.
AB: While he’s not a rookie, I’m going to put Dominik Mysterio here as my breakout star, mainly because he is not just getting better and better in the ring, but also as a character. Professional wrestlers aspire to the audience response and engagement that Dirty Dom receives every time he’s on screen. His inevitable face turn is going to be huge, and look for him to be one of the faces of WWE sooner than later.
Moment of the Year
SH: I can’t pick just one moment, because for me there were two important ‘firsts’ for the women’s division in AEW this year that I’m sure I’ve irritated the rest of the BBP’ers half to death with my clamouring for them over the past few years. I’m talking, of course, of both the Babes of Wrath winning the inaugural Women’s Tag Team Championships on December 10 and the very First Women’s Blood and Guts Match on November 12, both of which went a long way to put the women’s roster (at least) on par with the men’s.
JXM: Sickos look forward to AEW’s Anarchy in the Arena matches as kids look forward to Christmas. We know we’re going to get insane action all over the venue, bloodshed, and stunned stammering from a commentating team too gobsmacked by all the violence to keep up. But the last thing anyone expected from the 2025 Anarchy in the Arena match at Double or Nothing (held at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona, on May 25) was for Kenny By Gawd Omega to stop the match and demand that someone change the record. The power of buttrock compelled us, and All Elite Wrestling turned into ECDub. I’m not the only one who laughed until I cried, and it took me a few minutes to pull my slack jaw up from my chest. It was my favorite moment of the year, for sure, but thanks to Drowning Pool and a whole bunch of deranged sickos, Anarchy in the Arena 2025 became one of the best wrestling moments of the century.
JW: Being in attendance for John Cena’s heel turn on Cody Rhodes was one of the biggest moments I’ve ever seen live and in person. When it comes to live wrestling, I usually prefer to be as close to the action as possible. If you’re stuck with seats that leave you watching the monitors more than the actual ring, you’d probably have been better off watching at home. The drawback of watching at home is that you don’t feel the electricity that a moment like that creates. To feel 38,000 people react to Black Adam telling Peacemaker to kill Homelander Guile from Street Fighter will forever live in my body. It was a multi sensory experience I feel truly blessed to have been in the house for.
AB: John Cena turning on Cody Rhodes at Elimination Chamber. Again, regardless of what came afterwards, that moment was electric and never seen before.
Tag Team of the Year
SH: With the introduction of its first women’s tag team titles, AEW unleashed some killer teams on the women’s side in particular. There’s good arguments to be made for the Timeless Love Bombs of longtime friends (and lovers?) Timeless Toni Storm and Mina Shirakawa, for the on-again-off-again unit of Mercedes Mone and Athena, the Sisters of Sin (Skye Blue and Julia Hart), and for my personal pick in The Babes of Wrath (Willow Nightingale and Harley Cameron) to be the best of the year. The Babes fought through a grueling tag tournament as underdogs and ultimately earned the prestigious inaugural championship.
On the men’s side there’s even more options. Newcomers to AEW Jetspeed (Mike Bailey and Kevin Knight) came in and immediately made a splash. Brodido (Bandido and Brody King) held the tag titles and had killer matches for most of the year. The Young Bucks continued their campaign to be known as two of the best to ever do it. Various combinations of the sprawling Don Callis Family were also in the running, including Protoshita (Kyle Fletcher and Konosuke Takeshita), RPG Vice (Rocky Romero and Trent Beretta), Murder Machines (Brian Cage and Lance Archer), and any combination of Kazuchika Okada and one of the million other members of that stable.
JXM: There’s an old axiom that says, “If you’re not first, you’re last.” That doesn’t apply here, but if you’re first, then no one can take that away from you. Fans begged AEW founder and head booker Tony Khan to create a Women’s Tag Team Championship for years. In 2025, TK relented. After a great tournament, the finals happened at Winter is Coming, a special episode of Dynamite from Atlanta, Georgia’s Gateway Center Arena on December 10, 2025. Timeless Toni Storm and Mina Shirakawa (the Timeless Love Bombs) and Harley Cameron and Willow Nightingale (the Babes of Wrath) were the last teams standing. After barely escaping Shirakawa’s clutches, Cameron tagged in Nightingale. Willow picked Shirakawa up with a gut-wrench before flattening Shirakawa with a Doctor Bomb and making the pin. With that, the Babes of Wrath became the inaugural Women’s Tag Team Champions.
The Babes aren’t out there to do choreography and flippy shit. Willow has a hardcore heart, proficient with a staple gun and a trash can lid. Harley has the least amount of in-ring experience, but she’s quickly learning the nuances of working a fun tag match. As good as the Babes are now, they can only get better. They may not be your favourites, but they’ll forever be on the books as the first Women’s Tag Team Champions in AEW. That alone is enough for me to call the Babes of Wrath the Tag Team of 2025.
P.S.: Men’s tag teams also exist.
JW: StokeTR has returned Dax and Cash to the top of the tag division. You won’t find a better team of in-ring workers in all of wrestling. They’re the epitome of Tag Team Wrestling. The addition of Stokely Hathaway has brought better promos and better chants: NO HOES! <CLAP CLAP> NO HOES! <CLAP CLAP> NO HOES! <CLAP CLAP>
FTR is the perfect heel team to have atop your tag division. They can make anyone look like a million bucks for thirty minutes and eek out a last minute win with some veteran tag team shenanigans because they’re students of the game.
AB: They were a one-off, but my pick is AJ Lee and her husband, CM Punk, who faced off against Becky Lynch and Seth Rollins at Survivor Series. The duo earned the audience’s buy-in from the moment of AJ’s return on RAW a few weeks earlier and delivered a fun match together.
Story of the Year
SH: I was all set to spill even more virtual ink on Toni Storm and her triumph against her arch-rival Mariah May here, but it occurs to me that the bulk of that story took place in 2024 and half of that rivalry went to wherever wrestlers go when they’re sentenced to a lifetime of mediocrity. Instead, I think it’s prudent to turn my attention to a story that captured most of the year and defined it with two words.
Cowboy Shit.
Around this time last year, Hangman Adam Page was embroiled in a feud with Swerve Strickland that was so violent and full of palpable hatred that it left both men physically and emotionally changed. Since then, both Hangman and Swerve ran afoul of Jon Moxley and the Death Riders, who were holding the AEW Men’s World Championship hostage while running roughshod over AEW with gang attacks and all manner of chicanery. Turns out that the secret sauce to defeating this violence cult was the same secret sauce that comes out on top in most AEW stories – the power of friendship. As soon as he was able to put aside his ideas of retribution and join forces with Swerve, while also focusing fully on his goal, Hangman was able to defeat Moxley at All In and win the Men’s World Championship on AEW’s biggest stage. It was redemption. It was catharsis. It was Cowboy Shit.
JXM: Mention Will Ospreay’s name to any wrestling fan, and you’ll get a response filled with respect, if not flat-out adulation. We knew Ospreay’s neck was a mess because he told us so on TV. Ospreay also told us he was bound for some overdue surgery and that his upcoming pay-per-view match would be his last one for a while. High stakes indeed, and no match in 2025 was approached with as much gravitas and tension as the Lights Out Steel Cage Match at AEW’s Forbidden Door, presented at the O2 Arena in London, England on August 24, 2025. And even though he had stalwarts on his side for that bout, including Darby Allin and Swerve Strickland, we understood that their opponents, the Death Riders, would do their level best to shatter Ospreay’s neck in that unsanctioned match. We were scared. Well, I was scared, at least. I was afraid to see a wrestler I loved get killed on pay-per-view. After a tear-jerking promo narrated by his real-life partner, Alex Windsor, the match began.
My gods, Will Ospreay could go, and he went. Right into a neck stabilizing brace and onto a stretcher by the end of the night, thanks to a post-match attack by Death Riders Jon Moxley and Claudio Castagnoli. Was it a work? Some of it, maybe. All we know is that Will came through the surgery, but he hasn’t been in an AEW ring since. Every once in a while, we’ll get social media updates from Alex, or a grainy video of Will at an indie show in a non-wrestling capacity. But deep inside, we’re waiting for the Willie Goat to come back. Things were left unfinished. He’s got business to conduct. There are Death Riders to be reckoned with. His former partner, The Protostar Kyle Fletcher, needs to be taken down a notch or two. These are Ospreay things, and only Will Ospreay can get them done.
The best story of 2025 isn’t over yet, and the year ends on a cliffhanger. We wait, some days more impatiently than others. And if Will Ospreay returns… I mean, when he returns… the sky will burn.
JW: The build of Takeshita/Okada has been the story that’s intrigued me the most, though I don’t feel ready to call it the Story of the Year as it’s still in progress. Instead, I’ll shine a light on the Women’s Tag Team Tournament.
For the last few years, the Women’s division has evolved from the cooldown spot to must see tv. They did it through excellent in-ring work and solid character development from nearly everyone on the roster. The Women’s Tag Tournament was stacked full of competition and matchups that were exciting and intriguing because of the hard work and effort the women had already put in. To see The Babes of Wrath, two women who embody the “make every opportunity count” mantra better than anyone, walk away as the champs say everything. Dare I say I’m more excited for the Women’s Tag Division than I am for the Men’s? Abso-fuckin-lutely.
AB: It wasn’t the best year for WWE stories, as very few things managed to grab people’s imaginations. The hot streak the company has been on has definitely cooled. I’ve had to really think about this, and that’s not a good sign. I will say that the establishment of The Vision as a WWE faction has been solid storytelling, as it put together two studs in Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed alongside established superstar Seth Rollins, the hated Logan Paul and Hall of Famer Paul Heyman. The duo of Breakker and Reed haven’t missed a beat with Rollins out of commission, thanks to the presence of Heyman.
Promo/Segment of the Year
SH: If my only criteria for this category were “which wrestling segment facilitated the most non-wrestling fans sending me links to it with texts like ‘did you see this?!'” it would be Toni Storm’s balcony promo from the May 8th edition of Collision, emanating from Detroit’s Masonic Temple.
Filled with her usual innuendo about her ‘first time’ and with the visual grandeur of her black-and-white filter and the Masonic Temple’s ornate balcony setup, Toni’s promo on this show was immediately eye-and-attention-grabbing. It was also emblematic of Toni’s unique character and of AEW’s use of smaller but cool-looking venues throughout this year. If there’s any single segment that’ll sell you on Toni, it’s this one.
JXM: We had to wait almost two years to hear the man speak again, but on November 27, 2025, in the episode of Collision from The Pinnacle in Nashville, Tennessee, the Mad King got back on the mic. Eddie Kingston, maybe the most earnest and transparent wrestler in the business, had been out with an injury for 18 months, and I promise you, I missed him every damn day. Listen to the man talk, and you believe him. You respect him. And you want him to beat the tar out of anyone who gets in his way. It helps that Eddie loves us, all the sickos, anyone who enjoys wrestling. It’s a cold world. Better grab a tissue.
JW: In a world where men and women fighting in their underwear is the status quo, healthy conversations are rare. Conflict is normal. Regrets are nonexistent. To see a situation get diffused by someone owning their mistakes is not something you’d expect to see during what most would describe as the Greatest Rivalry in the history of AEW. However, that’s exactly what happened during a backstage encounter on April 2’s Dynamite.
There hasn’t been an “I know” that powerful since Han said it to Leia before he was frozen in carbonite. Hangman instantly changes in that moment. Not only is he shaking himself free of the security guards trying to restrain him, but he’s also shaking off the hatred he’s been hyper-focused on since the moment Swerve made their feud personal. It was a blink and you missed it moment, but if you’ve been following their story, it was epic.
Take note Y’all: Owning your mistakes and your role in the conflict is an essential piece of a healthy reconciliation. Admitting you were wrong never killed anyone. It’s only made them stronger.
AB: AJ Lee’s return promo was something special. Having the WWE audience chant “therapy” was unexpected and endearing, and you could see that it meant something to outspoken mental health advocate Lee.
Wrestler of the Year (Men)
SH: On the men’s side of things, there are several standout performers in the ring that really brought it in 2025. Returning from a bad concussion at the end of 2024, Bandido showed out this year both as a singles competitor and world champion in Ring of Honor and as an unexpected tag team phenomenon as half of Brodido with Brody King. Should a seemingly thrown-together unit like this connect with crowds or find the success they did this year? It seems unlikely, but some of the best tag teams in wrestling were formed in precisely the same way and concocted magic together. Bandido’s 24-Plex and his power-based moveset are always a joy to behold, and for my money, some of the crispest in the industry. Hot take: Suplex City has a new mayor.
Honourable mention goes to fellow luchador Mistico, who is on an almost unparalleled and unprecedented hot streak of selling out Arena Mexico for CMLL 52 times this year and putting on incredible matches in both Mexico and the US. His brief time as Sin Cara in WWE years ago might have been a low point, but since then, it’s impossible to deny that he’s come a long way, baby.
JXM: Ever since he shaved his head in October 2024, The Protostar Kyle Fletcher has changed his demeanour, his character, and his standing amongst the Sickos. No longer the muscular second fiddle to Will Ospreay, Fletcher joined the heelish Don Callis Family and became one of the best bad guys in AEW. He’s slimy and smarty on the mic, dressed in garish pink ring gear and obnoxious glasses with chains dangling from the frames. But Fletcher can do it all, and with precision. Equally comfortable with pins or submissions. Fletcher makes everyone he wrestles look like a superstar. From his series with Mark Briscoe to his work in this year’s Continental Classic, Fletcher sweats, sells, and screams through it all while exhibiting some of the best facial expressions in the business. There will be a reckoning when Ospreay returns from his neck surgery, but until then, let Fletcher roll. We didn’t get a bad match out of him in all of 2025 and, for my money, The Protostar Kyle Fletcher was the best wrestler of the year.
JW: Konosuke Takeshita reminds me of Christopher Reeve’s Superman. He’s got size, but he’s not ripped. He’s deliberate with every move or action he makes inside the ring and out of it. He can make himself look bigger or smaller as the situation calls for it. When I used to hear people sing the praises of Okada, I had no frame of reference because I didn’t follow New Japan religiously. Watching Takeshita from his debut makes me feel like I’m getting to see Okada’s heir apparent from his infancy. The story of one Alpha replacing another has been told perfectly. Takeshita knows he’s better than Okada. He just wants some respect and acknowledgment. Okada doesn’t want to face the reality that time catches all men, and there’s another Alpha that he’s going to need to put down if he wants to stay on top. The fact that the Greatest Tournament Wrestler of all time needed to cheat in a tournament that’s supposed to be free of outside interference says all you need to know. Konosuke Takeshita is the Alpha. He’s the future. Every match he’s in has Match of the Year potential, and he’s only 30 years old. The future is bright.
AB: Main event Wrestlemania? Check. Win the World Heavyweight Championship not once, but twice? Check. Nail promo after promo? Check. Take significant losses to help build other wrestlers? Check. Seeing CM Punk come back full throttle in WWE in 2025 was something of a minor miracle, especially following his unfortunate 2024 injury that curtailed his in-ring return. His entrance at WrestleMania 41 with Paul Heyman by his side was moving; his ongoing feud with Seth Rollins has remained fresh; and the return of his wife, AJ Lee, to the ring has shown the soft side of the Second City Saint. CM Punk often does what’s best for business, so don’t be surprised to see him lose his world title to Bron Breaker at the first RAW of 2026; their feud has been a highlight of the last few months of 2025.
Wrestler of the Year (Women)
SH: This is another tough one with a lot of candidates, but when I think about which wrestler I was always excited to see walk out on stage this year (besides Toni), I keep coming back to Thekla, who brought her violent streak from Japan’s STARDOM promotion to AEW in May. The Austrian Spider lived up to her moniker with a confounding but deadly set of moves, and by aligning herself with the two spookiest ladies in the locker room with Skye Blue and Julia Hart to form the Triangle of Madness.
I also have to give it up for Kris Statlander, who I got to see defeat Toni Storm live at All Out here in Toronto for the Women’s World Championship and then dominate the division through the end of the year. “Stat Daddy” has fought through injuries and betrayals (both on the receiving and giving ends) while managing to have killer matches with opponents up and down the roster. She’s undoubtedly one of AEW’s biggest homegrown successes, and I can’t wait to see what 2026 brings for her.
JXM: Oh, don’t act like there’s a choice here. It’s Timeless Toni Storm because, of course, it’s Timeless Toni Storm. My gods, what a woman.
On a women’s roster that grows stronger and more talented by the week, Storm is the shiniest star in the whole damned AEW sky. Sure, Mercedes Mone collected belts in 2025 like they were Beanie Babies. Kris Statlander beat Toni for the Women’s World Championship, and she lost her chance to become part of the inaugural Women’s Tag Team Champions. It doesn’t matter. None of it does. We rejoice when Storm wins and shrug when she doesn’t because she can take those losses without losing her lustre or her smile. Toni Storm contains multitudes. She’s a harlequin, a geisha, a golden age starlet, and the drunk aunt at a family reunion who sits in a wicker chair with a cigarette in a holder, regaling the pre-pubescent kids about That One Time at the Chateau Marmont. Storm is ambiguous, polygamous, and rigorous. One of the best in-ring workers in the world, Storm has ring psychology down to a science. Every move is calculated, precise, and smooth. Each word is a threat and a dirty joke. Timeless Toni Storm is a woman in full control, a portrait of completeness, and she is a delight to watch.
JW: Ultimo Moné’s belt collection was impressive, but it will be more impressive to see the talent she puts over losing them. Did anyone have Red Velvet on their bingo card for who would be the first to take one? I sure as hell didn’t. I remember when people talked about a locker room malcontent that was too risky for AEW to sign. I’m not saying they were wrong, but I am saying that allowing Mercedes to represent the company while she pursues the Belt Collector persona keeps her appearances to an effective minimum. She adds the right amount of exposure to a women’s division that has been rejuvenated through phenomenal in-ring work and confidence in promos and interviews. Mercedes presence helps elevate them all without stealing the spotlight from any of them.
When she arrived, I was hopeful we would get the Sasha/Mercedes that sat at ringside with tears of joy as she watched Bianca Belair hold the Smackdown Women’s Championship above her head at Wrestlemania. I feared a big ego in a locker room that had been through some turmoil would be a problem. The only egos I’ve seen in the women’s division recently were the ones that didn’t leave WWE on their own terms. Welcome to AEW, Hyan and Maya World.
AB: It’s Iyo Sky for me, simply because she’s an absolutely unpredictable in-ring talent that the audience wants to see do crazy stuff, and she always delivers.
2026 Predictions
JXM: Watch the Don Callis Family splinter as Kazuchika Okada and Konosuke Takeshita break ranks to beat the hell out of each other for a months-long feud! Thrill as The Protostar Kyle Fletcher gets into solid contention for the AEW Men’s Heavyweight Championship Title! Flip your wig as JetSpeed (“The Jet” Kevin Knight and “Speedball” Mike Bailey) grab the AEW Tag Team titles! Never say die as The Elite reunite to take the AEW Trios Tag Titles! Turn yourself upside down and crawl across your kitchen floor when Thekla wins the AEW Women’s World Championship! Take a drink every time commentator Tony Schiavone says, “Look at the bodies!”
JW: We’ve only seen chapter one of the Okada/Takeshita rivalry. I expect 2026 will intensify things now that the hatred is out in the open and the battle lines have been drawn. I think Takeshita will be forced to chase Okada for most of the year before he gets his comeuppance.
With the fracture in the Don Callis family, I can see Kyle Fletcher not taking too kindly to Okada borrowing his screwdriver and going his own way. Could a returning Will Ospreay reunite United Empire and go after the Trios Titles? Would a rivalry between The Elite and UE be enough to jumpstart the trios division? Crowns Up!
I mentioned Willow reclaiming her TBS Title at New Year’s Smash. I’ll stick with that and further it by saying Willow holds both the TBS and her Women’s Tag title for a significant portion of 2026. She’s the perfect workhorse and beloved by the fans. It would be a shame if she turned heel at some point.
Or would it?
It sounds like the AEW Jazwares relationship may be coming to a close. Jeremy Padawer of Jazwares recently confirmed that Jazwares would continue to keep making AEW figures in 2026, but nothing beyond that. It’s hard to imagine AEW not having action figures, but that could soon be a reality. Jazwares never seemed to prioritize the brand, focusing most of their resources on Pokémon and Squishmallows. I can’t imagine Mattel risking their WWE relationship to make AEW figures, and Hasbro has its efforts focused on Marvel, Star Wars and GI Joe. I predict McFarlane Toys, after losing the DC license, will be eager to acquire some new licenses, making them a perfect match for AEW. Look for news of an agreement before the end of the year.
AB: CM Punk loses the World Heavyweight Championship to Bron Breakker at the first RAW of 2026, which puts him on track to gain vengeance. Maybe he finally wins the Royal Rumble and challenges Bron at ‘Mania. That’s a good match, but it’s not quite the money one. I want to see CM Punk vs. Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Championship on WrestleMania Sunday. It’s the biggest match for both wrestlers, and would definitely help move seats to the biggest show of the year.
What else? GUNTHER retires AJ Styles later this year, and makes Brock Lesnar tap out at some point at a big show, perhaps SummerSlam. Chris Jericho makes his long-rumoured WWE return – the big question is, does he come out to “Break the Walls Down” or “Judas?”
Honorable Mentions and Shout Outs
SH: I can’t believe I’ve gone this whole article without mentioning one of AEW’s best Kyles – Kyle O’ Reilly. Kyle quietly worked his way through the AEW ranks this year to close out 2025 with one of the strongest matches and most dominant victories over Jon Moxley, tapping out the Death Rider in the middle of the ring. I think Kylo has a big 2026 ahead of him, and I can’t wait to see what he does next.
She’s been a mainstay of the company for a few years now, and such a fixture that one almost takes her for granted, but The Remarkable Renee Paquette has been someone who’s added so much to the AEW product. From her backstage interviews to her Up Close series of in-depth deep-dives into our favourite performers, Renee adds much-needed colour and personality to every broadcast she’s a part of.
Speaking of taking things for granted, one of the constants in the group chat is the stunned disbelief that we get to see The Rainmaker, Kazuchika Okada, wrestling at the highest level (as if Big Kaz has any other setting) almost every single week. “The Best Tournament Wrestler of All Time” isn’t just marketing or wordplay, and for the second year in a row, Okada’s elevated the Continental Classic tournament to one of wrestling’s most unpredictable and must-watch programs, making it all the way to the finals this year.
JXM: Shout out to Bryan Danielson for becoming my favourite commentator of 2025. Danielson can tell you the psychology behind every move, how badly it hurts, and who did the move during a dark match at Japan’s Korakuen Hall in 1987. Also, Bryan sounds like he’s high half the time, which makes lines like, “Yeah, I remember [Jon Moxley] bagged me in this very same ring a year ago,” even funnier.
Stokely Hathaway has to be the best manager of the year, taking FTR to new depths in heeldom and the highest levels of pissedivity. Don Callis may be ubiquitous, but Hathaway is more effective and more fun to watch.
Super massive shout out to the unsung hero of AEW, Raul Julia City. RJ City wound down his online interview series, Hey! (EW), which was one of the smartest and most creative ancillary wrestling programs in the history of ever. City was also instrumental in creating Toni Storm’s character arc and persona, which is one of the most memorable gimmicks of the last 30 years. RJ City, we hardly knew ye. Because you didn’t want us to. And that’s fine. It’s fine.
JW: I mentioned Jazwares potentially losing the AEW license after 2026. The good news is that they’ll still be making figures next year and there’s a good chance they’ll make some more FTR figures using the molds from my figures of the year: The Jazwares Vailt Exclusive 7-Star FTR.
This is the best that Dax and Cash have looked in figure form. I had picked this set up with every intention of opening them, but when I saw the how good the packaging was, I opted to leave them in box. This is the RoH FTR set that compliments the previously released and long sold out Briscoe Brothers. Both sets feature the gear worn in their infamous Dog Collar match from Ring of Honor Final Battle 2022. This is the FTR I fell in love with and the presentation on this set is perfection.
