Yes, it's a bit self-serving... but this year, we added Canadian Bulldog's Twisted Themes to the Wrestling Merchandise and Memories YouTube page. Each week, we debut the performance of a classic wrestling theme song, changing the tone and tune of it using AI.

At the conclusion of the Men's War Games match, a masked figure scaled the cage, superkicked and then gave CM Punk a Seth Rollins-esque Curb Stomp to give the win to Team Vision. A few weeks later, the man unmasked and was revealed to be Austin Theory.

In September, Andrade was released from his WWE contract and quickly appeared on AEW programming, aligning himself with The Don Callis Family. However, he hasn't appeared in AEW since due to an apparent non-compete agreement he still has with WWE.

One of the year's best matches from New Japan Pro Wrestling happened at the Wrestle Dynasty show, when AEW's Kenny Omega defeated Gabe Kidd. The hard-hitting thirty-one minute match received a 5 1/4 star rating from Dave Meltzer.

Rhea Ripley kicked off 2025 with a match against her longtime rival Liv Morgan, with Morgan's Women's World Championship on the line. Ripley captured the title for the second time while also getting some revenge on her former counterpart Dominik Mysterio.

Karrion Kross and his wife Scarlett had a turbulent year, including a memorable shoot-style promo following WrestleMania critcizing company booking. Kross faced Sami Zayn at SummerSlam, but his and Scarlett's contracts were, surprisingly, not renewed the following week.

In addition to retaining her TBS Championship throughout the year and being recognized as the top female competitor by Pro Wrestling Illustrated, Mercedes Mone held on to 12 different championships at one point, eclipsing a previous record set by Ultimo Dragon.

Steve "Mongo" McMichael, who won a Super Bowl ring with the Chicago Bears, passed away at age 67 following a battle with ALS. In the wrestling world, McMichael was a cornerman for Lawrence Taylor at WrestleMania 11 and was a member of The Four Horsemen.

Samoa Joe and The Opps turned heel this year and began feuding with Hangman Adam Page. This culminated in a steel cage match at Full Gear, in which Hook rejoined The Opps and helped Joe capture his second AEW World Championship.

... following a victory over Cody Rhodes at Crown Jewel, Undisputed WWE Champion Seth Rollins was attacked by Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed. This caused The Visionary to be written off a television with an injury, while also forcing him to vacate the championship.

Given our site's propensity for wrestling figures, you had to know this would be a milestone. WWE's Mattel license announced a partnership with LJN, the company that produced the WWF's big rubber figures in the 1980s. Hulk Hogan, John Cena, Logan Paul and Dusty Rhodes were the first LJNs to be brought back.

Naomi kicked off 2025 as a WWE Women's Tag Team Champion, but it soon became clear that she attacked Jade Cargill to achieve that status. As a heel, Naomi won Money In The Bank and cashed it in at Evolution to win the Women's World Chamionship.

WWE Hall of Famers The Dudley Boyz dialed it back for one final match against their archrivals Matt and Jeff Hardy when the two legendary teams competed at TNA's Bound For Glory. While Bully Ray and Devon failed to win the TNA and NXT tag titles, they did leave their boots in the ring, highly suggesting that Team 3D was retiring.

Becky Lynch made a surprising return on the second night of WrestleMania, teaming with Lyra Valkyria to capture the Womens Tag Team Championship. The reign only lasted one day and The Man promptly turned on Lyra, setting up for a new phase of her career in which she calls herself "The Greatest To Ever Do It."

Joe Hendry had a breakout year in 2025. He appeared in the Royal Rumble and captured the TNA World Title at Genesis. However, his biggest moment arguably came when he faced Randy Orton at WrestleMania while appearing as TNA Champion.

CM Punk's goal since returning to WWE two years ago was to be World Champion. The straight-edge superstar did just that in the first night of SummerSlam when he defeated Gunther to win the World Heavyweight Championship. However, a supposedly-injured Seth Rollins cashed in his Money In The Bank briefcase minutes later to dethrone Punk.

At Clash in Paris, CM Punk was outmaneuvered by Seth Rollins and his wife Becky Lynch. Deciding to even the odds, Punk accompanied his wife AJ Lee, who hadn't appeared in a WWE ring in over a decade. Lee teamed with her husband to defeat Rollins and Lynch at Wrestlepalooza.

TNA announced a multi-year broadcasting rights deal with AMC, the home to Breaking Bad and other hit programming. The deal, which begins in January 2026, will give TNA's product much more exposure due to a larger audience than their current home on AXS TV.

For many years, wrestling fans have clamored for a talk radio station dedicated to the squared circle. Sirius XM did just that in 2025 by converting the popular Busted Open show into an entire network, with shows hosted by the likes of Dave LaGreca, Jonathan Coachman, Sam Roberts and other broadcast personalities.

WWE Hall of Famer Bill Goldberg decided to hang up his boots in 2025. For his final match, he faced Gunther on an episode of Saturday Night's Main Event. After losing to The Ring General, Goldberg's post-match speech was cut for time by NBC, giving Goldberg a somewhat less-positive final experience.

2025 signified a career year for Jey Uso. In addition to having arguably the company's top catchphrase in "YEET!", Uso established himself as a singles star by winning the Mens Royal Rumble. From there, he defeated Gunther at WrestleMania to win his first World Heavyweight Championship. While he experienced some setbacks in the second half of the year, Main Event Jey had definitely become a top star.

John Cena made history at WrestleMania when he defeated Cody Rhodes to capture the Undisputed WWE Championship. This made Cena a 17-time World Champion and according to WWE canon, the biggest number of said championships ever, eclipsing the previous record held by WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair.

In a development that immediately become front-page news, John Cena turned on Cody Rhodes at the conclusion of Elimination Chamber, kicking him in the groin and aligning with The Rock. While the heel turn wasn't considered a success, the opening chapter was very memorable.

WWE kicked off the year by debuting Raw on Netflix. The inaugural show of The Netflix Era featured the company's top stars in action: Roman Reigns vs Solo Sikoa in a Tribal Combat match; Rhea Ripley vs. Liv Morgan; Jey Uso vs. Drew McIntyre; and CM Punk vs. Seth Freakin' Rollins.

WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan, arguably the most well-known professional wrestler in history, passed away at the age of 71 following a heart attack. A pop culture icon over the past five decades, Hogan was synonymous with pro wrestling and was a headline star in the WWF and WCW, as well as appearing in the AWA, TNA and New Japan Pro Wrestling. His passing was the top story of news outlets worldwide.

Mike Santana captured his first major singles championship in the main event of Bound For Glory, defeating Trick Williams for the TNA World Championship. While he lost it a month later, it established Santana as a top draw.

On June 1, following a 17-year run with WWE that included a match against his childhood hero John Cena, R-Truth announced the promotion was not renewing his contract. But just six days later, the multiple-time 24/7 Champion returned to the company, helping exact revenge on Cena.

Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin (led by MVP) dominated AEW's tag team division for much of 2025. After defeating Private Party for the belts, The Hurt Syndicate briefly added MJF as a member of their faction, and held the gold until late-August.

Triple H joined fellow WWE Hall of Famer U.S. President Donald Trump in resurrecting the Presidential Fitness Test, a program that helps school-age children learn positive fitness and nutrition trends.

The Babes of Wrath, also known as Willow Nightingale and Harley Cameron, became the very first AEW Women's World Tag Team Champions. The duo won a tournament, defeating Toni Storm and Mina Shirikawa in the final round.

Throughout the year, WWE scooped up talent from AEW, putting several of them in high-profile positions. This included adding Penta and Rusev on Raw, Aliester Black and Rey Fenix on SmackDown, and Ricky Saints and Blake Monroe on NXT, with both of the latter quickly winning championship gold.

Dominik Mysterio was crowned Intercontinental Champion at WrestleMania, holding the belt of the remainder of the year, save for a short reign by John Cena. In addition, Dirty Dom defeated Vikingo (with the help of El Grande Americano and The Judgment Day) in September to capture the AAA Mega Championship.

Darby Allin took his reputation as a daredevil seriously when he scaled Mount Everest. Allin set a world record for the highest elevation kickflip at over 20,900 feet and he even cut a promo and planted the AEW flag after reaching the summit.

Throughout the spring, Paul Heyman began creating a new empire to replace his previous group The Bloodline. At WrestleMania, Seth Rollins became a Paul Heyman Guy, followed by Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed. Later in the year, Logan Paul joined the crew as well. Having said that, The Vision did go through some growing pains...

Konosuke Takeshita won the 35th edition of New Japan Pro Wrestling's G1 Climax tournament, finishing the month-long 20 competitor event with a victory over Evil. Takeshita leveraged the tournament win into a victory over Zack Sabre Jr. in October to capture the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.

Lyra Valkyria made history this year by becoming the first WWE Women's Intercontinental Champion on the heels of a Women's U.S. Champion introduced the previous year. Valkyria defeated Dakota Kai to win the title and would hold the belt until June when she lost it to her former mentor and tag team partner Becky Lynch.

Iyo Sky made history in 2025 when she defeated Rhea Ripley for the Women's World Championship; it made her the first Japanese competitor (male or female) to hold a Triple Crown in both the U.S. and Japan. Sky's subsequent title defense at WrestleMania received a five-star rating from Dave Meltzer.

The first night of SummerSlam this year featured the wrestling debut of Grammy award-winning recording artist Jelly Roll. Teaming with Randy Orton, Jelly had an impressive performance in the ring, even though the duo eventually lost the match to their opponents Logan Paul and Drew McIntyre.

In 2027, WWE will present the first WrestleMania ever held outside of North America. The two-day event will emanate from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. While the announcement for WrestleMania 43 has come with controversy, it is likely to be a huge financial boost for TKO Holdings.

Hardcore wrestling legend Sabu passed away at the age of 61. Surprisingly, he had just had his retirement a month earlier in GCW against Joey Janela. Sabu was best known for his time in ECW, though he also appeared in WWE, WCW, TNA and other promotions.

One night after "The Ruse of the Century" against CM Punk, Cody Rhodes challenged John Cena for the Undisputed WWE Championship. After losing to Cena at WrestleMania, The American Nightmare was able to turn the tables on him and become a two-time champion in what was universally considered a better match then their first encounter. 

Through its partnership with Netflix, WWE presented a new program unlike anything it had done before, giving fans a healthy dose of backstage footage to see what really happens behind-the-scenes in the company. Focusing on the road to WrestleMania, WWE UnReal was touted as a success and will return in 2026.

At the conclusion of the John Cena vs. Cody Rhodes match at SummerSlam, the audience was surprised by the return of Brock Lesnar, who had been absent from WWE programming for two years amid his alleged participation in the Vince McMahon controversy.

After months of feuding with his best friend Christian Cage, Adam "Cope" Copeland offered to team up with him after both AEW stars were turned against by their respective allies. Together, the legendary tag team reunited to battle Cope's former friends FTR, as well as two of Cage's former charges in Killswitch and Kip Sabian.

Hangman Adam Page captured the AEW World Championship at the All In: Texas event. Whie it was the conclusion for Page of a long road back to the top of the promotion, it also signified a major loss for champion Jon Moxley, who had held AEW hostage (along with his group The Death Riders) for the past year. 

Although WWE had been working with TNA off an on over the years, the companies signed an official partnership at the beginning of 2025. This has led to multiple crossovers from each brand's performers and interpromotional matches, particularly on NXT and TNA Impact television shows, pay-per-view specials and premium live events.

WWE Hall of Famer Paul Heyman became the focal point at Night One of this year's WrestleMania. Turning on both his best friend CM Punk (whom he had agreed to represent in the match) and his longtime client Roman Reigns, The Wise Man switched allegiances and helped Seth Rollins win the Triple-Threat Match.

In a move that caught many observers by surprise, WWE acquired Mexico's AAA promotion to coincide with its WrestleMania weekend events. Since that time, WWE has actively promoted AAA shows and exchanged talent like Vikingo, Mr. Iguana and Dominik Mysterio.

Netflix wasn't WWE's only major streaming deal in 2025. The company announced a five-year agreement with ESPN, valued at about $1.6 billion per year, that puts all of WWE's premium live events on ESPN's streaming platform. The agreement began with the Wrestlepalooza PLE.

John Cena built his 23-year career on the principles of Hustle, Loyalty and Respect. It wasn't just a catchphrase for the wrestling star, but the values by which he's led his life. During a massive career in wrestling, Cena captured a record 17 World Championships and headlined numerous WWE events. His talent and charisma led the way for him to become a breakout entertainment star in Hollywood and in 2025, Cena gave WWE fans an extensive retirement tour. John Cena's final moments in the ring made for the year's biggest wrestling headline.