Now that 2025 is in the rear-view mirror, it’s time to reflect on pro wrestling’s greatest triumphs in the big ‘25.
But first, we have to examine the best matches of 2025. After all, contrary to what the WWE has conditioned viewers to believe, it’s the work in the ring that truly determines the quality of a professional wrestler’s body of work.
Before we proceed, though, I want to begin with a few disclaimers to bear in mind:
I don’t use an intricate scale to neatly categorize and quantify the finer details of a pro-wrestling match. While I do use a five-star scale to review matches, it’s not necessarily a linear formula.
Like any form of media, my enjoyment of a professional wrestling match can be influenced by how I engage with it.
For example:
- Am I watching the match in a vacuum or within the context of a larger event?
- Is it a television match or a pay-per-view match?
- If I’m watching the match with friends, are they enjoying the match?
When I’m critically assessing a pro wrestling match, I consider the following:
- What is the purpose of the match, or what story are they trying to tell? How does the structure of the match help them tell that story?
- Was the work in the ring entertaining?
- Was I entertained? This is easily the most important attribute. After all, professional wrestling is equal parts spectacle and entertainment.
While I have an ideal vision for what professional wrestling should look like, I try to enjoy the medium in all its various styles and presentations. This project is a comprehensive effort, designed to capture professional wrestling’s best work from 2025.
So, whether it’s mainstream American wrestling, strong-style, joshi, lucha libre, American independent wrestling, or hardcore wrestling from a Mexican junkyard: anything is applicable.
I publish anywhere from 10-15 articles per month for Augusta Free Press. The bulk of my content focuses on All Elite Wrestling — reviewing their weekly flagship television program, “Dynamite,” as well as their pay-per-views. I also host a podcast called “Rewind Mania,” where I review classic professional wrestling matches.
Beyond those two endeavors, I also have a full-time job.
Suffice to say, I’m very busy. So, I can’t watch everything going on in professional wrestling, as it organically happens. So, this list is inherently curated. However, I have definitely watched a lot of wrestling this year. So, if your favorite match didn’t land in my Top 25, I either didn’t enjoy it as much as you did or I just didn’t watch it.
If you’d like to complain, feel free to email me at [email protected] or follow me on Twitter at @Ray_Petree. For those who have abandoned Twitter, you can also find me on BlueSky, at: https://bsky.app/profile/raypetree.bsky.social.
Without further ado, here are the Top 25 Matches of 2025.
-
Adam Priest vs. Jake Something
DPW | Super Battle
October 19
When DEADLOCK Pro Wrestling announced it was going on an indefinite hiatus, a critical blow was dealt to the American independent circuit. The promotion has been an oasis for some of the scene’s top talent, accentuated by its stellar booking and top-notch production. This was DPW’s finest hour in 2025, pitting then DPW World Champion, Adam Priest, against the lineal champion, Jake Something.
Priest is a true southern bastard, relying on immortal techniques of subterfuge and sleight of hand to win at all costs. Every action has a reaction, though, and in Priest’s case, sow the wind, reap the whirlwind. In Something, Priest met an obstacle that could not be circumvented. There’s catharsis in watching Priest haplessly exhaust every tool in his arsenal, to no avail. As the walls quite literally closed in around him, Priest’s flame burned brightest, right before it was extinguished.
Roll tide.
2x DPW WORLD CHAMPION pic.twitter.com/LjykLnzO5K
— Jake Doyle (@JakeSomething_) October 27, 2025
-
Mark Briscoe vs. Konosuke Takeshita
AEW | Collision #109
September 6
(Sorry, Chris.)
In September, I made a pilgrimage to professional wrestling’s mecca of extremism: the 2300 Arena.
Not only did I have the luxury of witnessing this match live, but I actually sat next to Papa Briscoe and two of Mark’s sons.
They cheered for Mark passionately and earnestly, as though professional wrestling were real and true.
It’s impossible to put lighting back in the bottle, but their energy was infectious and, for a brief moment, a miracle happened: I actually began to believe again.
-
Street Profits vs. #DIY vs. Motor City Machine Guns
WWE | SmackDown #1340
April 25
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-MvybIU2Ok
To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the first tables, ladders, & chairs match, WWE booked a triple-threat tag team championship match on the Friday Night “SmackDown” after “WrestleMania 41.” The Street Profits defended their titles against #DIY and the Motor City Machine Guns.
The first two TLC matches are two of my favorite matches in WWE history. Unfortunately, like all good things, the WWE commodified the formula, resulting in an intellectual property that maximized profits but creatively yielded diminishing returns.
This match miraculously managed to recapture the essence of those first two masterpieces. For #DIY and MCMG, this was yet another notch in their belt. For the Street Profits, this was a career-defining performance—reaffirming what’s possible when undeniable talent meets opportunity.
-
Dustin Rhodes vs. Kyle Fletcher
AEW | Collision #104
July 31
Dustin Rhodes is in the late autumn of his 40-year career in professional wrestling. Like all moments in the twilight, winning the TNT Championship was fleeting.
Kyle Fletcher represents the polar opposite. The “Protostar” is still on its ascent. The result was two star-crossed crusaders intersecting at one crucial moment, in a brutal street fight.
.@DustinRhodes adds insult to injury to @KyleFletcherPro!
Watch #AEWCollision LIVE on TNT & HBO Max pic.twitter.com/OhWDffpTLO
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) August 1, 2025
-
Konosuke Takeshita vs. Claudio Castagnoli
AEW | Collision #123
December 13
The “Continental Classic” giveth and taketh. Here, we were treated to an auspicious encounter between the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion and the CMLL World Heavyweight Champion in an All Elite Wrestling ring. The 20-minute time limit provided all the additional gravity it needed.
-
FTR vs. The Outrunners
AEW | Collision #100
July 2
It was only fitting that the architects of Saturday Night “Collision” stole the show on the commemorative 100th episode.
FTR used the beautiful simplicity of the southern tag formula to produce one of the best tag team matches of 2025, elevating the Outrunners to a level previously unseen.
-
Kenny Omega vs. Gabe Kidd
AEW / NJPW / STARDOM / CMLL | Wrestle Dynasty
January 5
Kenny Omega made his long-awaited return to professional wrestling in 2025 at “Wrestle Dynasty,” preferring New Japan’s stage in the Tokyo Dome over his home in All Elite Wrestling. His decision was deeply divisive, but no one took greater umbrage with it than Gabe Kidd.
🏟️WRESTLE DYNASTY🏟️
第9試合 スペシャルシングルマッチ‼️
🆚 @GabeKidd0115 × @KennyOmegamanX
登録・視聴はこちらから ⇒ https://t.co/CcdQ1X9P52#NJPW #AEW #njpwworld #njWD pic.twitter.com/VDjROO7QyZ
— NJPW WORLD (@njpwworld) January 5, 2025
Kidd loathed Omega. Not because he was an outsider, but because Omega abandoned New Japan Pro-Wrestling. There’s truth to that conceit, and when Omega took his frustration out on the young boys hovering around the ring, it awakened the audience in the Dome. Kidd galvanized them, fighting on behalf of NJPW’s vision for professional wrestling with righteous indignation. His effort was as deeply moving as it was gutsy, even bringing President Tanahashi to tears.
-
Mark Briscoe vs. Kyle Fletcher
AEW | Full Gear
November 22
Kyle Fletcher may be the future of professional wrestling, but the present belongs to Mark Briscoe.
If the titles were hanging from the rafters, this would have been the greatest TLC match in over two decades.
The Prudential Center posted this incredible shot of Mark Briscoe and Kyle Fletcher. pic.twitter.com/MHPEEZOFae
— Fightful Wrestling (@Fightful) November 23, 2025
-
Demus vs. El Hijo del Fishman
Zona 23 | Royal Club
March 9
Zona 23 is a hardcore wrestling promotion based in the Tultitlán region of Mexico, where events are commonly held in scrapyards. Think professional wrestling on the dark web. Here, the combatants are Demus and El Hijo del Fishman, two masked luchadores with a propensity for extreme violence.
There’s an improvisational quality to this match that is enveloping. The ring is literally in the heart of a junkyard, surrounded by salvaged vehicles and bloodthirsty fans. It’s the kind of exotic stage that you’d find in a fighting game. Not only do both men use the windshields, car hoods, and fuel tanks scattered throughout the scrapyard, but they also break the fan’s beer bottles and use their motorcycle helmets as weapons.
-
Darby Allin vs. Claudio Castagnoli
AEW | Dynamite #308
August 27
Darby Allin vs Claudio Castagnoli
AEW Dynamite (8/27/25)
🎧 Papercut – Linkin Park pic.twitter.com/ydQgEgFujL
— 𝐉𝐎𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐆𝐈𝐎 (@joshigio) August 28, 2025
Darby Allin and Claudio Castagnoli had the unenviable task of stepping into the house that ECW built and competing in a falls count anywhere match. Not only did they capture the essence of extremism, but they delivered a match that will be canonized in the pantheon of great 2300 Arena performances. Allin’s ability to absorb one cataclysmic bump after another accentuated Castagnoli’s greatest strengths, giving him the allure of a goliath.
-
Mark Briscoe vs. MJF
AEW | All Out
September 20
When Mark Briscoe said MJF had a “small kosher pickle,” it was difficult to imagine that this would be the outcome. Then again, MJF dared to invoke the name of Mark’s late brother, Jay Briscoe. While I was disappointed with MJF for picking the low-hanging fruit, the transgression did more than add fuel to the fire. It was an accelerant.
MJF was forced to reckon with his sins in a tables ‘n’ tacks match, a stipulation designed by Briscoe to maximize Friedman’s suffering. While the tables were sparse, the tacks were omnipresent. Every bump was exacerbated, and every decision was calculated — forcing both men to weigh risk versus reward.
-
Kenny Omega vs. Kazuchika Okada
AEW | All In: Texas
July 12
It had been seven years since Kenny Omega and Kazuchika Okada’s last encounter in Osaka Jo-Hall. Their famed seven-star match shook the professional wrestling world to its core, punctuating one of the sport of kings’ greatest rivalries. No wrestler is immune to the passage of time, though, and both men paid the untenable toll. While they may have fallen from the summit, wrestlers like them, who breathe rarified air, never fall from grace.
In their fifth encounter, Omega and Okada took a more introspective approach. Omega’s body has betrayed him, and Okada has become desperate enough to exploit those weaknesses. The contempt that Omega and Okada share is bountiful, and we are the fortunate recipients of that grand bounty.
-
Sareee vs. Syuri
Sareee-ISM | Chapter VII
March 10
Syuri is one of the most feared competitors in all of joshi. Her stake at the claim is rooted in legitimacy, having previously competed in both UFC and Pancrase. Sareee possesses a similar vision for the sport of kings, reveling in violence and rivaling Syuri’s sheer physicality. Their styles are equally as engrossing, helping blur the lines between reality and fantasy.
-
Bandido vs. Konosuke Takeshita
Ring of Honor | Supercard of Honor
July 11
In professional wrestling, less is always more. Excess is Bandido and Konosuke Takeshita’s currency. While it may be errant, there’s glory to be had in that tender. After all, this was Dave Meltzer’s highest-rated match of 2025, for whatever that’s worth.
Both men are preternatural athletes, combining cruiserweight velocity with heavyweight power. With the Ring of Honor World Championship on the line, Bandido harnessed the ageless magic of the tecnico champions of old to survive the bigger, stronger Takeshita.
-
“Hangman” Adam Page vs. Will Ospreay
AEW | Double or Nothing
May 25
At the height of Jon Moxley’s reign as world champion, “Hangman” Adam Page and Will Ospreay represented All Elite Wrestling’s salvation. Two preternatural athletes at the peak of their powers, competing for an opportunity to face the champion on the promotion’s grandest stage.
Will Ospreay vs Hangman Adam Page
Owen Hart Tournament Finals
Double Or Nothing 2025
🎶 Somewhere I Belong – Linkin Park 🎶@WillOspreay pic.twitter.com/5TjQfEyTAR
— CV Highlights (@CVHighlights247) May 27, 2025
Despite previously sharing locker rooms in both Ring of Honor and New Japan, this was their first singles encounter — magnified by both the stage and opportunity. In both men, fans could find journeys worth investing themselves in. In battle, Page and Ospreay proved that Moxley’s Death Riders couldn’t kill the spirit of friendly competition.
-
Sareee vs. Syuri
STARDOM | The Conversion
June 21
It’s difficult to improve upon a match of the year candidate, in the same calendar year. Sareee and Syuri managed to do exactly that, leaving enough on the table in their 30-minute time limit draw at Sareee-ISM “Chapter VII,” to craft a masterful sequel.
We really need another Sareee vs Syuri singles match 🔥#Sareee #STARDOMpic.twitter.com/9jQqzC625E
— Poi ☆ (@SGnPoi) January 11, 2026
There’s beauty in the fury they share, and both women took advantage of STARDOM’s stage to demand more from both themselves and the audience. This is more than a continuation: it’s an escalation. It’s grander in its scope and execution.
-
El Desperado vs. Jun Kasai
NJPW | Death Pain Invitational
June 24
Jun Kasai is a product of the late-‘90s deathmatch boom, proudly wearing his scars as emblems of valor. His opponent, El Desperado, is a unique product of New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s interpromotional relationship with CMLL — combining the strata of puroresu’s grit and lucha libre’s flair. While Desperado bears the distinction of champion, the terms of engagement favor the challenger.
El Desperado vs. Jun Kasai
Monsters among Men. #njpw #deathpaininvi pic.twitter.com/vOq5cOMxZz
— jay 𒉭 (@yonkoDBroly) June 25, 2025
The word “plunder” is a broad term that casts a wide net on everything gratuitously violent in professional wrestling. To be clear, there’s plunder, and then there’s fluorescent light tube, glass board, barbed-wire death matches. Kasai is in his element in that environment, quite literally giving the 51-year-old the tools to equal Despy’s technical expertise and vigor.
-
Sareee vs. Meiko Satomura
Sareee-ISM | Chapter VI
January 23
Meiko Satomura retired in April, closing the curtain on the career of one of the greatest wrestlers of the 21st century. En route to her retirement, the “Yokozuna of the Women’s Wrestling World” came face to face with joshi’s hottest commodity: Sareee.
The setting was the self-styled sixth chapter of Sareee’s own boutique independent promotion, “Sareee-ISM.” For all of her youthful exuberance and prodigious talent, the “Sun God” was forced to reckon with a monolith of women’s wrestling. When the unstoppable force met the immovable object, it was constancy that prevailed.
-
“Timeless” Toni Storm vs. Mariah May
AEW | Revolution
March 9
In the years since the global COVID-19 pandemic, the term “cinematic” infiltrated professional wrestling circles as a qualifier for “great” wrestling. Its lasting effects have been overwhelmingly negative, implying there’s a higher plane of existence for the medium of professional wrestling to ascend to. You simply can’t reinvent the wheel.
In their “Hollywood Ending,” Toni Storm and Mariah May tackled that sentiment — creating something theatrical, without forsaking this precious medium of physical storytelling.
-
Hirooki Goto vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
NJPW | The New Beginning in Osaka
February 27
youtube.com/watch?v=lWCfPI2wnAs&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Faugustafreepress.com%2Fnews%2Fmid-year-review-the-top-20-wrestling-matches-of-the-first-half-of-2025%2F&source_ve_path=MjM4NTE
In the specter of his father’s passing, Hirooki Goto shared his grief with the world — openly and earnestly. The 18-year veteran dedicated his performance in the “New Japan Cup” to his late father, hoping to capture the championship that had long eluded him. When he fell in the finale to Yota Tsuji, it seemed like the curtain had closed on Goto’s miraculous run.
In the “New Japan Ranbo,” Goto found a new lease on life — earning an opportunity to challenge IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, Zack Sabre Jr. at “The New Beginning in Osaka.”
Goto’s victory was a testament to the unshakeable resolve of the human spirit, and the unique catharsis that professional wrestling can provide.
同郷からIWGPチャンピオンがでて嬉しい限りです。これからも邁進してください #njpw #njnbg pic.twitter.com/nYacLQXeI1
— 東雲 (@saya_midori) February 11, 2025
-
Jon Moxley vs. Darby Allin
AEW | WrestleDream
October 18
Darby Allin’s year was underscored by his ascent to the summit of Mount Everest, effacing the lines that separate the fantasy from reality. That’s because Allin’s hedonism is not confined to the four corners of a squared circle. It’s a sickness.
From the outset of this match, Nigel McGuinness quoted the work of J.G. Ballard, “madness is the only freedom in a sane world.” The artifice of professional wrestling is designed to obfuscate its nebulous nature and blur the lines of reality. And yet, professional wrestlers have struggled to hold the line. They’re afraid to stare into the abyss, because they might blink. Allin isn’t afraid. He wrestles freely, and it’s the quality that makes him so undeniably magnetic. His reckless abandonment offers little pretense.
In Allin, Jon Moxley and the Death Riders found an adversary who wouldn’t relent. Allin may have been warped by their undeniable gravity, but he refused to be crushed by it. That is the burden of the man with no fear.
-
Mistico vs. MJF
CMLL | 92 Aniversario
September 19
Mistico breathes rarified air. No audience has more equity in their hero than CMLL does in Mistico. So, when his blood stained the canvas in Arena Mexico, for the first time in decades, something ethereal happened. Like Dusty Rhodes or Bruno Sammartino before him, Mistico has mastered the subtleties — keenly understanding the gravity he manipulates.
Some of the best and most iconic selling I’ve ever seen. Transcendent. The very soul of pro wrestling.pic.twitter.com/EY2DUGVh3C
— Matt D – SC (@MattD_SC) September 20, 2025
To MJF’s credit, the 29-year-old phenom delivered a tremendous heel performance — adorned in Homelander’s regalia from Garth Ennis’ “The Boys.” Bereft of his silver tongue, MJF had to rely on wrestling’s physical artifices. In those immortal techniques, MJF always comes alive.
-
Will Ospreay vs. Kyle Fletcher
AEW | Revolution
March 9
“I hate you! I hate you! I f*ck*ng hate you! You son of a b*tch! F*ck you!”
My most worthwhile pursuit in life has been as an older brother. I’m sure Will Ospreay would agree.
Kyle Fletcher was more than Ospreay’s subordinate in the United Empire. They were brothers, sworn in blood and bound by oath. Nobody fights like brothers. In that fractured relationship, magic was made — enclosed in an unforgiving steel cage.
-
Saya Kamitani vs. Tam Nakano
STARDOM | All-Star Grand Queendom 2025
April 27
Heavy is the head that wears the crown.
Tam Nakano was instrumental in STARDOM’s discovery of Saya Kamitani, so it was only fitting that the “Phenex Queen” played the role of Nakano’s executioner.
Both women put their careers on the line for the World of STARDOM Championship, yielding an utterly perfect professional wrestling match — both in its scope and delivery.
-
“Hangman” Adam Page vs. Jon Moxley
AEW | All In: Texas
July 12
“Hangman” Adam Page’s victory at “All In: Texas” was the culmination of two sagas, inexorably interwoven in the cruel catharsis of Texas Death like links in a chain. It was a story of tragedy and triumph. It was a story of regret and reconciliation. It was a reminder that even mighty conquerors must fall.
As the walls surrounding Jon Moxley began to close in, the man who arrogantly claimed to ride death itself proved his cowardice. He ran. It was Page who walked through the valley of the shadow of death and lived to tell the hangman’s tale.
Support AFP
Share
