2025 has had no shortage of excellent matches across the world. It’s a highly difficult task to pick just one “Match of the Year” but here on Pop Break, we’ve enlisted diehard wrestling fans from all walks of life to give their pick for this honor. This year, more than ever, we have a great blend of promotions both mainstream and independent being represented in this column.
Here’s who we’ve gathered for this all-star panel to select their 2025 Matches of the Year.
- Michael Dworkis — Senior Wrestling & Comic Books Writer, Pop Break
- Steven Miller — Teaching Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies, Journalism and Media Studies, Rutgers University
- Julian Dimagiba — Bassist, Young Rising Sons
- Deseree Spinks — Lead Singer, Des & The Swagmatics
- Bill Bodkin — Editor-in-Chief, Pop Break
- Tyler Yasembousky — Editor-in-Chief, All Yaz Wrestling | Staff Writer, BCP+ & Pop Break
- Kelvin Kately — Owner & Manager, The DFPN | No Gimmick Podcast & The Smoke Pit Podcast, Host | Senior Editor, BCP+ | Staff Writer, Pop Break
- Jeff Fountain — USDN Podcast, Host
- Amanda Rivas — Socially Distanced Podcast, Host | Anime x Pop Podcast, Host | Staff Writer, BCP+ & Pop Break
- Branden Hilton — Retired professional wrestler, Anime x Pop Podcast, Regular Guest
- Kenny Pete — Contributing Writer, BCP+ & Pop Break
- Brandon Hoffman — Editorial Intern, Pop Break
- Warren Hayes — The Mr. Warren Hayes Show, Host
- Matt “Big Cat” Widdis — Senior Editor, BCP+ | The Down Beat, Beat Down Hour, Co-Host | Staff Writer, Pop Break
- Rob Williams — Editor-in-Chief, BCP+ | The Down Beat, Beat Down Hour, Co-Host | Senior Editor, Pop Break
The Match: “The Hollywood Ending” for the AEW Women’s World Title: “Timeless” Toni Storm (C) vs. “The Glamour” Mariah May
Event: AEW Revolution
Chosen by: Michael Dworkis
The 2025 Women’s Match of the Year goes to another well-deserved choice, “Timeless” Toni Storm defeating “The Glamour” Mariah May in the Hollywood Ending Match at AEW Revolution.
One of the longest and most-watched feuds in ALL of professional wrestling culminated with a match which saw the finality of the saga between Storm and May. This earns the title of Match of the Year not only for it being an exquisite work of art, from a methodical pace of grappling into an outright bloodbath at its bitter end, but the perfection in which the feud concluded, with both women lying prone at the top of the stage with the words “The End” in Hollywood scrawl across the big screen.
Storm and May, trading the Women’ s Championship, but also saw Storm evolve, shock, and surprise us all with some of the best character-driven performances of our era. Mariah May evolves from a timid newcomer into revealing herself to be a sinister manipulator who decimates and humiliates all challengers. There is no way to copy this, no matter how hard anyone dares to try. Unique and surely and once-in-a-lifetime story.
This MOTY selection topped other notable entries, such as Storm vs. Athena from Forbidden Door, Storm vs. Mercedes Mone at All In, Jamie Hayter vs. Mercedes Mone at Double or Nothing, and Kris Statlander vs. Toni Storm from WrestleDream.
The Match: Seth Rollins vs Roman Reigns vs CM Punk
The Show: Wrestlemania 41 Night 2
Chosen By: Steve Miller
2025 is going to go down as the year that changed Professional Wrestling. This statement has nothing to do with the action we saw in the ring which was taken to another level in terms of athleticism and graphic violence.
Based on the latter, I would have chosen the AEW Women’s Blood and Guts match. The carnage in that televised spectacle was only matched by the damage Britt Baker and Thunder Rosa inflicted on each other in the company’s early days.
Based on the former, you could choose almost any match involving former luchadores, Will Ospreay, and the high flyers that inhabit almost any organization.
The match I chose has neither. However, this Wrestlemania moment did flip the script on WWE’s entire year at a time when its transition to Netflix on a 10-year, $5 billion contract started and they needed to make the biggest impression. Paul Levesque’s pitch to a new, worldwide audience needed to have strong characters, tight storylines, and a way to involve Paul Heyman, who may be their biggest and most important star both in front of and behind the camera.
This was the key swerve in continuing the soap opera and increasing the flow of subscription dollars. The Game was just trying to play the new game. One last note: In 2026, you have to keep an eye on what happens to WBD and what it will mean for AEW and ROH. The streaming wars are getting more and more intense and our pocketbooks are going to suffer in the end.
The Match: Gabe Kidd vs Kenny Omega
The Show: Wrestle Dynasty
Chosen By: Julian Dimagiba
When speaking on Match Of The Year candidates, it’s not uncommon to have a candidate very early in the year. More specifically, not from Wrestle Kingdom.
For my match of the year, it actually occurred the next night on January 5th, on Wrestle Dynasty. My choice for match of the year is Kenny Omega vs Gabe Kidd. Looking at it JUST as a match, it is an incredible wrestling contest as one would expect from Kenny. Gabe Kidd was given a huge spotlight to perform at a high level, and he over delivered in my opinion. What made it extra special for me is this is the first match back for Kenny Omega after his diverticulitis diagnosis. For him to have this match after what he has gone through, it propels it up to the top of my list.
The Match: Jon Moxley vs. Hangman Page — Texas Death Match for the AEW World Title
The Show: ALL IN: Texas
Chosen by: Tyler Yasembousky
There were a lot of fantastic matches this year, especially in AEW, but my personal favorite match of the year was not only a great match, but a great finish to the redemption angle of Hangman Page.
It was very reminiscent of the Wrestlemania 40 Main event with a lot of stars showing up during the match…but turn the violence up by 10000000 percent.
This was gory, this was hard hitting.
This was everything I love about professional wrestling.
The Match: Bianca Belair vs. Iyo Sky vs. Rhea Ripley
The Show: Wrestlemania 41 – Night 2
Chosen By: Deseree Spinks
It’s the match everyone left Wrestlemania talking about and although it sidelined my favorite wrestler (get well soon Bianca! Smackdown needs you!) it’s my pick for Match of the Year. These ladies are the best in the game, and getting to see them do their thing all together at the highest level and on the biggest of stages was a treat. Fast paced, great sells, unique and creative spots for the three of them, I had a great time with it.
The Match: KJ Orso vs. Sam Stackhouse (I Quit Match)
The Show: GCW Boss of All Bosses
Chosen By: Kelvin Kately
Underneath the pageantry of John Cena’s retirement tour, the redemption of “Hangman” Adam Page and the emergence of TNA’s Mike Santana, I found a match that had clearly set the bar for the year.
The former Fuego Del Sol underwent a massive transformation following the events of GCW’s “The Collective” in which he lost his mask after failing to rid the company of Atticus Cogar. By his side the entire time was Sam Stackhouse. The new attitude saw KJ Orso blame Stackhouse for his failures, and a bitter rivalry ensued.
Boss of All Bosses gave us the peak of this rivalry, and in an I Quit match, we got one of the most personal, violent drama ridden matches pro wrestling has ever seen. Cheese graters, chairs, ladders, doors and even a wife was involved in this blood-soaked affair. In the end, this rivalry ended up being one of the best of 2025. This match is a large testament as to why that was the case.
The Match: Jon Moxley (c) v. Adam Page – Texas Death Match for the AEW World Title
The Show: AEW All In: Texas
Chosen By: Brandon Hoffman
Professional wrestling as an in-ring product has excelled amazingly in this year as a whole. As an avid watcher of New Japan Pro Wrestling, I have been a huge fan of the G1 Climax with Konosuke Takeshita winning. That run was phenomenal, along with other matches in New Japan such as Kenny Omega v. Gabe Kidd (Wrestle Dynasty) and Hirooki Goto v. Zack Sabre Jr (New Beginning).
But my pick for singular match of the year has to go to one of AEW’s perfect storyline climaxes. In a match that featured Hangman stabbing Moxley in his baldy head not even five minutes into the match, it was such a violent affair. It was the perfect ending to what the internet called the “Death Rider Vortex” surrounding Moxley and his World Title reign. So much violence, so much interference, it was the equivalent to the Bloodline Mania 40 ending. This especially was the case with Moxley’s panic and tapping out at the end of the match, sold super well. If you’ve ever been disappointed by anything remotely Death Riders related over the first half of 2025, check this match out. It’s perfect.
The Match: “The Elder Emo” Branden Vice v. “The Modern Day Backbreaker” Casey Blackrose – Texas Bullrope Match
The Show: River City Wrestling (RCW) Stars & Stripes Forever, July 6, 2025 (available on Title Match Network)
Chosen by: Amanda Rivas
The Flocking Brawlers were one of the most dominant tag teams on the Texas Independent Wrestling scene for two years, garnering multiple championships across various promotions while breaking hearts and backs. When Branden turned on Casey at RCW’s Rumble Royale in February 2025, audiences everywhere gasped in shock and horror.
This bitter rivalry between brothers dominated the early half of 2025 and culminated at Stars & Stripes Forever held at the Von Erich Ranch. These two threw everything but the kitchen sink at each other and Casey ultimately prevailed. The most poignant part of this match happened at the end, when Branden sat up in the middle of the ring, slowly removed his signature high top chucks, left them in the ring, and rolled out, signaling to audiences present and watching on Title Match Network that this was the final match of his storied wrestling career.
Branden’s career took him all over the country, into both TNA Impact Plus and WWE wrestling rings, to comic cons, and to Mexico. It was wonderful to see how many people Branden impacted by the crowd reaction and while this match marked the end of Branden’s wrestling career, it signaled a new chapter in his story that I cannot wait to see more of in 2026.
The Match: Kyle Fletcher vs. Mark Briscoe — TNT Championship, No DQ
The Show: AEW Full Gear
Chosen by: Jeff Fountain
The Protostar vs. Mark Briscoe and if the Protostar wins, Mark must join the Don Callis Family but if Mark wins, he wins his first singles Championship. This match had everything you could ask for tables, ladders, chairs, thumbtacks and barbed wire. These two superstars have so much chemistry in the ring that we knew this was going to be a banger full of blood and guts.
The match started like a normal wrestling match but quickly devolved into what the “sickos” love about AEW wrestling, over the top spots and blood, lots and lots of blood. Mark made it his mission to go through everything at ringside and it was nasty every single time. Kyle got his punishment as well but it did seem Mark took the brunt of the big spots in this match.
What would a Don Callis Family match be without a little interference from the man himself, Don Callis. What a weasel! With everything stacked against him, this match was definitely looking like another victory from the Protostar but you can’t keep someone from Sandy Fork, Delaware down for long.
Mark Briscoe and Kyle Fletcher put on the match of the night for the sickos, with Mark Briscoe walking away with his first singles championship and saving himself from joining the Don Callis Family.
The Match: El Hijo del Vikingo (c) vs Dominik Mysterio vs Dragon Lee vs El Grande Americano — The Fatal Four Way match for AAA Mega Championship
The Show: Triplemanía XXXIII
Chosen by: Braden Hilton
The match was truly one of wonder and amazement. The fact that you got AAA widely broadcasted to new fans around the world. The thrill of getting to see WWE wrestlers and AAA go all out in true Lucha fashion.
You got Grande Americano coming out singing “Cielito Lindo,” the destruction of the American Announcers Table, the amazing accounting during the match. There were flips, dives, counters and reversals. It was a match where you couldn’t predict the next sequence or the end result. Pure chaos, athleticism, storytelling and all worth the hype!
The Match: Mistico vs MJF — CMLL Light Heavyweight Title Match vs. Mask
The Show: CMLL 92nd Anniversary Show
Chosen By: Warren Hayes
I love it when, over the course of a wrestling year, the match you’re sure will top your personal list ends up getting blown away by something even better. At the start of 2025, I was convinced Kenny Omega vs. Gabe Kidd at AEW/NJPW’s Wrestle Dynasty was the match to beat, and it held that spot all year… right up until Mistico and MJF went at it.
With the CMLL Light Heavyweight Championship on the line against Mistico’s mask, MJF delivered an unbelievable rudo performance and worked like he had been a lucha regular his entire career. He made sure the hero of Arena Mexico was not just competing, but surviving, as Mistico, drenched in crimson, lead to his improbable comeback in a masterfully told story of violence, blood, and heart. It is not only my Match of the Year, it is one of the greatest matches I have ever seen.
The Match: Dustin Rhodes vs Kyle Fletcher — Chicago Street Fight for the TNT Championship
The Show: AEW: Collision
Chosen by: Matt Widdis
Street fights, Texas death matches, and the like seem like a dime a dozen even in this age where we’re exceedingly more aware of performers’ safety and overall well-being.
What has become exceedingly rare is a hardcore style match that doesn’t seem like either sanitized simulation with the corners rounded off or a goofy and meaningless display of sticking your friends with pointy objects in an obviously cooperative way before revealing why the mysterious scaffolding and 8×4 pane of glass is set up at ringside.
This wasn’t that. This was damn near cinema.
Kyle Fletcher, the brightest technical star of the next era, and Dustin Rhodes, perhaps the most underrated talent of two different centuries, going at it for the TNT Championship. Their respective in-ring skills elevated the execution of the “street fight” stipulation to where it really seemed to matter.
Kyle Fletcher is at a level that few under-30s seem to get to anymore. Dustin is operating at an unreal level for a legit AARP member and better than most that aren’t. The old familiar tale of the weathered gunfighter up against the cocky upstart is always reliable but watching top rope table spots set up in a way that doesn’t break the suspension of disbelief seems to have become a lost art rediscovered and a use for thumbtacks the likes of which I don’t think I’ve seen before really caught my attention.
There’s blood. There’s flippy $#!+. But most of all, there’s a wrestling match performed by two consummate artists.
The Match: John Cena vs. “The Phenomenal” AJ Styles
The Show: WWE Crown Jewel
Chosen by: Rob Williams
When it comes to determining my personal match of the year choice for 2025, I had to really take a deep dive into what match delivered on all levels when it came to emotion, in-ring, nuance, and storytelling.
After a few days of deliberation and narrowing it down to a select few candidates, I have to give the nod to AJ Styles VS. John Cena at WWE Crown Jewel 2025.
Two babyfaces, with completely different styles, having one more bout with little to no build on tv, this match had no right being this good. And yet it was great.
Styles came to the ring with his old TNA gear which was well….phenomenal. Cena took the time to write a custom introduction and have Alicia Taylor use that handwritten paper to announce Styles, which was just amazing. The in-ring was unique because while Cena was using moves of his previous opponents, Styles was using moves of previous TNA opponents. It felt very much like Ruthless Aggression WWE vs the golden age of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. And it worked.
Big POP from me when the crowd started chanting “619,” and Cena actually went for the move before Styles cut him off. That was the icing on the cake. Great moment for both men, and hands down one of the best, if not the best match of the year.
Honorable Mentions: Stephanie Vaquer vs. Fallon Henley at NXT Vengeance Day, Women’s Iron Survivor Match, Cody vs. John Cena at SummerSlam, Women’s Wrestlemania Triple Threat Rhea, Iyo Sky, & Bianca Belair, Stephanie Vaquer vs. Iyo Sky, Smackdown Tag Team TLC Match, Hardys VS Fraxiom NXT Roadblock
The Match: Mark Briscoe vs. Kyle Fletcher – TNT Title Match, No DQ
The Show: AEW Full Gear
Chosen by: Michael Dworkis
2025 has been a great year for pro-wrestling. More competition between promotions. Companies are seeing a huge increase in attention, largely thanks to social media. While many podcasters and YouTube streamers take the low-hanging fruit in grifting for engagement to bash AEW, no one can deny this is in part due to AEW’s consistent delivery of quality wrestling.
Probably the toughest year to pick a MOTY. From the beginning there were so many candidates. Konosuke Takeshita vs. Will Ospreay from the April 16th edition of Dynamite, the insane cage match between Ospreay and Kyle Fletcher from Revolution, Hangman vs. Ospreay in the Owen Hart Tournament Final at Double or Nothing, Ospreay vs. Swerve time-limit draw from the 7/11 Dynamite.
Many of this year’s Continental Classic matches could be valid choices. While you might notice many of the potential Match of the Year candidates all feature Will Ospreay, he is not in my final answer.
Mark Briscoe winning the TNT Championship from Kyle Fletcher at Full Gear is my pick.
Here is why. They had four previous encounters, beginning on the December 14th, 2024 episode of Collision, where Briscoe surprised everyone with a pinfall victory over Fletcher. Since then, they have had contests where Fletcher would then emerge victorious, but each encounter felt memorable and edge-of-your-seat suspenseful.
Each match had all “It Factor” elements. Wrestling, close calls, displays of power and resilience. Emotional expressions. Culminating with Briscoe’s emotionally charged win at Full Gear, with both men bloody messes by its end, showing the extreme lengths they would go to for victory. Mark Briscoe’s first singles championship victory marks a special moment in his career at AEW.
The Match: The Prodigy Cup Gauntlet: Abby Jane, Spike Nishimura, Seabass Finn, Juni Underwood, David Moses, Thunderhawk, Sal Mistretta, Kendra Kaida, Harleen Lopez, Myung-Jae Lee
The Show: Power Pro Lucha’s “A Link To The Past” (Available on IndependentWrestling.TV)
Chosen by: Kenny Pete
It’s an honor for me to be invited to contribute to this column every year alongside some great people talking about what they thought were great wrestling matches of the year.
Honorable mention to FTR vs Brodido from Full Gear 2025 in Newark NJ, a match I was in the building to see & a match some experts have said was the greatest match they have ever seen in their lives and they’ve been into this stuff for longer than most of the readers of this website have been alive.
This year I’m staying true to form and highlighting a match from a company featuring wrestlers that not many people have heard of, but will hear about in a big way in the weeks and months to come. Yes it’s “KP’s annual weird indie match you should go out of your way to check out.”
Many years ago there was a Philadelphia based, family-friendly, lucha-libre super party called Chikara , who created a world of characters born out of The Wrestle Factory. Both of those institutions no longer exist, but the torch has been picked up by a new generation of combatants trained by wrestling school named Catch Point operated by Drew Gulak, Tracy Wiliams and current AEW wrestler Wheeler Yuta, as well as the former RoH Dojo run by Trenton NJ native & “World Famous” Cheeseburger.
Power Pro Lucha is the spiritual successor to Chikara in all of the best ways & if you are familiar with that world on any level, it is what I affectionately refer to as “for us by us, real nerd, wrestling,” restoring the feeling that lots of us thought was lost a very long time ago.
This match showcased the future of the landscape in Power Pro Lucha, as it was a gauntlet match to crown the 1st ever Prodigy Cup Champion, a nod to the classic Young Lions Cup. The story of this match revolved around “The Spiteful Brute” Harleen Lopez being presented as a “Technico” (aka a goodie / blue eye for those in the UK) for the first time after playing the baddie on every other occasion I’ve seen her wrestle over the past year or two.
Halfway through the gauntlet, Myung-Jae Lee took advantage of the battle of the State Champs composed of David Moses and Sal Mistretta, and was able to roll up Mistretta for the win. Lopez made her entrance and went on to have an excellent technical showcase with Lee, eventually tapping him out via crossface. The Notorious Juni Underwood charged in and threw his biggest moves at Lopez to capitalize on her previous match in the gauntlet.
Underwood setup Lopez for a cradle driver, but was countered into a rollup and Lopez got the win. Devastated by his loss, after the match Underwood attacks Lopez arm & runs her shoulder into the turnbuckle, injuring her arm for the final combatant in the gauntlet match; Spike Nishimura.
Trained out of New England as well as with Meiko Satamura in Japan with the Sendai Girls where she is currently a roster member, Spike Nishimura is already doing big things & is on
The Match:Women’s Blood and Guts — “Timeless” Toni Storm, Mina Shirakawa, Kris Statlander, Willow Nightingale, Harley Cameron, Jamie Hayter vs. Mercedes Mone, Megan Bayne, “The Toxic Spider” Thekla, Julia Hart, Skye Blue, “The Problem” Marina Shafir
The Show: AEW Dynamite “Blood and Guts”
Chosen by: Bill Bodkin
The “War Games: The Match Beyond” and its all its iterations and variations have been some of my all-time favorite wrestling matches. However, the WWE’s version of the match has become a little too sanitized, predictable and choreographed. AEW’s version “Blood and Guts” has always had large hype behind it, and hyper-violence associated with it, but the consistency hasn’t always been there.
That changed on a cold November evening in Greensboro, NC when the inaugural Women’s Blood and Guts took place. The women in this match understood the assignment of this match — create a violent, historical spectacle. Skye Blue drenched in blood is an all-time AEW image. Julia Hart and Thekla crawling out of the cage was nuts. Kris Statlander entering the cage and laying waste to everyone while still holding onto her belt. Marina Shafir getting dropped bare foot on broken glass. Then the violent and emotional end where Storm has to throw the towel in for Shirakawa was a high drama, completely earned moment.
