Has this been a terrible year for wrestling and can it be saved? Lets talk...

Has this been an atrocious year for pro wrestling?


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Larry

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First off, let me precursor this rant with admitting that this has probably been the least amount of wrestling I've ever watched so if I'm saying anything that's not on point, feel free to stop me. I went from a semi weekly viewer to watching maybe a PLE here and there, to eventually taking months off sitting through a show...


but brehs.. It's not just me right? This year has been atrocious across the board. I feel like with AEW, they have a problem with being interesting to anyone outside of the super obsessed die hards which has led to me not even attempting to keep up with what they're doing. nikkas like Dave Meltzer and the youtube british dorks have done more to hurt them than help. I feel like the weird pretentious act they put on for that company causes a lot of (POTENTIAL VIEWERS) to have a preconceived negative taste for anything coming from over there, and guys like FTR and Ricochet always running to twitter to play into it certainly hasn't helped. That company has become damn near tree falling over in a forest status for me which sucks because there was a point when I was a straight up sicko, going to shows and everything.

but WWE? oh man.. where do I begin. That company is in the dirt right now. It's like they're creatively bankrupt which is crazy to me because at one point they were on fire creatively. I think one of the main problems I'm having is that they seem like they have one foot in and one foot out when it comes to pushing the next wave of talent. There's really no reason to slow build the Jacob Fatu's, Bron Breakker's and even LA Knights of the world but it feels like WWE is kinda reluctant and will flirt with it but ultimately settle for the same ol shyt instead of taking a risk. they've had Sami Zayn on the cusp so long that it feels like people lost interest. They have ready-made talent like Dom Mysterio doing everything but being a main eventer despite being possibly the most OVER act on every show.. Every storyline seems to lead to nowhere.. there's never a payoff or conclusion, just a weird continuation to the point where RAW and Smackdown play like an endless loop of the same thing every week.. that company is a mess. Not to mention they think they can charge people an arm and a leg for this shyt show.. a fukkin mess I tell you..

It's at the point where I stopped even frequenting Indy's because I've just genuinely lost interest in this shyt. Are we cooked? I need Art Barr to weigh in.. bring the tables too


edit: and whats funny is the easiest way to fix the big 2 companies (IMO) would be for Tony Khan and Triple H to hand over that book but it feels like both are too stubborn/arrogant to even consider that.
 
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Jmare007

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I haven't watched enough to say if "terrible" is the right word for it, but 2025 has clearly been a weak year for wrestling in both the U.S and Japan, which considering the fact that those two territories pushed the IWC conversation about wrestling for 10+ years, it makes there's a perception of things being in the dumps.

CMLL has had an incredible year and that alone might take the "terrible" out of 2025 but I've honestly haven't seen much outside of the dope matches from MJF and Mercedes involvement this year :hubie:
 

TheAlbionist

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I'm enjoying wrestling more at the moment than for a while tbh, but I've been in the non-WWE bubble for a couple of years.

Being a wrestling fan has always been about finding the nuggets of gold in a river of shyt, but from my seat it's felt like the gold has been easier to find lately.
 

Larry

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I'm enjoying wrestling more at the moment than for a while tbh, but I've been in the non-WWE bubble for a couple of years.

Being a wrestling fan has always been about finding the nuggets of gold in a river of shyt, but from my seat it's felt like the gold has been easier to find lately.

Yeah, WWE being shyt is how I found Ring of Honor and PWG back in the day and that's what really fueled me in this wrestling shyt..

I think these days I don't really have it in me to really follow anything that isn't very easily accessible tho. I'm at the point where If I can't just find the library on an app or something, I'm good lol..
 

Mike the Executioner

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I don't watch AEW, so I can't speak on it, but yes, WWE in general was mediocre this year. We have six weeks left, but I don't see anything changing during that time.

One thing I'm noticing is a lot of the best stuff this year was on the women's side. The triple threat at WrestleMania, Iyo's rise to being a top babyface, the Becky/Lyra feud, Naomi's heel run, Jade's heel turn (little early to judge, but she's already being presented way better than she was a couple months ago), Charlotte and Alexa teaming up, Asuka becoming a psycho heel that abuses Kairi. They even found a way to make Rhea more likable. I don't know if they have separate writers for the women, but in general, they're being booked far better than the men and they're more consistently entertaining. It's not perfect (Tiffany's title reign, Roxanne and Raquel having nothing to do until Liv comes back) and it's obvious they had to pivot because some of the top stars are gone, but at least there's stuff happening with the women that keeps me interested.

The men are in trouble. They need to take a page from the women and start giving the younger guys opportunities. Dom hasn't even had a world title match yet. Carmelo, Bron, Solo, Jacob, LA Knight, Trick, Oba, those guys are the future. I get that the main event guys can still go, and I wouldn't care if we were getting high-caliber stuff, but we're not. The most interesting thing to happen to the men this year was fumbled and tossed out after a couple months. I didn't care about Seth turning heel and getting another group. Roman is just there to get reactions, get killed, and come back six weeks later. Cody feels stale. Orton's hardly around. Drew's being booked like a loser. Gunther got cooled off. Punk winning the title is the first interesting thing they've done with him all year. The top guys don't feel like they're doing anything must-see.

With the women, I can at least guess what the Mania plans are. Bianca is facing Jade for the title. Liv is going to feud with Roxanne and/or Raquel when she comes back. The women's tag titles are probably going to be showcased. On the men's side, I have no idea. Roman might face Cody for the third time, but I'm not even that confident about it. Seth got hurt, so him feuding with Bron isn't happening until after Mania. Finn and Dom might finally start feuding after so many months of teasing it. What the hell is happening with everyone else? I don't know, and the writers probably don't know either because they keep booking the exact same show week after week. Can't really create new storylines that way or advance anything.
 

Reality Check

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AEW delivers on PPV but they need to figure out a successful formula to deliver consistent weekly television because they are all over the place with it being hit or miss.
 

OneDeep

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Pro Wrestling in 2025 has been mostly trash

With AEW
Poor Creative
Failure to keep viewer retention
Lack of proper storytelling
Lack of consistency
Focused more on “star ratings” than having a watchable weekly show
Poor Main Event scene
Low attendance
Poor Women’s Division


With WWE
Poor Creative
Lack of Storytelling & consistency
Lack of Champions defending there titles
Poor tag division
Poor Women’s Division on SD
High Ticket Prices
Underwhelming PLE Cards
Failure to push Newer Talent
Failure of having Black Talent in Higher Roles

The only bright spots this year has been Stardom, TNA & NXT but as a wrestling has been horrible for both major promotions
 

Larry

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I don't watch AEW, so I can't speak on it, but yes, WWE in general was mediocre this year. We have six weeks left, but I don't see anything changing during that time.

One thing I'm noticing is a lot of the best stuff this year was on the women's side. The triple threat at WrestleMania, Iyo's rise to being a top babyface, the Becky/Lyra feud, Naomi's heel run, Jade's heel turn (little early to judge, but she's already being presented way better than she was a couple months ago), Charlotte and Alexa teaming up, Asuka becoming a psycho heel that abuses Kairi. They even found a way to make Rhea more likable. I don't know if they have separate writers for the women, but in general, they're being booked far better than the men and they're more consistently entertaining. It's not perfect (Tiffany's title reign, Roxanne and Raquel having nothing to do until Liv comes back) and it's obvious they had to pivot because some of the top stars are gone, but at least there's stuff happening with the women that keeps me interested.

The men are in trouble. They need to take a page from the women and start giving the younger guys opportunities. Dom hasn't even had a world title match yet. Carmelo, Bron, Solo, Jacob, LA Knight, Trick, Oba, those guys are the future. I get that the main event guys can still go, and I wouldn't care if we were getting high-caliber stuff, but we're not. The most interesting thing to happen to the men this year was fumbled and tossed out after a couple months. I didn't care about Seth turning heel and getting another group. Roman is just there to get reactions, get killed, and come back six weeks later. Cody feels stale. Orton's hardly around. Drew's being booked like a loser. Gunther got cooled off. Punk winning the title is the first interesting thing they've done with him all year. The top guys don't feel like they're doing anything must-see.

With the women, I can at least guess what the Mania plans are. Bianca is facing Jade for the title. Liv is going to feud with Roxanne and/or Raquel when she comes back. The women's tag titles are probably going to be showcased. On the men's side, I have no idea. Roman might face Cody for the third time, but I'm not even that confident about it. Seth got hurt, so him feuding with Bron isn't happening until after Mania. Finn and Dom might finally start feuding after so many months of teasing it. What the hell is happening with everyone else? I don't know, and the writers probably don't know either because they keep booking the exact same show week after week. Can't really create new storylines that way or advance anything.


I hadn't thought about it but you're not wrong about the women. They're lapping the men right now creatively. The most interesting thing that caught my attention was Naomi going full evil but that got cut short because Jimmy was horny.

The only thing on the mens side that I really enjoyed were Sami Zayn's open challenge and John Cena's retirement tour (even the heel parts)

but overall, there's not enough payoffs. too many examples of it. so many angles just seem to be moving in place. they'll tease a Jey heel turn with him having trouble with Jimmy and Roman, but ultimately he's back yeeting with kids the next week.. and this type of booking has taken over the show as a whole, with the never ending tension between Dom/Finn, Daw/Tez etc. its just waaaaaay too drawn out. not enough action. just teases that lead nowhere for months on end
 

LastManStanding

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2024 was a good year for the most part. The calendar year for 2025 started off pretty good the first few months, but it’s been a steady decline ever since. None of the PPV’s feel like a big deal anymore especially whenever it’s only 4 or 5 matches, most of which have been rehashed a half a dozen times already.

Mix that with the insane ticket prices and the insufferable amount of advertising and commercial breaks… TKO has really sucked most of the soul out of the company.

Hopefully some changes are made and 2026 is better.
 

g-ice

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More boring than bad in my opinion

That's more or less it. Nothing egregiously bad. Just paint by numbers.

The girls are killing it this year though. Only the Zelina and Giulia title reigns were awful. They have saved the year from being even more mediocre.
 
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I don't think it's been a terrible year all things considered. It's probably terrible if you watch every single episode of everything but for the past couple months I've kept my weekly viewing way down or as background noise and I will watch the PPVs/PLE's which always deliver to me :manny:

AEW's PPVs are always fire and WWE's are usually at least solid minus a couple here or there. @Larry
 
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