My Favorite Matches of 2025 (Part I of II)

I'm a huge nerd, did y'all know that? Bet you didn't! But now the nerdy side of me is truly going to come out. I went back and watched 8 out of 16 of my favorite matches, which I had written down in my GOTY 2025 (5/5 matches) note.

So without further ado, and going chronologically...

Kenny Omega vs Gabe Kidd at Wrestle Kingdom 2025

This is, surprisingly, the worst match out of the 8 I am going to cover here. And that says something because this match (just to be clear) fucking rules. It is almost nonstop action between a recently returning Omega and an absolutely game Kidd who puts out all the stops to try and return glory to NJPW.

Unfortunately, this match is really hurt by hindsight.

We've gotta talk about the biggest elephant in the room (or maybe the second biggest, there's two, you see): Chris Charlton is a dreadful heel commentator.

He just eats up all of the dead air and spits it back out with such unconvincing and uninteresting venom at Tony Khan (that "money mark") it almost took me out of the first part of the match before he calmed it down. I get it, Chris wants to defend the honor of NJPW from Tony Khan but I feel like he either started getting in his feelings too much or started shooting a little too close to the hip.

He makes unnecessary comments about Okada, Ospreay, and Jay White, that just feel like they harm the talent as much as the company he's aiming at. This got so bad that Walker Stewart (someone who is far younger than Charlton in general and in the commentary game) had to ask him to knock it off at one point. Just embarrassing and it completely detracts from the match. NJPW obviously agreed on some level because Charlton was later suspended for his comments.

The other part that hurts this match looking back is, well:

So yeah, Gabe joined AEW less than a year after this match. And look, you go where the money takes you. Nobody denies the yen is in bad shape, NJPW cannot pay their talent like they used to, and Gedo is, uh, let's charitably say not a consistently good booker by any means. So I get it.

And yes, you can say, "But Dory, wrestling is work you stupid mark!" and that's fine, I am a stupid mark, so fair enough. But it just takes away from the investment looking back to see Kidd "defending" NJPW's honor when he himself can't stay away from AEW not even a year later. So yeah, it hurts the match for me.

Maybe it shouldn't but that's how I feel about it.

But fuck, the match still rips.

From the roar of the Japanese crowd (always a joy), to Kenny heeling it up, to Bryce coming in and getting knocked out only to be replaced by Red Shoes himself!

This match has such intense and amazing chemistry from both men. Kenny gets himself an absolute gusher of a head wound and it looks amazing (I'm a sicko). There's also a spot where Kenny does a wink and a nod to the Okada spot that gave him vertigo for years (because he's a sicko too), which was wild to see.

This is just a super hard-hitting match, with really cool spots, incredible chemistry, and Kenny arguably at the top of his game. He made Kidd look so good that many of us thought Kidd was the next big thing (not that guy, he sucks) for wrestling.

Well, I'm not sure about that anymore, but this match is still excellent. The pacing can be hurt by the guys taking their time and the formula of the Tokyo Dome main event hurts the match at times, but overall this was excellent.

Rating: 4.5/5

Mariah May vs Toni Storm (AEW Revolution)

If I had to compare this match to something else it would have to be the absolute mad sprint that Kurt Angle and Rey Mysterio had in SummerSlam 2002.

Mariah and Toni absolutely killed each other in this match and obviously it has a lot more story (#whatwedo) than the Kurt and Rey match, as well as a lot more blood and weapons, it is a very different match. But these women also gave everything they had into a 10 minute sprint and it absolutely feels exhausting despite how short of a match it was, same for Rey and Kurt at SummerSlam.

Obviously there are some pain points that come with that however.

For starters, the match not being particularly long hurts it for me personally, I wanted to see a huge epic rivalry sendoff for these two but that isn't what we got and while what we did get was incredible, it's not the same.

And also, another elephant in the room type situation, this is called the Hollywood Ending but it is not the main event of Revolution. Hell, it's not even the semi-main! It is the fourth to last match of the card and these women deserved that main event spot. I think it would have been way cooler to see THE END pop up and then Revolution fades to black, but instead, we had three more matches.

Of course, you can argue that it's just "the end" for their feud, but it would have been lovely symmetry and dammit, those women truly should've had that spot. I don't care where Mariah ended up (a lifetime of mediocrity indeed), I care what kind of job they were doing with this story and with this match. The death match angles, the broken glass, the table bumps, Luther (kayfabe) dying immediately, some of this match was like a goddamn saw trap at times, it was amazing.

It's still one of the best AEW women's matches of all time, one of the best women's matches of all time period. But looking back, I couldn't help but look at the card placement, how little time the women got here, and feel like it hurt proceedings.

Still, an incredible match and worth revisiting!

Rating: 4.75/5 (strong)

Kenny Omega vs Konoske Takeshita (Revolution)

Yeah, that's right.

It's Kenny Omega (again) and Revolution (again).

Despite how mixed that main event between Adam Copeland and Jon Moxley was going to go down, two of my favorite matches of 2025 came from this pay-per-view, and I'll always appreciate Revolution 2025 for that, if for no other reason.

I mean, there are others, but you get my point.

It was at this point in me watching back my favorite matches of 2025 where I had to check myself and be like wow still haven't had a true 5/5, I wonder when that will happen. And I'm going to spoil it for you right now, it happens here.

This is a beautiful match between two insanely talented men who are operating at the peak of their craft. Takeshita should be AEW Men's World Champion one day, or if he isn't then he should damn well hold every other belt too. The man is an absolute worker, he defies face/heel distinctions because he's so good. He can literally workrate himself into being a babyface, he's that damn good.

One underrated part of this match is Don Callis on commentary. Never call me a fan of his per se' but I love his commentary and the "Fuck Don Callis!" chants never get old, they're timed beautifully in this match especially. There's also a quote by Don that I love when he's being insulted,

"I've been called worse things by better people."

Definitely stealing that!

There was also a moment where Kenny was talking to the camera and telling the crew to move away because he was going to jump off something "...I think". And that struck me as particularly funny and noteworthy. Lastly, I'll note a minor quibble I had with the match which is that it ended with (deep breath) The Most Devastating Move in All of Sports Entertainment: The Surprise Roll Up.

I'm not a huge fan of the surprise roll up (though it can be done well, it's just overused) but especially not in this late in the pay-per-view and between two of the most talented men on your roster. Would have rather Kenny just hit the OWA or otherwise pick up a clean win some other way, but alas.

Rating: 5/5 (a soft one)

Kyle Fletcher vs Will Ospreay (Revolution)

Did I say two of my favorite matches?

Silly me.

I meant three.

Seriously, there is no other pay-per-view that AEW put on in 2025 that had as many of my favorite matches as Revolution did. That's why, for all of its faults or criticisms you may throw its way (and some are certainly warranted!) it was still one of my favorites of 2025, likely only next to All In.

This was a super personal cage match for both of these men. Fletcher had turned his back on Will and Ospreay was still dealing with that given their past.

This was also another Don Callis fueled match that had Don on commentary once again, and again he added a lot to the match. Mostly his smarmy attitude and shit-eating grin, but hey, what else are good heels good for?

One thing I love about AEW and their cage matches is that there is no escape from them. You can't simply run away to live and fight another day (it rhymes so it must be true!), you can only win by pinning your opponent or getting them to submit.

The match here was cool in particular because Will's range of movement as a versatile high-flyer was limited because of the cage itself. He couldn't do all of his movements as he normally did and played into that beautifully at first. Some people say Will can sell but I'd say he sold the hell out of this cell, pun intended.

There is also a lot of queer shit in this match (affectionate). But like, the super fucked up queer anime shit you don't(???) want anywhere near you. Like Kyle licking Will's blood or Will licking Kyle's blood, or Kyle licking the cage...which has Will's blood on it. There is a lot of licking in this match, okay? It's peak.

Sounds like a Heated Rivalry to me, you know?

Anyways, the color here is awesome, Will bleeds buckets, there are some great spots with powerbombs, Kawada kicks, a barbed wire baseball bat, and a brain buster on a chair that made me wince for days. Will also manages to pull off a styles clash on the thumbtacks which looks incredible (and incredibly painful).

But the spot of the match is undoubtedly when Will and Kyle are up on the top of the cage and Ospreay hits a Spanish (English?) Fly all the way down to the ring.

It's absolutely incredible that both of these men pull this spot off so beautifully, it takes some set up, but when it lands, ow.

Lastly, there is also (unfortunately) some interference. Now, I'm never a huge fan of interference spots in wrestling. Even when it is story appropriate, predictable, and even when it doesn't determine the finish, I'd just simply rather the two individuals in the ring figure their shit out by themselves. But I have resigned myself that such spots are (for better or worse) part of this great sport I love.

Enter Mark Davis who is determined to kill Ospreay and make sure Kyle picks up a huge W. Luckily, this is the only notable offender in the match (though some of those Kawada kicks looked dodgy at times) and even then Davis' spots were handled well, made sense within the story, and didn't determine the finish.

So, I can't get too mad.

Rating: 5/5 (soft, maybe even a super strong 4.75/5)

Kenny Omega vs "Speedball" Mike Bailey vs. Ricochet (AEW Dynasty)

You'd think that Kenny was my GOAT of 2025, and unfortunately due to his sporadic schedule once he lost the international belt (and his sporadic defenses therein) he was more like an "input vs output" kind of guy. Credit to Joseph Montecillo for that term, but basically he wasn't always in the ring but when he was he was almost always incredible and looked super good.

This match was no exception.

It's a love-letter to two things I love: Pro-Wrestling Guerilla and TNA Unbreakable 2005 where Christopher Daniels fought AJ Styles and Samoa Joe for the X Division Title in a classic triple threat match. That's worth watching too.

But back to this match, Speedball is an incredible athlete, Ricochet can finally be himself in the ring (incredibly talented) and is hilarious to boot, and Kenny, well we've already talked a lot about Kenny at this point. But the star of this match may just be Speedball Mike Bailey, fellow gender non-conformist, and someone whom I deeply appreciate on an athletic basis for sure, they are just an incredible talent.

Bailey is over here like hell too, and all of the "bald!" jokes to Ricochet, slapping his head, and the ridiculous moonsault that Bailey makes look effortless don't hurt his chances either of being beloved by the fans throughout this tremendous match.

The commentary is another thing I want to briefly highlight. There's a funny moment where Excalibur interrupts Taz by accident and then Taz attempts to get his sentence back, only for Excalibur to (rather helpfully IMO) interrupt by saying,

"I would never interrupt you, Taz!"

It's little moments like that which just add to the proceedings.

Another hilarious (and somewhat infamous) moment comes when Ricochet grabs a headset and starts going off on his competitors. Only to have Speedball come out of nowhere and kick his lights out for much of the remaining match. Classic!

The other great thing about this match?

I was there!

Well, I wasn't in the match, but you knew that.

Yeah, I remember watching this match live and just thinking about how incredible it was. The terminator dive from Kenny looked amazing, Ricochet was doing incredible heel work pulling the referee's legs out of the ring before they could count to 3 and Speedball hitting his knees on the ring apron (the hardest part of the ring, of course), it was quite the sight to see in person.

Kenny even managed to pull off a double snap dragon at one point to both Ricochet and Speedball, which I had never seen before or since, to be honest.

It all ends with Kenny hitting a top rope OWA to pick up a pin over Ricochet and thus concludes a simply incredible match from start to finish.

Rating: 5/5 (strong)

Will Ospreay vs Konoske Takeshita (Spring BreakThru)

Speaking of matches I was there for live.

I actually don't have (relatively) as much to say about this match, surprisingly. Not to say it wasn't good (it's amazing) but also I just didn't have a lot about this match that stood out to me that I wrote notes about. Takeshita's strikes looking impressive and legit as always, the Aussie cutter to the ramp by Ospreay looked super impactful and clean, and there were "Fuck Don Callis" chants aplenty.

Rating 5/5 (soft)

Anarchy in the Arena (Double or Nothing)

God, what can I even say about this match?

Comparatively I wrote so many notes, that I need to scroll down to make sure I can see all of them. The amazing Young Bucks founding fathers entrance, Samoa Joe popping up out of the crowd to attack Claudio, brawling outside the arena.

And this is just the first few minutes!

Eventually Kenny (there he is again) gets on the mic and requests something better than the founding fathers theme, and he gets this. Which is fun, but then:

Let The Bodies Hit The Floor

This song fucking HITS and the crowd goes MENTAL. I went mental and I knew exactly what was going to happen and it was many months later! What an unbelievably awesome moment, it made me say, "I love pro-wrestling"

So yeah, the crowd is losing it and so many cool spots are happening with forklifts, exploding tables, thumbtack shoes, Willow and Marina are killing each other, a Canadian destroyer goes off really well in time with the song, and so much more.

There's so much to this damn match, it's impossible to summarize effectively.

You just have to go see it for yourself.

But I'll do my best to highlight some other spots and notes I have:

• Willow gets her ear locked to a ring post and the crowd eventually chant "Please help Willow!" over and over until she's finally helped and they cheer.
• Swerve gets everyone with a staple gun
• Gabe Kidd makes an appearance (only a few months after his WK match)
• Marina gets a snap dragon for her efforts by Kenny
• Mox does a cutter to Willow at one point
• Mark Briscoe makes an appearance as well

And this is just scratching the surface!

Truly a spectacle and my favorite match to go back to so far.

Rating 5/5 (nearly a 6 if I broke my scale, which I don't)

Hangman Adam Page vs Will Ospreay (Double or Nothing)

To wrap up this first batch of matches, I want to briefly talk about this.

There was a lot of speculation heading into this matchup. For starters, it had never happened before. Somehow, in all of the years of these two supremely talented men being in the same locker rooms, they had never had a match. Now, at arguably the height of both of their powers it was time to see who was going to finally dethrone Jon Moxley at All In and bring the gold out of that briefcase.

God, what a match.

People were incredibly uncertain if Adam or Will were going over here, I remember thinking that Adam was likely going to win but I was nowhere near 99% sure, or even 75% to be honest, but I ended up being right nonetheless.

This is a match that I would call "pure wrestling brilliance". The fundamentals are so good, so consistent, and so well executed that there's just nothing to pick at.

Well, there are a couple of botches.

But I would argue that one of those (the BME specifically from Hangman) was likely on purpose given how fast Will adjusted and the table botch was not really either of these men's fault, so I can't deduct too much from the match for that.

They did do a "shoot out in the desert" spot with Hangman and Will, but it was never going to be as cool as when Danielson and Will did it the year prior. In this case Will simply didn't get his hand out fast enough and it looked like he just ran into the buckshot lariat which made him look a bit silly, honestly.

But again, not a big deal, this is nitpicking to the core.

There are some cool near-finish spots towards the end that I bit on, even watching this back I forgot exactly when the match finished or how, so I had a few times where I thought it would be over. I also want to note that both Hangman and Will did shout-outs to their biggest rivals with Will doing Kenny's moves and Hangman (of course) doing a shout-out to Swerve Strickland, Will even does tweener stuff.

But ultimately Hangman picks up the win and heads to All In.

We'll look at that (among other matches) next time!

Until then:

Rating 5/5 (solidly)