10 Best Wrestlers Of 2025

7. Swerve Strickland

Swerve Strickland's 2025 started with him as an unstoppable force as a top star in All Elite Wrestling, but was defined more by just how much of a miss he was on Dynamite, Collision and pay-per-views when he took time off to recover from injuries after Forbidden Door in September.

He had 22 matches in the 34 weeks he was around for, but packed the bangers in nonetheless, lending himself to a series of a tag and multi-man matches that helped him flesh out the babyface persona he'd honed in 2024 before losing both the World Heavyweight Championship to Bryan Danielson and his landmark programme to Hangman Page.

Speaking of which - as the cornerstones of AEW's creative recovery, the pair were able to toast their coming together in glorious fashion at All In: Texas in the summer. Swerve was the definitive difference-maker for Page on the night, with the two parking their hatred for the greatest possible good. That same show had already almost been stolen by Strickland's tag team match with Will Ospreay against The Young Bucks too, in yet another example of Swerve being one of the only wrestlers capable of selling the supposed importance of a company's soul.

AEW's dip in form creatively in the second half of the year was almost certainly related to the lack of access to one of the decade's true success stories. His return was welcome ahead of whatever 2026 brings.