25 Worst Wrestling Moments Of 2025
WWE and AEW both struggle in 2025 as creative dips result in multiple low ebbs for the majors...
Calling 2025 "the worst of times" would be bad faith to good business metrics, but this year was a timely reminder that business metrics do little to determine the enjoyment of a mainstream wrestling show.
Since AEW's launch in 2019, the two majors have fairly comfortably owned specific years creatively, with the arguable exception of a 2022 split decisively down the middle thanks to the 48 hours covering the critically acclaimed WWE Clash At The Castle and CM Punk's incendiary "Brawl Out" press conference that tore at the very fabric of All Elite Wrestling. The first half of of the first half the decade belonged to the challenger brand, the second to the market leader. Where would the exact midpoint sit?
Nowhere in particular, as it transpired. The highs will be documented elsewhere on this website over end-of-year season, but dips and declines on both sides left the task of reliving some of this sludge disconcertingly straightforward.
As has been the case previously, this run-down will remain exclusive to WWE and AEW, and not simply because they occupy the vast majority of the coverage at WhatCulture.com. When it comes to budget, reach and weekly opportunity to deliver on fairly reasonable expectations from their fanbases, the majors have all the cards and all the advantages. That it remains fairly straightforward to cobble together 25 stinker moments speaks volumes about the year writ large, particularly as both organisations financially moved even further from the chasing pack in 2025.
25. Triple H Has Bad News For NOLA
Perhaps this is conspiratorial, but after nearly three decades of sniping between the two, it's tough not to look upon every big swing The Rock and Triple H take as being partially intended for the other one's face.
When Dwayne Johnson announced that 2026's WrestleMania 42 was to take place in New Orleans during an appearance on the February 21st edition of SmackDown, he couldn't have known that other 'Final Bosses' within the company would shockingly change all that, moving the event to Las Vegas and ruling out any chance of WrestleMania 43 getting the nod when that show was booked for Saudi Arabia. It makes the bombastic gesture from the 'Great One' all the more cringeworthy, particularly in contrast to Triple H's apologetic corporate-speak walk-back on the May 23rd SmackDown. There, he noted the change that had controversially been made public 24 hours earlier, before offering Money In The Bank 2026 as a tame replacement for the city losing the 'Show Of Shows'.
The difference in tone and presentation couldn't have been more different, and though surely not by design, Johnson looked like something of a snake oil salesman compared to the suited, booted and nuanced Levesque. Regardless of who won that particular optics war, WWE lost yet another one with their fanbase.
Vegas was and will again be an incredible host city for the 'Grandest Stage', but the unprecedented venue shift in chase of dollars/business relationships/greed was yet another example of the market leader shamelessly alienating the emotions and wallets of its core.