25 Best Wrestling Moments Of 2025
24. AJ Styles Vs. John Cena’s Love Letter
AJ Styles Vs. John Cena was a difficult match to analyse because it contradicted itself throughout.
On one level, it did not resemble pro wrestling. There was next-to-no sense of struggle or intent. Cena and Styles simply took it in turns to generate the most shallow of pops based entirely on references. There was no will to win demonstrated at virtually any point. It was the Family Guy of wrestling matches. Remember the time Chris Jerico did his finisher?!
On another level, it was a joyful experience that made the crowd go banana, and that, ultimately, is the point. And what’s weird is that, despite it scanning as a love letter to or parody of wrestling, depending on your perspective, there was actually more proper pro wrestling magic studded within it than most matches you see in 2025. In one great moment, the crowd, getting in on the tribute act, started making requests. They chanted “619!”
In an all-too-rare moment of genuine improvisation, Cena actually motioned to execute the move before calling for Styles to cut it off.
In the nicest moment, it was the crowd’s turn to improvise: when Cena hit Bray Wyatt’s Sister Abigail, they all lit the torch on their phones en masse. The production team dimmed the lights to illuminate the beautiful tribute.
In this age of critical acclaim as currency, the vast majority of wrestling matches beg the audience to think it’s great without truly making you care who wins or loses. Styles Vs. Cena was, at the very least, not remotely self-conscious about it.