25 Worst Wrestling Moments Of 2025

1. John Cena's Heel Run

John Cena Logan Paul
WWE.com

Was it ever even supposed to happen?

WWE Unreal told us so, and all as part of an Ocean's Eleven-style plot between all the key players and Travis Scott, but the reality of the situation was reflected by how terribly it was handled in the aftermath.

Per multiple sources, The Rock decided in early-2025 that he wanted Cody Rhodes to turn heel and be the reason for said switch. Fortunately, enough people - including Cody himself - pushed back on this objectively bad idea and John Cena fulfilled the spot as perennial good soldier. The Rock subsequently never appeared on television in the aftermath, nor was he really referenced by 'The Champ' in the multiple different explainer speeches he gave before winning the WWE Championship for an historic 17th time at WrestleMania 41. Multiple because none of them worked; he tried some shtick about an abusive relationship that was stuck in 2014 when he still received the odd boos, he acted his WWEShop socks off trying to be a violent psychopath in the build to the Cody match but dropped it when the bell rang, he was a coward, a cheat, an enemy of R-Truth, a friend of Logan Paul, he was every kind of villain to the sound of every kind of sigh.

Grand design for his last year or not, the whole thing was abruptly dropped on the SummerSlam go-home edition of SmackDown in a move that was so much of a relief that people gave up highlighting the mountain of problems caused by the run. 

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for nearly 10 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett