9 Wrestlers Who Fell Off HARD In 2025

7. Jeff Jarrett

MJF Jeff Jarrett
AEW

AEW seemingly had grand plans for Jeff Jarrett in 2025 - a Sting-esque retirement run on a smaller scale. It had potential.

Jeff was dismissed by AEW fans as a pollutant when he first rocked up, but he was a revelation as a heel. Jarrett, inordinately thrilled by his own cheating ways in knowingly overbooked midcard fare, was one of the lone highlights of 2023. His act was massively entertaining, and it won fans over. Jarrett then turned face in 2024, vowing to win the Owen Hart Cup. His heartbreaking pre-tournament promo, his brutal loss to Hangman Page, an absolute war with Bryan Danielson: Jarrett was on his way to becoming another Dustin Rhodes. The pathos of the grizzled old man wrestler is very powerful.

What the hell happened here, Jesus.

Jarrett promised to win the AEW World title before the sun set on his career. This magnetised him towards MJF, who held championship aspirations of his own. The resulting feud was a disaster. It was shocking, because it wrote itself: despicable cocky young heel trying to rattle an older, wiser dude who had seen and survived true adversity.

Two incidents saw it retconned into oblivion.

Firstly, Jarrett made the incredibly dumb decision to trade edgelord barbs with MJF in their infamously bad face-to-face confrontation. Jeff should have taken the high road; instead, he came off like a sexist dinosaur.

Secondly, and this is the blame of Tony Khan’s otherwise underrated matchmaking, Jarrett lost to Claudio Castagnoli. The match was rubbish, the result bizarre. It actually scanned as punishment booking, which might make sense of Jarrett’s subsequent disappearance.

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Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!