70. Gabe Kidd (19 ballots, 1059 points)
Last Year’s Rank: 60
High Vote: TayKZY (7)

Recommended Matches

• vs. Kenny Omega (NJPW, 1/5)
• vs. Yota Tsuji (NJPW, 2/11)
• vs. Ren Narita (NJPW, 3/8)
• vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi (NJPW, 7/4)
• vs. Konosuke Takeshita (NJPW, 7/19)
• w/ Claudio Castagnoli, Jon Moxley, Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson vs. Darby Allin, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi & Will Ospreay (AEW, 8/24)
• vs. Yota Tsuji (NJPW, 10/13)
• w/ Yota Tsuji vs. Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI (NJPW, 12/5)
• w/ Yota Tsuji vs. Ryohei Oiwa & Zack Sabre Jr. (NJPW, 12/14)
• vs. Darby Allin (AEW, 12/27)

“After turning in (or being dragged to) a career performance with Kenny Omega at Wrestle Kingdom, Gabe Kidd proceeded to turn in one of the most incomprehensive years I have ever seen. He lost spectacularly in the New Japan Cup, had two 30-minute draws with Ishii, got himself hurt in the G1 climax, and offended NJPW fans so much (in his own head, at least) that he felt compelled to read passage from Franklin Rosevelt’s 1910 “Citizenship in a Republic” with a tone and inflection that made it seem he thought he was at a poetry slam that exclusively featured white boys who grew up listening to Skepta. He followed this up by signing an exclusive deal with AEW and running down to the ring on all fours. From an in-ring standpoint, he remains virtually the same as he did last year: capable of delivering the occasional good spot or two, but largely dumb as rocks and incapable of realizing that part of his job is to convince the live audience to either root for him or against him. I am entirely convinced he is a comedy wrestler at this point, as I cannot stop laughing at him every time he comes on my television screen. So yes, incredibly fitting that he’s on this cursed list.” ~ Orchid 

69. Mayu Iwatani (19 ballots, 1060 points)
Last Year’s Rank: 54
High Vote: Andrew (10)

Recommended Matches

• w/ Hiromu Takahashi & Yuka Sakazaki vs. EVIL, SHO & Sumie Sakai (NJPW, 1/11)
• vs. Syuri (Stardom, 4/27)
• vs. Nanae Takahashi (Marigold, 5/4)
• w/ MIRAI vs. Utami Hayashishita & Victoria Yuzuki (Marigold, 5/17)
• w/ Seri Yamaoka & Utami Hayashishita vs. Senka Akatsuki, Sora Ayame & Takumi Iroha (Marigold, 6/17)
• vs. Seri Yamaoka (Marigold, 8/2)
• vs. Victoria Yuzuki (Marigold, 9/14)
• vs. Senka Akatsuki (Marvelous, 10/3)
• w/ Seri Yamaoka & Utami Hayashishita vs. Mio Momono, Senka Akatsuki & Takumi Iroha (NOAH, 10/6)
• vs. IYO SKY (Marigold, 10/26)

“Mayu had a chaotic 2025 as per standard for her, starting the year in one company as a secure top champion and ending it as the resident mid-card workhorse in another. irregardless of those decisions, she made the best of all those opportunities with some really awesome big time main event material against the likes of IYO SKY while also carefully balancing it with a lot of establishing work towards carefully putting over Marigold’s less experienced roster and helping them develop, with her Superfly title run being more or less designed primarily for this purpose as essentially showcases for younger or less refined talent. Nevertheless I find that a admirable trait for a list like this so it works in her favor for sure, especially when those matches for the most part were pretty solid for what they were supposed to be.” ~ Stump H. Puller

“Mayu found her spark after making the jump from Stardom, and even with a weaker talent pool, showed that she can elevate those around her when motivated. It remains to be seen if that is sustainable, but year 1 was very encouraging.” ~ Stevan S.

“Mayu’s 2025 can be divided in two: her STARDOM work where she worked top of the card, oponnents that were at least close to her level and her Marigold work where she had to be the veteran that made great matches happen with people far less experienced. And the Icon pulled through in both companies, her arrival in Marigold was a shot of life for that promotion like nothing else in its short history, not only did she seem the more inspired she’s been in years she also made everyone around her better.” ~ xiomax

68. Matt Jackson (22 ballots, 1097 points)
Last Year’s Rank: 99
High Vote: Jonas G. (4)

Recommended Matches

• w/ Nick Jackson vs. Kevin Knight & Mike Bailey (AEW, 4/23)
• w/ Nick Jackson & Ricochet vs. Mark Briscoe, Mike Bailey & Swerve Strickland (AEW, 5/7)
• w/ Claudio Castagnoli, Jon Moxley, Marina Shafir, Nick Jackson & Wheeler Yuta vs. Katsuyori Shibata, Kenny Omega, Powerhouse Hobbs, Samoa Joe, Swerve Strickland & Willow Nightingale (AEW, 5/25)
• w/ Konosuke Takeshita & Nick Jackson vs. Bandido, Kyle O’Reilly & Roderick Strong (AEW, 7/2)
• w/ Nick Jackson vs. Swerve Strickland & Will Ospreay (AEW, 7/12)
• w/ Nick Jackson vs. Bandido & Brody King (AEW, 8/6)
• w/ Claudio Castagnoli, Gabe Kidd, Jon Moxley & Nick Jackson vs. Darby Allin, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi & Will Ospreay (AEW, 8/24)
• w/ Josh Alexander, Kyle Fletcher & Nick Jackson vs. Adam Page, Kenny Omega, Kevin Knight & Mike Bailey (AEW, 9/3)
• w/ Nick Jackson vs. Bandido & Brody King vs. Hechicero & Josh Alexander vs. Kevin Knight & Mike Bailey (AEW, 9/20)
• w/ Kenny Omega & Nick Jackson vs. Hechicero, Kazuchika Okada & Konosuke Takeshita (AEW, 12/17)

“Every year is a good young bucks year don’t let the haters lie to you. Bucks are still one of the best tag teams in the world, they really found their footing character sise this year going from these smug pricks abusing their position in the company to these hilarious permanently broke losers all while having great matches throughout. The Young Bucks are better than your favourite tag team.” ~ Padraig

67. Nick Jackson (22 ballots, 1114 points)
Last Year’s Rank: 100
High Vote: Jonas G. (3)

Recommended Matches

• w/ Matt Jackson vs. Kevin Knight & Mike Bailey (AEW, 4/23)
• w/ Matt Jackson & Ricochet vs. Mark Briscoe, Mike Bailey & Swerve Strickland (AEW, 5/7)
• w/ Claudio Castagnoli, Jon Moxley, Marina Shafir, Matt Jackson & Wheeler Yuta vs. Katsuyori Shibata, Kenny Omega, Powerhouse Hobbs, Samoa Joe, Swerve Strickland & Willow Nightingale (AEW, 5/25)
• w/ Konosuke Takeshita & Matt Jackson vs. Bandido, Kyle O’Reilly & Roderick Strong (AEW, 7/2)
• w/ Matt Jackson vs. Swerve Strickland & Will Ospreay (AEW, 7/12)
• w/ Matt Jackson vs. Bandido & Brody King (AEW, 8/6)
• w/ Claudio Castagnoli, Gabe Kidd, Jon Moxley & Matt Jackson vs. Darby Allin, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi & Will Ospreay (AEW, 8/24)
• w/ Josh Alexander, Kyle Fletcher & Matt Jackson vs. Adam Page, Kenny Omega, Kevin Knight & Mike Bailey (AEW, 9/3)
• w/ Matt Jackson vs. Bandido & Brody King vs. Hechicero & Josh Alexander vs. Kevin Knight & Mike Bailey (AEW, 9/20)
• w/ Kenny Omega & Matt Jackson vs. Hechicero, Kazuchika Okada & Konosuke Takeshita (AEW, 12/17)

“Nick Jackson had a pretty good but narrowly worse year than his brother. I really hope he’s not ranked above Matt or I’ll look like an idiot.” ~ Padraig

66. Daniel Garcia (27 ballots, 1121 points)
Last Year’s Rank: 31
High Vote: Charles F. (8)

Recommended Matches

• vs. Mark Briscoe (AEW, 1/4)
• vs. Katsuyori Shibata (AEW, 1/11)
• w/ Nigel McGuinness vs. Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood (AEW, 5/25)
• vs. Kyle Fletcher (AEW, 7/2)
• vs. Jon Moxley (AEW, 8/27)
• vs. Jon Moxley (AEW, 9/6)
• w/ Claudio Castagnoli, Jon Moxley, PAC & Wheeler Yuta vs. Darby Allin, Kyle O’Reilly, Mark Briscoe, Orange Cassidy & Roderick Strong (AEW, 11/12)
• w/ Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta vs. Difunto, Esfinge & Ultimo Guerrero (CMLL, 11/29)
• vs. Mark Briscoe (AEW, 12/13)
• w/ Claudio Castagnoli, Marina Shafir & Wheeler Yuta vs. Mark Briscoe, Orange Cassidy, Roderick Strong & Toni Storm (AEW, 12/27)

“Garcia might feel a bit like a busted flush as a TV character these days, but his 2025—especially the matches with Jon Moxley—reminded everyone he still has the skills that got him to AEW in the first place. No one else is building TV matches around grip control or making every submission look like a Herculean struggle. If AEW were really “for the sickos,” he’d be on every PPV.” ~ Nick Yeoman

“I am harsh on Danny because he’s so talented and I know he could be even better, even bigger than he is, but when I thought back on it he really did have a great year. Especially phenomenal in the Mox matches as a fired up young babyface, so great in fact that it felt like somewhat of a disappointment when he turned heel even though he needed a change to his character. “ ~ FUJIWARASMIRK

“Despite odd circular character development and stop-starting hurting his momentum, DG is one of the wrestlers I connect emotionally most on the AEW roster and one its best wrestlers.

He’s so great at little interesting details. Having the crowd so on his that they helped lift him up or adopting the curbstomp (he’s still PWG). He’s filled with earnest desperation.” ~ Henry/HeadCheese

““He should be higher. Daniel Garcia in 2024 seemed to be on the upward trajectory to make 2025 his year. Unfortunately, that wasn’t meant to be. A series of incredibly baffling booking decisions like losing the TNT Title to Adam Cole after a series of bad matches led to all the momentum at the end of last year to quickly evaporate. This isn’t to say that Garcia’s first half of the year was bad (the Fletcher and Briscoes Collision matches were excellent for example and his performances in numerous Collision tags always left a positive impression on me), but it meant that after a certain point he became directionless in AEW. 

Then came The Death Riders.

The Jon Moxley duology are some of the best AEW matches from 2025. There is a certain narrative connotation carrying them in which it is stated that even though it is Mox’s first big program after losing the world title and tapping out in the process, it is Garcia that has to win this feud in order to prove something to himself and find a purpose within AEW. Which makes it an even bigger tragedy when he fails and ends up joining the Death Riders from a narrative perspective.

In terms of in-ring stuff, Garcia made for a great addition into the Death Riders machine. The initial tag team matches with Moxley after the turn with Paragon were some great television and him reuniting with old foe now new brother in Wheeler Yuta in CMLL made for some fun trios and tag matches. However, the crown jewel of this run was the excellent TV match with Darby in the fall. In it, he not only showed the promise that his late 2024 had me hoping, but also demonstrated just how further he could go with being given the proper backing structurally.

It’s not the year I wanted for Garcia. It’s not perfect by any means and there are a lot of things that I wished could have been handled better. But through sheer force of talent, he managed to overcome whatever shortcoming came his way and had a very strong year anyway”” ~ PEN

65. Gunther (23 ballots, 1127 points)
Last Year’s Rank: 23
High Vote: Stump H. Puller (2)

Recommended Matches

• vs. Akira Tozawa (WWE, 2/24)
• vs. Otis (WWE, 3/3)
• vs. Axiom (WWE, 3/14)
• vs. Jey Uso (WWE, 6/9)
• vs. Goldberg (WWE, 7/12)
• vs. CM Punk (WWE, 8/2)
• vs. Je’Von Evans (WWE, 11/17)
• vs. Carmelo Hayes (WWE, 11/24)
• vs. Solo Sikoa (WWE, 12/1)
• Vs John Cena (WWE, 12/13)

“Humilation ritual tour aside, I did like his year even though he didn’t peak as high as I’m accustomed to. His best match actually wasn’t even broadcast, as I thought his house show steel cage match with AJ Styles was tremendous. Under the radar TV stuff against Otis and Akira Tozawa alongside strong showings in the Cena tournament made me give him the nod. “ ~ FUJIWARASMIRK

“Despite the typical tried and true WWE method of putting its own foot in its mouth when it comes to booking, Gunther still had a pretty solid 2025. Even the less critically acclaimed affairs like the Goldberg or the Otis matches still had a man who regardless of the conditions worked his ass off to make his opponent look as good as can possibly be, even down to getting the ever-derided Jey Uso to probably the best singles performance of his life and possibly the next. His real benchmark was his Last Time is Now Tournament run where despite WWE again throwing as many curveballs as possible he was still able to have some incredible TV matches with whoever was thrown against him. The Cena match despite the immense controversy over the finish is STILL Cena’s best singles since like 2018 and that frankly deserves all the YEET merch in the world for such a monumental accomplishment. “ ~ Stump H. Puller

64. Riiita (19 ballots, 1162 points)
Last Year’s Rank: 324
High Vote: TayKZY (3)

Recommended Matches

• w/ Jacky Kamei vs. Jason Lee & Kota Minoura (DG, 1/25)
• w/ Jacky Kamei vs. Dragon Dia & Ryoya Tanaka (DG, 2/5)
• w/ Ben-K, Jacky Kamei & Mochizuki Jr. vs. Flamita, Kzy, Strong Machine J & U-T (DG, 5/9)
• w/ Jacky Kamei & Mochizuki Jr. vs. Bendito, Flamita & Luis Mante vs. Homare, ISHIN & Yoshiki Kato (DG, 7/13)
• w/ Ben-K & Jacky Kamei vs. Bendito, Flamita & Luis Mante vs. Dragon Dia, Ryoya Tanaka & Yuki Yoshioka (DG, 8/11)
• w/ Hyo & Jacky Kamei vs. Aero Panther, Fight Panther Jr. & Luis Mante (DG, 10/8)
• w/ Jacky Kamei vs. Dragon Dia & Yuki Yoshioka (DG, 11/3)
• vs. Dragon Dia (DG, 11/8)
• vs. KAI (DG, 11/16)
• w/ Jacky Kamei vs. Demus & Luis Mante (DG, 12/16)

“Putting Riiita in a tag team with Jacky allowed DG to showcase how great he really is. Riiita’s work was equally endearing as it was impressive. Every comeback felt like he was shot out of a cannon. It’s just too easy to like the guy.” ~ Stevan S.

“The Short Prince of Dragongate had a fantastic breakout in 2025. Him and Jacky Kamei quickly formed a partnership this year and were immediately off to the races. They had a tremendous showing in Rey De Parejas as team of the tournament, and had my personal match of the year in the promotion with the Triangle Gate match at Kobe World. Any tag match JackyRiiita were in is honestly recommended, and both halves are equally important and impressive in this duo.” ~ TayKZY

63. Oleg Boltin (26 ballots, 1172 points)
Last Year’s Rank: 192
High Vote: musashibo benkei (6)

Recommended Matches

• vs. Josh Barnett (NJPW, 1/6)
• vs. Konosuke Takeshita (NJPW, 2/11)
• vs. Konosuke Takeshita (NJPW, 6/15)
• w/ Toru Sugiura vs. Tomoya Hirata & Toru Yano (NJPW, 6/24)
• vs. Yuya Uemura (NJPW, 7/19)
• vs. Ryohei Oiwa (NJPW, 7/20)
• vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi (NJPW, 7/22)
• vs. David Finlay (NJPW, 8/1)
• vs. Callum Newman (NJPW, 8/3)
• w/ Toru Yano vs. Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI (NJPW, 11/26)

“Ahh what a nice day. Welcome everyone … to peanut island… Boltin Oleg has demonstrated an acute awareness of how to deploy a kamikaze attack. Whether standing, rolling, jumping, or striking — he is the Brock Lesnar of NJPW.” ~ musashibo benkei

“He hasn’t had the true breakout year as some of the other young New Japan guys around this area of the list, but he’s consistently adding more to his matches as he gets more in-ring experience. I don’t know if he’ll ever be seen as a true main event type in the company, but if nothing else he’ll do just fine for himself as a quietly consistent NEVER title type guy.” ~ chris

62. Wheeler Yuta (25 ballots, 1193 points)
Last Year’s Rank: 68
High Vote: EAMONN (22)

Recommended Matches

• w/ Jon Moxley vs. Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood (AEW, 1/29)
• w/ Claudio Castagnoli, Jon Moxley, Marina Shafir, Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson vs. Katsuyori Shibata, Kenny Omega, Powerhouse Hobbs, Samoa Joe, Swerve Strickland & Willow Nightingale (AEW, 5/25)
• w/ The Beast Mortos, Jon Moxley, Matt Jackson, Nick Jackson & Wheeler Yuta vs. Katsuyori Shibata, Powerhouse Hobbs, Samoa Joe, Swerve Strickland & Will Ospreay (AEW, 6/18)
• w/ Jon Moxley vs. Kevin Knight & Mike Bailey (AEW, 8/14)
• vs. Matt Mako (ACTION, 9/6)
• w/ Marina Shafir vs. Darby Allin & Kris Statlander (AEW, 10/1)
• w/ Claudio Castagnoli, Daniel Garcia, Jon Moxley & PAC vs. Darby Allin, Kyle O’Reilly, Mark Briscoe, Orange Cassidy & Roderick Strong (AEW, 11/12)
• w/ Claudio Castagnoli & Daniel Garcia vs. Difunto, Esfinge & Ultimo Guerrero (CMLL, 11/29)
• vs. Nigel McGuinness (ROH, 12/17)
• w/ Claudio Castagnoli, Daniel Garcia & Marina Shafir vs. Mark Briscoe, Orange Cassidy, Roderick Strong & Toni Storm (AEW, 12/27)

“2025 felt like the year big chunks of the AEW fanbase moved past what they thought Wheeler should be and started appreciating what he actually is. Little Yutes isn’t the younger one in the Death Riders, to be a tough guy or a future main-eventer—he’s a parasite who climbs by betrayal and leans on the power of others. His matches this year reflected that perfectly: he shows he’s good enough to justify his place in the group, but in ways the audience can’t admire. A scavenger in multi-man matches, scoring more pins than you’d expect, yet matches are structured so he’s always propped up by better people doing the heavy lifting. The addition of the Busaiku Knee is brilliant—a reminder of his betrayal of Danielson, repurposed as a hit-and-run weapon, while opponents are distracted , dealing with the more imposing Death Riders. A perfect scumbag” ~ Nick Yeoman

“What a little shit. Scrappy Doo with a shit hair cut. No one understood their role and character this year as much as Wheeler Yuta. A heat magnet who constantly got what was coming to him. I do miss in some ways a Wheeler Yuta who was treated as a serious wrestler but maybe that’s for 2026. Anyhow great work from Wheeler” ~ Padraig

61. Saya Kamitani (19 ballots, 1256 points)
Last Year’s Rank: 226
High Vote: Ani Nambudiri (3)

Recommended Matches

• vs. Suzu Suzuki (Stardom, 2/2)
• vs. Tam Nakano (Stardom, 3/3)
• vs. Tam Nakano (Stardom, 4/27)
• w/ Natsuko Tora vs. Saree & Takumi Iroha (Sareee-ism, 7/14)
• vs. Natsupoi (Stardom, 7/21)
• vs. Hanan (Stardom, 8/6)
• vs. AZM (Stardom, 8/20)
• vs. AZM (Stardom, 9/27)
• w/ Natsuko Tora, Rina & Ruaka vs. Kakeru, Mayumi Ozaki, Saori Anou & Yumi Ohka (OZ Academy, 10/19)
• vs. Saori Anou (Stardom, 12/29)

“A wrestler who I didn’t know much or very little about. I think I have maybe 2 or 3 matches of hers before last year. STARDOM has always felt like a kind of peripheral promotion (promotion I know exists, but don’t follow or watch much of for whatever reason).

I heard heard some discussion (some saying it was really great, some saying it was really bad) of the career vs. career Saya Kamitani vs. Tam Nakano (a wrestler who I still haven’t seen much about but thinks it’s cool she used to have a panda mascot) from All-Star Dream Queendom. I watched a video essay about their feud and then the match.

It was great! The match inspired me to check out more and watch moreSaya Kamitani matches.

She ended up in some of my favorite matches of last year. There’s something really cool that connects to her. I still don’t really follow STARDOM well and I sometimes feel like she is trying to force epics, overall I have really enjoyed her matches and not regretted going out of my way. I try to make a point to check out her matches. I have also enjoyed her work in different environments. The Love It match is so cool, and so is the Sakura Hirota match.” ~ Henry/HeadCheese

“I’d like to think I’ve grown out of my insecurity as a fan just enough to abandon “guilty pleasure” as a descriptor, though sometimes that urge creeps in through the back door in my head where intrusive thoughts enter without knocking. What are those thoughts breaching my head for exactly? They’re looking for Saya Kamitani; the wrestler I enjoy watching the most, relative to how laughably bad I think she can be.

There are surface-level parallels with Will Ospreay in both her style and her reception from fans and critics alike. Her athleticism and insistent “aura-farming” during her entrance are just a small handful of traits that enamor the Observer Newsletter and Voices of Wrestling adjacent spaces, while her penchant for melodrama and seemingly scatterbrained match structure make her an easy target for the most vocal of Violent Persons. While I generally, or at least relatively, fall closer to the latter group in terms of my own tastes, I feel like both Saya’s biggest opps and admirers miss what makes her so interesting.

She’s a strange jigsaw puzzle of a wrestler whose pieces don’t connect, no matter how they’re realigned. Her pre-match presentation lends credence to the illusion of a villain with finesse and grace, but once the bell rings, her body language is gangly and awkward. Her limbs flail around cartoonishly with each bump like those inflatable tube men you find outside a local car dealership (or the ones from Bayley’s old entrance, if we’re keeping it to wrestling). Perhaps I was mistaken in thinking her stable, H.A.T.E, was a Bushiroad joshi analogue to NJPW’s House of Torture, but it’s jarring how she’s constantly flip-flopping between non-committal heelwork (a toothless version of Natsu Sumire’s style of taunting during her run with Stardom in the 2010s) and playing to the crowd for their adoration or sympathy. 

This has even been the subject of critique from her Stardom colleagues in interviews. It makes me question whether this is a deliberate character wrinkle or if she’s part of the laundry list of modern wrestlers who are so deeply uncertain of who or what they want to be, beyond hitting 17 reverse frankensteiners during the closing stretch of a match. It’s this uncertainty, mixed with the sheer rate and audacity of her constant contradictions, that makes her my favorite novelty to check in on every several months. Treating her as the joshi zeitgeist of ADHD, Gen Z-er coded maximalist wrestling doesn’t do justice to how funny she is in her totality. Abandon all guilt, ye who enter the World Wonder Ring and watch the woman in black run around like a dog chasing her own tail for 25+ minutes. 

Yeah, idc bro. Saya go brrrrrrrrrrr” ~ Sol