Bryan Rose’s top ten matches of 2025 | Column
I have decided on my top 10 matches of 2025!
Voices of Wrestling’s annual match of the year balloting is ending today and I have arrived just in the nick of time with my own top 10 matches of the past year. 2025 was another amazing year in terms of wrestling quality, with ****+ star matches happening on a weekly basis . It’s been that way since 2019 with AEW’s launch, but standards are so high these days it’s harder than ever before to pick 10 matches that stand out among the rest. I think I managed to do so, but each year it becomes more difficult to choose.
Keep in mind while I try to watch everything, some things fall through the cracks, so if you’re questioning why I don’t have match X on here or match Y, well, it’s either because I didn’t see it or it didn’t make the list. Sorry!
Anyway, here are the ten matches I chose for this year’s balloting, in reverse order. After all, gotta keep you on the edge of your seat..
10. IYO SKY vs. Bianca Belair vs. Rhea Ripley – WWE WrestleMania 41 (April 20)
SKY was one of the best wrestlers of the year, male or female, and had a terrific match with Bianca Belair and Rhea Ripley on the second night of WrestleMania. The great, heated back-and-forth encounter that saw SKY retain the Women’s World title was the best match of that weekend, edging out the main event of the previous night’s card. Her match with Ripley later in the year at Evolution was also a standout.
9. The Street Profits vs. DIY vs. Motor City Machine Guns – WWE SmackDown (April 25)
In hindsight, why wasn’t this match on the WrestleMania card? It was much better than most of the matches from that weekend. These three teams went out there and had a super memorable ladder match, which is hard to do in an era where AEW and WWE take turns doing a bunch of them every other month. But this was top notch and definitely the best ladder match of the year.
8. Anarchy in the Arena – AEW Double or Nothing (May 25)
This match always appears in my year-end match listings and for a good reason: it lives up to its name! Like every year, the 2025 bout at Double or Nothing can best be described as fun chaos with ten million things going on at once. It takes skill to do a match like this and not have it feel tiresome by the end, so kudos to these men and women who went out there, had fun, and entertained the crowd while doing so. More promotions, by the way, need to pick up on the idea that music during wrestling matches always works.
7. Kosei Fujita vs. YOH – NJPW Best of the Super Juniors finals (June 1)
This was a fantastic Best of the Super Junior finals. On that night Kosei Fujita looked like the future of the junior heavyweight division, a fresh new face that had the work ethic and charisma to be at the top. Too bad New Japan decided otherwise. At a time where you need to make people NJPW seems tepid to really get behind anyone in the heavyweight division, let alone the junior heavyweight division, and Fujita is a prime example of that mentality. Great match at least…
6. Hirooki Goto vs. Zack Sabre Jr. – NJPW New Beginning (February 11)
Goto finally realizing his dream and defeating Zack Sabre Jr. for the IWGP World title felt cathartic in a way that really can’t be found in any of the other matches I will list on here. He spent YEARS, decades even, chasing NJPW’s top title. For him to finally win it felt incredible, a feel-good moment that feels increasingly rare in a pro wrestling world filled with heat. If there was one highlight in NJPW this year, it was Goto’s great run with this championship.
5. Kyle Fletcher vs. Speedball Mike Bailey – AEW Dynamite (December 10)
This was absolutely one of the best television matches of the year. Mike Bailey is one of the best signings AEW made in recent memory as he’s able to have a great match with anyone, and since Kyle Fletcher is one of the best young wrestlers in the world, these two had an incredible, heated match on cable television. Fletcher is a top-tier main event level talent, it’s just a question of when AEW will pull the trigger. It should be this year.
4. Jon Moxley vs. Kyle Fletcher – AEW Worlds End (December 27)
Fletcher had one hell of a December thanks to the Continental Classic as this match with Moxley ended up being the best match of the tournament, far better than the match Moxley had with Kazuchika Okada later in the night (and that was still good!). Moxley’s heel heat run for the first half of the year did nothing for me but once he dropped the title, the matches got better and he too also shined bright in the tournament.
3, Bandido vs. Hechicero – ROH Death Before Dishonor (August 29)
These two had some tremendous matches in the last year, but this was the best of the bunch. ROH cards usually aren’t hyped much and there’s no real build to any of what they do but last year’s Death Before Dishonor was memorable thanks to these two, who put on an absolute clinic with a hot crowd. Bandido without a doubt was one of the best wrestlers in the world in 2025 and this was a shining example.
2. MJF vs. Mistico – CMLL 92nd Anniversario (September 19)
There were plenty of fantastic matches in 2025, but this stood out the most in terms of drama. Good vs. bad guy wrestling, when done right, is some of the best wrestling in the world. People loved Mistico that night and no one loves being the heel more than MJF. Both played their roles perfectly and we even got to see blood in a CMLL match, which is quite rare.
1. Kenny Omega vs. Gabe Kidd – NJPW Wrestle Dynasty (January 5)
The biggest question going into this match was if Kenny Omega still had something after being on the shelf for all of 2024. The answer was a resounding yes. I’ve never seen anyone look so good after being gone for so long. Maybe this isn’t the Kenny Omega of old but the Omega in this match knew what he wanted to do and everything he did was on point. He helped Kidd be on his level and be a better wrestler coming out of it, that was how good this match was. It did such a great job setting the tone for the year, and while there were plenty of fantastic, incredible matches, this one tops the list.
Bryan Rose is an editor from California that has been covering professional wrestling for well over a decade. He officially joined F4WOnline as an editor in 2017.