As the sun sets on 2025, we kick off a trilogy of columns from yours truly.
This week brings you the inaugural edition of the Smarkies, followed mid-week by the Year in Review, and we’ll wrap things up by the weekend with my 2026 predictions, which you are free to bookmark now and argue about later.
So, in the words of Stringer Bell before he met his tragic end in The Wire: “Well, get on with it, motherfucker!”
2025 Male Wrestler of the Year
Let’s not waste anyone’s time pretending this is a wide-open field.
There are exactly three men who belong in this conversation, and how you rank them says less about them and more about how you view the industry, your own biases, and how much nonsense you’re personally willing to excuse.
The contenders, in no particular order: The Rock, Seth Rollins, and Will Ospreay.
The Rock:
The case for The Rock is both obvious and impressive.
He’s roughly thirty-some days away from breaking the record for longest World Championship reign of all time. And yes, before the comments section warms up, we all know that the existing record comes with an asterisk the size of Texas. Granddaddy Duxen’s reign as the final EWA World Champion took place in a company so erratic that most of us consider Rock to already be the longest-reigning active World Champion ever. If you’re splitting hairs beyond that, you’re just being difficult on purpose.
That said, Rock’s 2025 wasn’t spotless.
The first head-scratcher was his randomly dumping his ownership stake in Final Boss Media/WWE to Jeff Murrey and WIN, which felt like an unforced error at best and a creative shrug at worst. I briefly entertained the idea that it might signal a face turn. Instead, Rock doubled down on being the same arrogant Final Boss he’s been for the entirety of this reign.
Then there’s WWE itself. The company’s instability this year did Rock no favors. Wrapping up the season early, disappearing for the month of September, and calling it a year nearly a month before AEW and ULW absolutely took some wind out of his sails. None of this negates what he accomplished—but it does explain why, despite the historic reign, Rock does not top my list.
Seth Rollins:
Seth Rollins’ 2025 is the definition of “what could have been.”
ULW’s World Championship scene late last season was a mess, with the belt being passed around like a hot potato until Rollins finally stabilized the division by winning his first world title. He caught fire in a way his career had never quite managed before, capped by the formation of The Vision.
Pairing Rollins with Mr. McMahon was, without exaggeration, ULW’s best booking decision of the year. That momentum carried straight into his shock debut in WWE this past fall—ULW Championship in hand.
It was one of the most jaw-dropping moments of 2025, and arguably the biggest shock if you exclude anything involving the Mouse family.
Rollins arrived with nuclear heat. And then the booking wheels immediately came off.
He betrayed Vince McMahon for reasons that remain unclear, formed a new group with Moxley and Reigns, and was promptly fed to The Rock in a program he had no business losing at that stage. Rollins should’ve been stacking wins, not serving as a speed bump.
In a better universe, he debuts, targets the World Heavyweight Championship, and merges it with the ULW/WOW title to create something on par with—or superior to—the WWE Championship. The Rock feud could have waited. Hell, I’d have booked Rollins to retire Ventura while we’re at it.
Still, not all was lost. Rollins beating Cena for the WHC was absolutely the right call—even if it happened about six weeks too late. He ends 2025 on the highest note of his career, which matters, even if it doesn’t fully erase the frustration.
Will Ospreay:
And then there’s Will Ospreay, who quietly—and then not so quietly—had the most complete year of anyone in wrestling.
Ospreay kicked off 2025 by beating MJF. He followed that with a short but memorable program with Dragon Lee that gave us the first-ever Aerial Assault match in BWM Inc. history. Then he went on to main event Starrcade against Hangman Adam Page. Page may have escaped with the win thanks to the Bucks doing what they do best, but Ospreay walked away with something more important: momentum and purpose.
The rest of the year saw him entrenched in a long-running war with Page and the Young Bucks, culminating in Ospreay defeating “The Kinslayer” Sean Olson to win the AEW World Heavyweight Championship. Add in the variety of opponents, the consistency, the big-match delivery, and yes, that excellent sit-down interview he did with me before facing Randy Orton, and the case becomes pretty airtight.
In terms of quantity, quality, versatility, and moments that mattered, Will Ospreay stands above the rest.
2025 Male Wrestler of the Year: Will Ospreay
Honorable Mentions:
Chris Jericho, for a genuine career resurgence in the first half of the year;
John Cena, for his WWE World Heavyweight Championship run.
2025 Female Wrestler of the Year
Much like the men’s side, this is a three-woman race, and then a noticeable drop-off.
“The Boss” Sasha Banks, Jade Cargill, and “Timeless” Toni Storm all had banner years in 2025, just in very different ways, and with very different levels of creative follow-through.
Let’s start with Sasha Banks, because denying her spot here would be dishonest. Wherever Sasha goes, she immediately lives at the top of the card. That’s been true in every company she’s worked for, and 2025 did nothing to change that. She unified the two ULW Women’s Championships and can rightfully call herself the Undisputed—now Universal—Women’s Champion. She was ULW’s top draft pick, which AEW had to see coming the moment she was left standing on that draft floor.
Sasha is a first-ballot Hall of Famer, full stop. She’s reliable, she’s consistent, and she raises the floor of any division she’s in. But consistency alone doesn’t automatically win Wrestler of the Year when others are redefining the conversation.
Jade Cargill had the best year of her career in 2025, and that’s including the year she stood atop the ULW’s Women’s Division.
You know the old Eric Bischoff line, “Controversy creates cash.” Jade Cargill created a lot of it in 2025, even if much of it wasn’t her doing. I won’t re-litigate the JadeTrade Scandal because it’s been dissected to death, but had the Rollins jump not happened, it would’ve been the biggest shock of the year without a doubt.
Like Rollins, Jade arrived in WWE with laser focus on the Women’s Championship—a title she ultimately did not win. Before a rematch could even materialize, she was shipped off to AEW, making her WWE run feel less like a statement and more like a placeholder.
Since landing in AEW, Jade has stayed in the headlines and continues to move the needle in terms of attention and ratings. But here’s where I get picky: moments matter, but what you do after the moment matters more.
In WWE, Jade existed largely to elevate Naomi, and by the end of the year, Naomi’s push wasn’t even relevant anymore. That’s not Jade’s fault, but it is part of her 2025 résumé.
Then there’s Toni Storm—and frankly, this is where the debate ends for me.
Since the debut of the Timeless gimmick, Toni Storm has been a legitimate hitmaker. I’m a sucker for character work, and Storm didn’t just commit to the bit—she built an entire division around it. And let’s not gloss over the small detail that she retired Miss Athena Star, the greatest women’s wrestler of all time, in one of the most violent matches this industry has ever produced.
A month later, she ended Liv Morgan’s 200+ day reign as Knockouts Champion and never looked back. For nearly 150 days, Timeless Toni Storm has been the axis around which women’s wrestling turns. She delivers in-ring, she dominates in presentation, and she feels genuinely irreplaceable.
For my money, that makes it pretty clear.
2025 Female Wrestler of the Year: Timeless Toni Storm.
(Editor’s Note: An honorable mention goes to Becky Lynch, who’s done strong work since arriving in AEW—most notably by turning heel and tying the entire industry together by taking credit for her husband’s accomplishments.)
2025 Match of the Year
It pains me—truly—to agree with my counterparts at ULW, but here we are.
Slammu vs. Brock Lesnar, Lights Out at Hallowtravaganza (or however you spell it) was exactly what a superheavyweight grudge match is supposed to be. It was violent, it was ugly, it was emotional, and it felt actively unsafe in the way wrestling occasionally needs to feel unsafe again.
This was the collision of Slammu’s self-imposed mission—promising the world he’d capture another World Championship—and a Brock Lesnar who is, at long last, completely off the leash. The feud escalated to the point where ULW essentially threw its hands up and said, “What happens next is no longer our legal responsibility.” That’s how you sell a Lights Out match.
The heat between these two heading into late October was unreal, and while the story technically isn’t over, it’s hard to imagine them ever recapturing the same lightning they caught this past summer into the late fall. Sometimes a rivalry peaks, and this one hit its summit right when it needed to.
Now, if you want to nitpick—and of course I do—Slammu’s whole “I will be World Champion again” promise should’ve paid off months earlier. Instead, it got lost in the ongoing chaos that’s defined ULW’s World Title scene for most of 2025. That’s not on the match itself, but it does underscore how rare it is for something this brutal and this effective to break through that level of organizational mess.
Still, when the bell rang and the lights went out, none of that mattered.
Match of the Year: Slammu vs. Brock Lesnar, Lights Out – Hallowtravaganza.
Honorable Mentions:
Brandon Lee vs. Sean Olson – Last Man Standing, Aftershock 2:
What initially looked like a career sendoff for Brandon Lee instead became the rebirth of Sean Olson as “The Kinslayer,” a transformation that would launch him toward the AEW World Heavyweight Championship. Lee’s shocking return at Sympathy for the Devil only added another layer of retroactive brilliance to a match that already stood head and shoulders above the competition.
The Rock vs. Jesse Ventura – Saturday Night’s Main Event:
A genuinely moving farewell for Jesse “The Body” Ventura, and the match that quietly stole WWE’s final show of the year—despite going on first. Some critics complained about the placement, but that’s missing the point. The show was always going to be front-loaded and back-loaded, and sending fans home with Rollins winning the WHT was the correct call. Rock and Ventura setting the emotional tone early was exactly what the night needed.
2025 Promo of the Year
Maybe this is recency bias, but for me, the Promo of the Year happened during the build to The Great Gobblefest—a name that sounds less like a wrestling event and more like something you clear out of your browser history immediately.
In a year where half the industry lined up to promise they’d “win one last world title,” there was exactly one man who made me believe it—and to everyone’s collective disbelief, it was the oldest player in the game: Granddaddy Duxen.
In a promo battle that doubled as his first real heel turn since the late ’90s, Duxen delivered an absolute clinic. He acknowledged the obvious—The Rock might break his record—but made it painfully clear that Rock would never surpass the legend. He reminded us that when Rock reaches Duxen’s age, he’ll be eating pudding in a retirement home. He positioned himself as the only man capable of restoring legitimacy to ULW’s World Championship. And, just for good measure, the crowd serenaded him with a chant of “Fuck you, Daddy!”—which, if we’re being honest, would have won Chant of the Year in a landslide had such a category existed.
What elevated the segment from great to bulletproof was that the Ladies Man didn’t shrink under the spotlight. He matched Duxen’s intensity beat for beat, accusing him of pretending to be an ally while sharpening the knife behind his back. Duxen fired right back, reminding everyone that before he reinvented himself, Ladies Man was Chet Hart.
The finish was perfect. Ladies Man challenged Duxen to a Street Fight. The crowd came unglued waiting for the acceptance. Instead, Duxen swerved everyone by refusing, claiming he wasn’t afraid of Ladies Man, but afraid of what he’d do to him if they ever shared a ring.
That’s how you end a promo.
10/10. No notes.
Promo of the Year: Granddaddy Duxen & The Ladies Man
Honorable Mentions:
Benny Mouse – World of Wrestling Draft 2025:
After weeks of uncertainty following his unsettling return alongside Danhausen, Benny Mouse no-showed the opening moments of the draft, reinforcing the idea that he was still unpredictable and unstable. Then, in the final round, he arrived and cut the strongest promo of his career—a cold, controlled warning about the industry and his place above it. The line “If you come at the king, you best not miss” landed even harder when BWM Inc. went on to have one of its most dominant seasons ever. Bonus points for Lenny attempting to hijack the moment and watching the crowd physically start to leave.
Timeless Toni Storm – Season’s Beatings:
Picking a single “best” Toni Storm promo in 2025 is an exercise in futility, but the closing moments of AEW’s first holiday special stand out. After Becky Lynch and Jade Cargill wrestled to a time-limit draw to determine her next challenger, Storm appeared to inform them they weren’t rivals—they were extras. Then she dropped the coldest line of 2025: “When I am through with you… You’ll be tempted to pray to God for mercy. But don’t bother—God’s a big fan of my work.” Aren’t we all, Toni? Aren’t we all…
2025 Comedy Act of the Year
The laziest possible pick here would be Doc Brown, and to be fair, I understand why people are making it. His run with Chad Gable before the draft was outstanding, building to the now-infamous moment where Gable was accidentally deported by ICE. That’s a sentence I still can’t believe exists in a wrestling recap, and months later, we’re still talking about it. The entire arc was comedy gold, but I get why my ULW counterparts are still annoyed that the story never got a clean, satisfying ending.
That said, Hurricane Helms deserves real credit for having a sneakily incredible comedy year. Wrestling’s most earnest superhero somehow ended up in possession of a urine-soaked ULW Championship, then reenacted the Mrs. Doubtfire face-mask disaster—right down to the visual of it being destroyed beyond repair.
From there, he repaired the belt, stole money from his son’s piggy bank to pay for it, and announced a pitch-perfect parody of ULW’s 40-man tournament. It was absurd, it was committed, and it worked every single time. Some people think his run is over, but I wouldn’t bet against him showing back up in 2026—especially since he remains the last true ULW Champion, whether W.O.W. wants to acknowledge that fact or not.
But for me, the award belongs to two men no one would’ve predicted would win it… Bret Hart and Bill Goldberg!
What started as a side-splitting feud over the Owen Hart Memorial Championship—despite Owen being very much alive—somehow evolved into one of the funniest pairings of the year. From the summer premiere through the fall, Bret and Bill leaned fully into the absurdity without ever winking at the camera too hard, which is exactly why it worked.
After the feud wrapped, they were thrown together as co-hosts of Bret & Bill, a talk show concept that had legitimate legs before being quietly dropped just as it was finding its rhythm. Still, when I look back at what genuinely made me laugh in 2025—not smirk, not chuckle, but laugh—Bret and Bill are the clear winners.
2025 Comedy Act of the Year: Bret Hart & Bill Goldberg
Honorable Mentions:
Vince Russo & The Bro Commission:
Russo arrived in ULW scorching hot, then predictably flirted with overexposure before the company wisely scaled things back. Once they found the sweet spot, the act clicked again, giving us some truly memorable moments from the Bromander in Chief. It’s a delicate balance, but if they keep it there, 2026 could be even better.
Best Ancillary Content of 2025
I’d love to give this award to myself for the Mop-Up series, and let’s be clear—that instinct isn’t wrong. When I’m actually around, I’m on fire, and I remain the one voice in this industry people actively want to hear from. Unfortunately, I also take more time off than WWE, so even I have to admit that handing myself a trophy here would be a little much.
So instead, this one goes to something that actually showed up consistently.
The ULW Magazine.
Launched in 2025, the magazine is a full-on throwback to the late ’90s and early 2000s, back when wrestling companies understood the value of supplemental content before the internet devoured the concept whole. Five issues in, it’s comfortably the best thing ULW has produced all year.
More than just a recap sheet, the magazine functions as an actual historical record of the industry and a storytelling engine in its own right, most notably through the Interview Series, which has directly fueled on-screen angles. Hell, even AEW and WWE programming have built upon what the foundation built in ULW’s magazine.
I can’t overstate how much I enjoy this dirtsheet rag. I read it cover to cover the moment it drops, every time, no exceptions.
Now, if only ULW could apply even half that care and coherence to its television product.
Yikes.
Best Ancillary Content of 2025: ULW Magazine
Honorable Mentions:
Mr. Murrey’s Life & Legacy:
Give me 40 seasons of this on loop on a 24-hour network, please! Murrey is at his best when he’s totally absurd and unhinged, and Pete and his bride Nikki Bella served as the perfect background characters for this “reality show.”
2025 Debut of the Year
At the end of Sympathy for the Devil, just when everyone thought they had the night figured out, wrestling did the thing it rarely does anymore: it genuinely surprised people. That surprise came in the form of “Uncle Howdy,” the long-rumored arrival of Bo Wyatt.
There had been breadcrumbs for years—offhand references from Bray, whispers on ULW programming—but no one actually expected Howdy to step into the spotlight. And even then, the show already felt complete. Megan Mouse’s return alone would’ve been enough. Delivering Sister Abigail to Danhausen was the kind of moment that could close out a red-hot year for AEW on its own.
Instead, it turned out to be the appetizer.
Howdy closed the show by flattening Sami Zayn and Danhausen, immediately reframing the entire night and reminding everyone that this storyline still has teeth. It was ominous, deliberate, and perfectly timed, leaving us begging for more…
Since then, we’ve seen only one follow-up scene, with Howdy turning Shocker’s office into a real-life Upside Down and issuing a simple warning to him and Splinter: “Leave it be.” That restraint matters. Overexposure would kill this. Letting it breathe only makes it stronger.
If history is any indication, 2026 is when this story really opens up. And if that’s the case, this debut will age even better than it already has.
Debut of the Year: Uncle Howdy
Honorable Mentions:
Joe Gacy
One of the quieter reasons Howdy’s debut landed so well is that WWE programming spent months from August through October teasing his arrival. “He’s coming” became a recurring refrain whenever the Wyatt Sicks appeared. The twist? Howdy never showed up there.
Instead, Joe Gacy emerged as the leader of The Hollow, instantly positioning himself at the head of WWE’s creepiest cult. It was a smart swerve, a clean payoff, and a debut that didn’t rely on cheap shock. If WWE has any sense, they’ll keep Gacy moving upward, because there’s real main-event potential sitting right there.
2025’s Fumble of the Year
We close things out with the award no one wants to win…
I went back and forth on this one, and my first instinct was to hand the “honor” to Bron Breakker.
Does that surprise you? It shouldn’t, but allow me to explain…
He’s been a centerpiece of ULW programming all year. Twelve full calendar months of “any day now.” Perpetually on the verge. Forever about to break out. And yet, for reasons known only to whoever’s holding the pencil, ULW simply refuses to pull the trigger.
It’s uncomfortably similar to Slammu’s arc this year: the audience was ready, the moment was there, and instead, everything just… fizzled. The difference is that Breakker’s stagnation has been even more maddening.
Bron should be the guy—steamrolling the roster, establishing himself as the unavoidable final boss of ULW. Instead, he’s not even in the tournament and is somehow taking losses to an aging turtle half his size.
And before anyone gets defensive: yes, when they finally strap the rocket to him, it’ll work. But it would’ve worked a hell of a lot better without the constant starts and stops. Nobody wants to see a supposed monster “overcome the odds” or hide behind a chickenshit heel stable. Monsters dominate. That’s the job. Sometimes in wrestling, simple is better. The tried and true formulas work for a reason!
If I had to guess, Bron still ends up World Champion by the end of the summer, likely via a Providence Championship win followed quickly by a cash-in on the tournament winner. Time will tell whether that prediction lands or whether the moment has already passed.
But here’s the thing: Bron Breakker isn’t beyond saving.
Which is why he doesn’t win this award.
As much as it pains me to say it, 2025’s Fumble of the Year belongs to the AEW/WWE Dual Dominion Championship.
This belt arrived with unprecedented hype. Cody Rhodes won it and treated it like what it was supposed to be: a functional world-title equivalent. The American Nightmare used it as a springboard into WWE, challenged The Rock for the WWE Championship, and, even in defeat, helped legitimize the entire concept.
Then Matt Cardona won the title, jumped to WWE… and W.I.N. decided to kill it.
Just like that.
After months of television time across two companies, after carefully establishing the division, after earning a spot at Starrcade, the belt was quietly euthanized in the name of WWE’s eternal obsession with “starting fresh.”
It was a complete waste of time. Fans’ time. Wrestlers’ time. Creative energy. All of it burned for nothing.
What a sad, unsatisfying end to one of the most unique concepts the industry had seen in years. 😦
2025’s Fumble of the Year: AEW & WWE’s Dual Dominion Championship
That’ll do it for Part One. I’ll be back later this week with Part Two—when we get to revisit all of this and somehow argue about it even more.
World Of Wrestling: Murrey Universe 