The Seventh Era

2024-Now (The Seventh Era):

2024:

WWE

Chairman Murrey reassumed full control of WWE – revealing such at the 2024 Draft – and announced days later at Starrcade that he was introducing the “World Heavyweight Championship” to complement the WWE Title. One title would be on Raw and the other on Smackdown as of the kick-off of the next season. The initial holder of this new world title became AJ Styles, who was brought on board in WWE as part of a temporary trade deal with AEW which sent Dominik Mysterio to AEW. Styles enjoyed a highly-competitive reign (with Finn Balor being his primary foe in the early stages) which lasted through the rest of the calendar year!

Additionally, WWE put on its own two-night take on the Draft, the effects of which lasted for much of the season, but one of the key consequences thereof was that R-Truth and Miz were bound together as “Awesome Truth”. Though the pairing was inexplicable initially, it produced some funny moments as the two enjoyed a bit of in-ring success before being effectively lost in the proverbial shuffle.

Another consequence of WWE’s Draft was the pairing of Rob Van Dam with his newly-serious manager, the former long-time BWM Inc. interviewer; Dave Matthews. With Matthews giving up his chairs gimmick, he attempted to make RVD more serious. Unfortunately, this story also wound up fading away with no real resolution, though it was a bit of comical genius while it lasted.

WWE also saw the Alpha Academy (Gable and Otis) experience a gradual break-up as they struggled to find success in the ring. This eventually would culminate in a match to pay it all off, but not before Gable’s spiraling sent him on a soul search which would lead him into the arms of a brand new mentor; but more on Gable later!

Finn Balor’s inability to topple AJ Styles for the new World title did not deter him from pursuing gold, however. His new journey kept him in the picture for much of the season, and that led him to claim the United States championship after some leadership chaos reset the slate of champions and paved an opening for Balor. As of the end of the season, Balor remained the U.S. Champion, with mystery circumstances forcing him to wait to defend his title against the insurgent Kofi Kingston.

With the ongoing Bloodline saga, Roman’s efforts to capture the AEW gold were transpiring at the same time as the Rock continued to dominate WWE. Starrcade saw Jimmy Uso join the Rock win WWE, but Jey decided to separate from his twin brother and seize the popularity of some viral moments he had made with the crowd. Solo Sikoa would also jump onboard with Rock, and Rock started to ramp up the pressure for Jey to follow suit, but Jey refused initially, leading to a clash for the title between them!

Still, the Rock’s ego started to wear on his kin as Solo started carrying much of the weight. There was visible dissension in the ranks, but the pivotal moment didn’t come for quite some time; waiting at least until after Rock and Solo had a run with the tag titles. Once that dominance finished, though, all bets were off as Solo made it clear that he was nobody’s bitch, but more on that in a moment!

Over in NXT, Karrion Kross swiftly rose to the top, decimating Lexis King, Abyss, and even Jeff Jarrett along the way. The fans knew that NXT was steadily becoming Karrion’s playground and this remained the case until the aforementioned sudden reset occurred. Unfortunately, Karrion remained largely silent for the rest of the season after he was stripped of the NXT title.

With the Women’s division, Asuka continued to dominate and Sonya Deville resumed her stalking ways. Her newest target was Candice LeRae as she sent her roses and even followed her to her residence. One such stalking incident became such a problem that it actually kept Candice’s husband Johnny Gargano from defeating Karrion Kross for the NXT gold!

Speaking of lover’s quarrels and whatnot, Flex Fuller and Doc Brown had a falling out as Brown found his new partnership with Diamond Dallas Page (who was seemingly helping Doc deal with issues via his revolutionary yoga program) to be more interesting. This, though, crumbled for both Fuller and Page, however, as Brown used the rivalry to benefit the then-US Champion Shinsuke Nakamura. By the end of the year, though, Doc Brown was finding a new client in one Chad Gable.

As the season started to unfold, Chairman Murrey started to have a bit of personal drama wherein he hilariously found out and struggled with the fact that the iconic Pete the Ref was his long-lost illegitimate son. Moreover, his personal stress was compounded by his paranoia of the now-deceased Mickey. Murrey infamously visited and urinated on Mickey’s gravesite and started making crazed claims about ULW.

Murrey’s instability continued onward through the rest of the year as he sought help from an old creative writer in one Vince Russo.

ULW

ULW’s birth on July 5^th, 2024 with its inaugural installment made history of its own as the Triad accomplished something that Mickey never could right off the bat: winning an era-opening ratings battle against WWE’s Smackdown. Over the course of the first season of the Seventh Era, ULW solidified itself as the clear number two company within striking distance of overtaking AEW’s position as number one, but WWE never lagged too far behind.

Still, this early success (including giving AEW their only ratings losses of the era) went to the head of Ted Dibiase as he successfully politicked his way into having more power than was intended. This power struggle upset the balance initially envisioned by the other two Triad members Ted Brown and Catherine Mouse, and threatened to tear everything down, but more on this later.

The company was led by Bray Wyatt, who served as the Undisputed Champion after defeating Randy Orton at Starrcade. Wyatt started to feel significantly different than before, though, and he acted different as well. Something radical had changed in him in the aftermath of Mickey’s death at Armageddon 4. This vulnerability led other aspiring superstars to target Wyatt as frequently as possible, and Ted Dibiase schemed to get the title off of Bray to crown a champion loyal to him.

The plot hatched by Dibiase included bringing Wyatt’s father – I.R.S. – on board as a member of the Board of Directors to mess with Bray’s head as Ted sent Attitude in to try and depose Bray. Dibiase also sought to find out more about the competition by sending Attitude and others after Splidder to learn more about the world that Benny had hid from everyone up through now. Again, more on that momentarily.

Wyatt’s battles with Dibiase and the efforts to keep some vital secrets close to home also led to the shocking arrival of Damian Priest; brought on board by Catherine and Ted Brown to flank Wyatt. But, Priest was susceptible to corruption himself as he started to lend an ear to forces who were themselves influenced by the seemingly corrupted Jackie Mouse.

Meanwhile, outside of the power struggle, we see the Young Bucks struggling to keep control of the tag division starting with the drafting of the Bludgeon Brothers. Rowan and Harper destroy the Young Bucks at Starrcade, but they intentionally get disqualified in the process. Upon the beginning of the first season of ULW, the Young Bucks force their own disqualification, but they are ultimately conquered by the Bludgeon Brothers, who manage to take the division over after defeating Proud N’ Powerful for the gold and putting the Bucks away for a little while.

The Lucha Brothers then become THE top tag team in the company, dominating for the longest period of any team in the season when they surprised Harper and Rowan. However, by the time Penta and Fenix conquered the division, Harper was experiencing some doubts about himself thanks to some heavy manipulation from the twisted Jackie Mouse.

ULW’s unique take on midcard titles was a conscious attempt at separating them from the rest of the pack, though. The core idea behind the name “Undisputed League Wrestling” was that part of what brought the Triad together was the unification of the Premier (PWI) and Extreme (HCW) Leagues. Each League has their own midcard title that serves as the primary gateway into World Title contention.

For the Premier League, the Premier Championship was introduced during the Sixth Era at the conclusion of the final Premier Athlete Tournament Roulette. Carmelo Hayes captured the title at Armageddon 4 and carried it into the Seventh Era. The Extreme Championship is the same title with a legacy that extends to its introduction by HCW back in the Fourth Era. The only difference is that ULW removed the special stipulation that matches involving the title can only be completed once the loser is busted open. In that respect, Jesse Hash was the last holder of the title in the Sixth Era who carried it into the Seventh.

With the Women, while they had their own variations of the Leagues, they only have the Women’s and Women’s International Championships to contend for. The Women’s International (or simply, just the International Championship) Title was introduced at the conclusion of the final iteration of the Women’s Premier Athlete Tournament Roulette, with Charlotte Flair winning the tournament and carrying the belt into the new era.

Through to the end of 2024, the Midcard Titles (Premier, Extreme, and International) featured a who’s who of future main eventers holding the belts. From Carmelo Hayes and LA Knight, to Mystico, Rollins, Moxley, Starks, and Owens. For the women, Flair passed the International belt to Rose, who lost it to AJ Lee, who passed the torch to Bayley. It became clear to those closely watching that these titles weren’t merely for having additional belts, but rather to test out the marketability of the future talent.

In one instance, the Premier Championship went to returning wrestling icon the Giant Gonzales, who dominated his opponents left and right. That became a good bellwether as to how well his rise could be received…in addition to his eventual downfall; which we will get to later.

Another great feature of ULW through the opening six months of the era was the return of Little Man and Big Man. Saguna and Big Show had stolen hearts and minds back in the Third Era, and EWA tried to duplicate that success (with some degree of accomplishment) by reinventing the team by replacing Saguna with Sonjay Dutt in the Fourth Era. Now, with Saguna and Big Show reunited, they were also brought together with Sonjay Dutt, and it became clear that all three were still cursed with the Lady Love bug!

All three men found that they just couldn’t get over the engaged Love, but they were determined to find the answers, and Saguna came to believe that the solution would be found by getting the Crock to answer how he was able to resist her at her prime! Though a reluctant participant at first, Crock came to agree to trying to help them find the answers they were looking for by taking their phones from them and helping them find a replacement!

Soon, it was learned that one of them had found a new prospective partner, and that partner turned out to be Benny’s old transgender fling, Lilo! The only catch was that Crock had actually fallen in love with her and had been in denial about his own attraction to transwomen all along!

Around the same time that all of this had been unfolding the Ladies Man had made his triumphant return and was attempting to force himself into a world title program. However, he was met with plenty of resistance, including from the sudden return of Owen Hart! Owen and Ladies Man had a number of encounters which slowed Ladies Man down, and Ladies Man tried to find himself once again. Part of his journey involved him creating his own talk show called “That Time of the Month” wherein he bragged about how much the women loved and needed him.

Unfortunately for Ladies Man, though, this wasn’t quite enough to get over. He needed a little something extra. That’s what led him to reach out to one of the greats in Granddaddy Duxen. Duxen tried his best to help Ladies Man regain his confidence, but Ladies Man was not an easy student. Still, Duxen persisted and this persistence led Duxen to discover a new opportunity…joining forces with Crock, Lilo, Little Man, Middle Man (Dutt), and Big Man to create the “Manly Men”!

With the Women’s Title scene, the incredibly dominant Jade Cargill retained her title throughout the rest of the year despite a very stacked women’s division that now included Ronda Rousey. One of the key reasons that Rousey couldn’t get ahold of the gold, though, was that Alexa Bliss (whom Rousey attacked at Starrcade to send a message, and whom lost to Sasha Banks in the main event of that same card) stood in her way. The top of the division was very much defined by the struggles between these three for the rest of the year.

However, that wasn’t all there was to the division, as Allie, Nikki Cross, Akosha, and Living Dead Girl dominated the periphery. Allie and Nikki bound together at first, and then they looped in Akosha. The new trio worked together to help Akosha overtake Living Dead Girl, which itself helped AJ Lee overcome her own odds en route to her personal pursuit of greatness. As the year wound down, Akosha, Allie (the Bunny), and Nikki Cross created a dangerous condition for the women’s locker room, and this kept stars like Angelina Love and Beth Phoenix from being able to rise back to the top, but there was still more to come!

August 5^th, 2024 was the date marked on the calendar as being a special occasion, for it was supposed to mark the end of Dragonfly’s historic career. This was what he announced at Starrcade as part of his Hall of Fame and Award acceptance speech, and he had noted that he would be revealing his final opponent in the interim. Just as Dragonfly was about to make his big reveal during an episode of Aggression, Matt Cardona – who was disgruntled for being overlooked – viciously attacked Dragonfly, and then Dragonfly reciprocated by costing Cardona the world title at Independent Intentions and revealing that he would choose Cardona for his final match. The kicker, though, was that Dragonfly would only retire if Cardona beat him, because the winner would go on to challenge for the Undisputed Title. In the end, Cardona won the encounter and humiliated Dragonfly in the process!

That ties the story of the first six months of ULW back around to the power struggle. Following the death of Mickey at Armageddon 4, a curious incident which was seen by the world happened at the same time when Jackie Mouse – who had been catatonic for weeks up to that point – suddenly woke up and appeared to fly out of bed before the feed was cut. After assuming de facto control of the company, Dibiase sought to have his confidante – Dr. Evil – use his psychiatric background to mold Jackie into the successor and assistant that would serve Dibiase’s agenda.

What followed was a series of counseling sessions which got increasingly uncomfortable for Evil to partake in up to the point that he was warning Dibiase about something being deeply wrong. Then, Evil disappeared mysteriously and Dibiase sought to hire help – through the D’Angelo Family as middlemen – in the form of the Neck-Breakers. The goal was to both find Dr. Evil (whose neck Hans Gustav still wanted to break) and even to unearth whatever they could about the Mouse Family secrets.

The Neckbreakers not only had a hard time finding Evil, but they had reportedly stumbled upon something deeply disturbing, and they appeared to abandon ship! Dibiase was becoming restless, and he was desperate for help because he was also in the midst of pursuing vengeance against the other two Triad Members whom he felt had betrayed him.

Meanwhile, Jackie started acting suspiciously calm and calculating as Dibiase sought to consolidate power, and one of her most disturbing things that she did was corrupt the mind of Luke Harper. She displayed some abilities that could only be described as supernatural as she convinced Luke that he was more than he had been convinced that he was…that he was actually “Brodie Lee”. After Jackie sent Brodie back to action, he betrayed his partner and cost them the tag team gold, and then he went on to do her bidding elsewhere.

Jackie’s agenda was much darker and more forward thinking than Dibiase’s, and she even took over a ULW broadcast to reveal that she was behind everything that we were seeing. In fact, she even unveiled that no one on her side of the screen save for her was aware that any of this was taking place! Things then started to spiral out of control as Damian Priest’s partnership with Bray Wyatt took its final turn as Priest joined with Lee in corrupting the Dark Order (the admitted formerly-goofy fanboys of Wyatt) to turn on Bray as all of them worked together to take down Bray and cost him the Undisputed Title against Matt Cardona.

Before getting into what happened next, we must first go back a couple of months to when Lenny Mouse broke his silence and entered a wrestling ring for the first time since Mickey and Vinny passed away. Lenny emerged at Independent Intentions and made it clear that he had arrived to make sure the company operated as intended. Right away, Ted Dibiase got to work in trying to lure the ULW Chief Commissioner Lenny to his cause, even offering him a spot on the Board in exchange for his loyalty. However, Lenny resisted, saying that he was only interested in making sure that this place didn’t fall down that old familiar dark path of corruption.

While Lenny was trying to sort things out, Jackie was hard at work trying to corrupt things for her own agenda behind the scenes, and Dibiase was searching for Evil. In the lead-up to Hallow-Travaganza, Lenny was ostensibly visited by his long-lost sister Mickie in a pseudo-supernatural manner; which visibly made him uncomfortable. Then, Lenny disappeared along with Evil and even Jackie at the same time that the betrayal of Bray happened. In the immediate aftermath of the betrayal, it was clear that something had happened to change the balance of the company because a series of unsettling and cryptic videos came to culminate with an equally cryptic reveal of what looked like a massacre.

Yet, within a week or two, Lenny found his way back to Dibiase, and was more alert than ever. He pointed out that he can see that something dangerous was coming and that he had a proposal that could help prevent this new company from falling apart. His idea involved creating the position of “Acting Head” of the company who would serve as a back-up leader of the company in the event that something should happen to the “unquestioned Chair” (which itself was an addendum proposed by Jackie Mouse a few months prior). The new “Acting Head” position would be filled by the ULW Chief Commissioner. Though it took much arm twisting, even of Dibiase, the Board agreed to the terms.

Weeks later, on Friday, December 13^th, 2024, a mysterious attack transpired which left bodies lying around everywhere as an ominous red light slowly blinked and an alarm sounded overhead. Seeing the carnage, we witness Michael Buffer scouring the backstage looking for anyone who can tell the tale of what happened. What we saw was nothing short of what looked like a complete massacre. Injured stars and staff everywhere, including the badly-injured Ted Dibiase and Ted Brown.

In the midst of this search, we see Brodie Lee and the Dark Order whisking Catherine Mouse away and Lenny Mouse being escorted out as if he had barely survived the attack. The next ULW broadcast was Merry Massacre, which Lenny opened with a solemn, yet determined, address to the world. Lenny seemed reluctant as he revealed that the attack forced his hand to seize control of the company as Acting Head in lieu of the Triad. He then pledged – with the help of his new Enforcer of laws, Jacob Fatu – to get to the bottom of what happened, and to recover his niece; the kidnapped Catherine Mouse.

With that, 2024 came to an insane close for 2024!

AEW

AEW began the first season of the Seventh Era in earnest. Many of their successful stories from the previous season carried over with ease into the dawn of the new era. There were some new features as well. One such feature was the goofy off and on use of Mr. Perfect as he struggled to move on from the random neck-breaking by Gustav in the previous months at he got creative in trying to find new ways to break his own neck with the help of others and objects around him!

The tag division was also highly noteworthy with the addition of the Acclaimed and Cobra Kai (Xolo – forcefully referred to by his character name, “Miguel” – reluctant found himself tagged with the insane Johnny Lawrence). Cobra Kai rose to prominence rather quickly, but their rise came to a sudden stop when they were decimated by Slammer and Rip (the Street Sharks)!

With the Knockouts Division, AEW introduced the new “Knockouts Hardcore Title” complete with the chaotic 24/7 rule. This was a recipe for plenty of highly-entertaining segments which produced Nia Jax as the inaugural champion, followed by the reigns of Rhea Ripley, Piper Niven, and then eventually Lady Love! As part of this new aspect of AEW, Toni Storm wound up suffering a head injury which practically transformed her into a throwback character as she found a new path in her career.

Storm’s first big target became the iconic Athena Star who herself was dealing with a restless Knockout’s Division. As part of that evolving division we see the arrival of Liv Morgan who immediately tried to get in good with Sami Zayn. While Sami is dealing with his own problems, Liv’s attempts at seducing him create even more. Megan Mouse doesn’t take too kindly to what’s going on as she seeks to destroy Liv’s momentum before it truly begins. Unfortunately for her, Liv is many steps ahead and manages to use the chaos to her advantage as she winds up overcoming Megan and topples Athena for the gold!

Speaking of relationship troubles, AEW featured many such twists and turns as Kenny Omega and Adam Page continued their decline that we saw featured up to Starrcade 2024. In the months which followed, Page’s alcoholism continued to spiral out of control to the point where Omega agreed to fight Page after the two descended into fisticuffs. Page shocked all by being the one who came out on top of this rivalry in breaking out to be the bigger star.

Logan Paul began to saw cracks in his relationship with MJF when he featured Sami Zayn as part of his Impaulsive talk show (to hype the arrival of Will Ospreay; who would take the industry by storm and quickly rise to prominence through Sympathy for the Devil). Over the next few months, Logan’s actions with MJF became riskier, including doing things which cost MJF opportunities. This was also happening while Logan was gaining ground and asserting himself as a legitimate threat for the world championship. MJF noticed the pattern, too, but was conflicted through such moments as when Logan risked his safety taking on Armageddon in the back, which led to a match wherein MJF defeated and injured Armageddon in shocking fashion! There was definitely more to come as the year came to an abrupt end for AEW at Sympathy for the Devil in October.

No impending break-up (or set thereof) was greater than when Paul Heyman found himself between two beasts bound for glory in Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns. After the two laid the groundwork through WOW Week 2024, they destroyed each other for an opportunity to challenge Sami for the world title. Unfortunately for Brock (the winner in that exchange), he wound up getting screwed over when the time came. This itself paved the way for Roman to depart the company for WWE by the end of the year and Brock to lose his exemption status by the end of the season!

However, before Brock found himself on the draft shit-list for AEW, he did entertain the possibility of going for a different single’s title than the top prize as we gained the highly-anticipated showdown between him and the TV Champion, Gunther! However, unfortunately for Lesnar, Dominik Mysterio successfully used the chaos which ensued (including Lesnar getting screwed over in the finish and then decimating Gunther in the aftermath) to cash-in his gold rush briefcase to become the new TV champion!

This itself came after the culmination of Swerve’s feud with Gunther which had stemmed from the ending of the Sixth Era wherein Swerve had lost the TV title to Gunther and never got it back. Gunther’s brief rise to dominance was buffered by the also-brief arrival of his compatriot Ludwig Kaiser. Kaiser played a pivotal role in Gunther retaining over Lesnar as well, but Kaiser disappeared after a quick and incomplete rivalry with Hook.

It wasn’t all break-ups and shattered relationships, though, as we saw the hilarious High-Minded drama leading up to the marriage of Midget (or “Midgey”, as his love pet nickname became) Hogan and Lady Love at Sympathy for the Devil. The rise of Midget Hogan’s insecurities became apparent, too, as he saw his bride-to-be receiving relentless phone calls from Saguna and Big Show in ULW. Lady Love went above and beyond, though, to prove her loyalty, sealing the deal with their marital vows!

We also learned along the way that Matt Riddle was in a comical and questionable relationship with Piper Niven. The teasing he endured for this was relentless in its own right and wound up souring his mood. He happily participated in the wedding, but his role was demoted time after time until he was little more than a background guy. This was not a slight which went unnoticed by the top Bro.

We saw the rise of A-Town Down-Under (Waller and Theory) as they sought to dominate the tag scene. However, the heavy-promise that they held when entering the fray started to wane a little, and they kind of descended into obscurity after a sort-of rapey backstage segment with Renee Young. They did capture the tag gold for a month, but dropped them to the hot-as-ever Cobra Kai en route to Miguel and Lawrence losing the straps to the Street Sharks.

There was a fun and very notable reunion of the Harlem Turtles with the women’s wrestling legend; Molly Holly. The trio set out on a journey to try and bring Splinter back. This was despite Splinter being banned from AEW programming. This journey – which took them to a very haunting mansion location where Splinter was supposedly located – was connected to Sami Zayn’s struggles with Danhausen and his “curses” (which were related to ominous and quasi-supernatural warnings of doom and gloom after Benny escaped the mental institution and disappeared) as Sami battled his demons, attempted to keep ahold of the AEW title (including against opponents like Johnny Lawrence) and to keep his marriage intact; with the Bossman (who he called “Rob Amick”; as in Benny’s infamous head of security). This culminated for the calendar year with the prerecorded video tape announcement of the Royal Rumble-like “Elite Warfare” match forcing Sami to defend his AEW title against 59 other stars!

For AEW, the biggest breakout star of the opening six months of the season was shockingly one of the oldest on the roster: tag team legend and former PWI-HCW Undisputed Champion, Brandon Lee. Disappearing for a spell after the draft, Lee captivated the audience with his awe-inspiring dark vignette which recast him as the “Forgotten” Brandon Lee. This made the anticipation of his return one of the most exciting things to look forward to with AEW in this new era.

2025:

WWE

Murrey’s decision in handing Russo a ton of authority to handle business as he dealt with his own problems became a truly consequential decision. Russo’s own unpredictability is what led to a controversial decision to reset all of the championships in February of 2025, except for the world titles; which also meant that Asuka’s lengthy reign was abruptly ended.

This chaos and all of Murrey’s issues culminated in the sudden mysterious arrival of Guyla Rose and her cryptic warnings of a secret kept by Murrey. This produced a scandal which resulted in Murrey being ousted by the Board and replaced by Triple H at the helm, who rechristened “Murrey Entertainment” as “Triple H Era Inc.”. Under the new leadership, Hunter restored Asuka’s Women’s title reign and promised a set of reforms to come in 2025!

WWE’s Tag Team scene was initially in the vice grip of the Bloodline as Rock and Solo held on tight to the belts, but soon the torch had been passed to DIY (Gargano and Ciampa). DIY were good enough as champions, and they held it through the chaotic administrative changes that kept occurring, but the titles would then be passed on to the newly-paired New Catch Republic (Pete Dunne and the debuting Tyler Bate). NCR’s reign was brief, though, as Backlash saw them losing the straps back to the Street Profits!

While the tag division kept evolving, the New Day – who had briefly held the short-lived NXT Tag Gold – started to crumble until Kofi turned on Big E all of a sudden! Kofi accused Big E of holding him back and a very exciting program started between the two. Big E was reluctant to fight his friend, but Kofi became crazed, even breaking into his former partner’s house at one point before being arrested. Their war finally culminated with a match at the new flagship PLE of WWE; Wrestle Empire, with Kofi getting the win and punching his ticket to earning a shot at the United States title.

Unfortunately for Kofi, his efforts at capturing the U.S. title were unsuccessful as he had been mysteriously attacked at Backlash to preempt the bout. A rematch was set for Starrcade, but it was revealed at that show that Rhea Ripley and the Judgment Day had attacked Kofi, and had aligned with Finn. They again pounced on Kofi, helping Finn retain his title once again!

WWE’s other midcard title – the Intercontinental Title – was captured by Chad Gable over Otis in the finale of a short tournament after the title reset, and Gable officially aligned with Doc Brown; who seemingly only had interest in one client now. Chad’s title reign took on a hilarious new turn when he and Doc began targeting the Luchadores; specifically Rey Mysterio. This journey inspired Chad to spend some time south of the border as he began to believe that he was greater than all Luchadores.

Doc Brown started asserting that he was time traveling and finding new solutions to their joint problems, and at one point when they were in a hotel, Chad was mistakenly deported by ICE, leaving the IC Title behind, which led to Brown briefly crowning himself as the de facto temporary champion! Brown defended the title in a crazy festival in Mexico, at which Gable resurfaced and reclaimed the prize (Brown was relieved, to tell the truth), but the shenanigans didn’t stop there, as Brown found new Luchadores in and out of Mexico to challenge for the gold. This insanity continued through Backlash, whereat Gable retained his title by defeating a number of Luchadores in the first ever Pinata match!

The insanity of WWE marched forward in the aftermath of the reset and the handing of control of the company to Triple H as he and AEW’s Splinter announced a ground-breaking partnership which included the introduction of first-of-its-kind Dual Dominion Championship! As part of this new partnership, we started seeing some crossovers and tournament matches to determine the participants for the Starrcade inaugural crowning of this new AEW-WWE title. In the midst of this, R-Truth’s crossover into AEW was heavily featured and saw some of the most hilarious moments wherein he predictably confused his new surroundings with those of WWE. Truth was initially slated to partake in the match at Starrcade, but he was replaced by newly-signed Andre Chase after being drafted by ULW! Ultimately, Cody won the prize at the supershow!

No one was more affected by the title reset and change in leadership than the Women’s Champion, Asuka. Though Triple H had recrowned Asuka as the champion, she never truly got her momentum back, and that was despite her continued success in retaining the gold. Along the way, though, she had been briefly paired with some success with Naomi in a short-lived tag team. This shockingly proved to be a way of laying the groundwork for a major change as Naomi earned her way to a shot at the gold and then made history by ending Asuka’s historic reign at Backlash!

Asuka was drafted by ULW as the 6^th overall draft pick, guaranteeing that the two would only cross paths in an interpromotional match, if one should ever happen. Yet, Asuka’s fate was not the only one heavily impacted by the reset, as AJ Styles soon found himself looking at the insurgent 21-year veteran John Cena. Cena started speaking more confidently than ever as he chased down a shot at world title prominence. The two of them ended up having their encounter for the prize at Wrestle Empire, and Cena shocked the world by becoming the second World Heavyweight champion by claiming his first world title since debuting in LWF in 2004!

Titles and power continued to shift everywhere except in one place: the WWE Title. The Rock held a firm grip on the top prize in the company as he far surpassed the one year mark. Even as his partnership with Solo broke down with them losing the tag gold en route to Solo leaving Rock’s side altogether, not even the arrival of Roman Reigns and the aligning of the Bloodline (complete with the reunion of the Usos) with the Tribal Chief could dissuade Rock from his mission of dominance!

Roman Reigns presented Rock’s greatest challenge for the belt overall, but Rock was looking beyond the WWE Title that he clenched so fiercely. He had plans for all of WWE, as it would turn out. Somehow, Rock finessed his way into convincing the Board of Directors to award him control of the company after he retained over Roman for a second time; which he did with the unwanted help of the returning and insane Jeff Murrey!

Murrey was initially rewarded by getting fired, but Rock found a new permanent position for Murrey as well as all of the former leadership of WWE, HLW, and AXW in his new administration. At the 2025 Draft, Rock and his team seized the moment by making the most of each draft pick to pair it along with mini-announcements and statements to pave the way for the new season of the era. Rock also made it his mission to beef up his world title competition, starting with his blockbuster first pick: Brock Lesnar!

Days later, at Starrcade, Rock successfully retained his title over Roman for a third consecutive time (with a ton of help, of course), but the closing shot for WWE for the supershow was of Brock Lesnar standing tall after clearing the ring and delivering a thunderous F5 to the champion of the world!

ULW

ULW picked up in 2025 right where they left off with continued progress on the front of the League and International Championships. Giant Gonzales lost his title to Kevin Owens, whom unified both titles in a first iteration of the so-called “Undisputed League Championship” with the newfound privilege of receiving 7 world title shots. Owens was unsuccessful in his cash-in attempts, however, but we will cover that in a moment, because what happened next was highly consequential for the rest of the season.

Bayley’s impressive reign as International Champion came to a halt as she dropped the belt to former PWI Women’s Champion, Io Shirai. Shirai wound up holding the gold for the remainder of the season, but she wasn’t content with just holding that title, as she made herself known to Alexa Bliss – who ended Jade Cargill’s historic reign as Women’s Champion with help from the Bunny, Akosha, and Nikki Cross for an historic fourth women’s title reign – that she wanted the gold!

Alexa felt conflicted by her reversion to the dark side, though, but upon fully embracing it and welcoming the new Cult by her side, she continued to grow her power by also welcoming Living Dead Girl into the fold. Still, Jade Cargill was not to be ignored. Despite FRED decimating Cargill at Easter Evil and costing her the Death From Above match, Cargill returned to cost Bliss the gold against AJ Lee and lay the groundwork for a challenge at Starrcade! At Starrcade, Bliss won the bloody bout after the new Women’s Champion (Ronda Rousey, who defeated AJ Lee at Memorial Mayhem) bet against Bliss’s ability to win absent the help of her cult. Truth be told, the Cult had fallen short of Bliss’s expectations after she lost the title to Lee, and she had lost two members (Allie and Cross) in the Draft! Speaking of the Draft, ULW brought on board two former AEW Knockouts Champions in Sasha Banks and Asuka!

In the Tag Division, The Acolytes ended the impressive reign of the Lucha Brothers, but they controversially handed the belts over to the Dark Order as they joined Brodie Lee’s ranks. The reign of the Dark Order lasted just over a month until the insurgent newcomers, the Rascalz, stole the show and seized the moment for their own reign to begin!

This downfall of the Dark Order coincided with some dissension in the ranks including the second thoughts of Damian Priest. Priest became a reluctant participant after being forced to help kidnap Catherine Mouse. He aided in Catherine’s escape, but was attacked by Jacob Fatu as Fatu staged the rescue. For this and countless failures to help Brodie Lee earn a shot at the Undisputed Title, Brodie kicked Damian out of the Dark Order and challenged him to a match. The two ended up going at it for a chance to earn a shot at the world title, and Damian Priest came out on top!

Connected to this was the continued search for Dr. Evil, and now Hans Gustav was missing. Mr. Kennedy started to spiral and demand to know where his partner was, but no one would tell him. He finally got Tony D’Angelo and Stacks to give him some direction; which they did reluctantly. What Kennedy found was that Gustav had been at Mickey’s Memorial, and that was the last place he was seen. Even the Young Bucks had been spotted and stopped there in the recent past.

Bane was dispatched by D’Angelo to rein this in, but that wasn’t all. Splidder was nearing the point of revealing the truth that he knew, and this was despite threats made by Metalhead. Menotaur had been hired by Dibiase to beat the truth out of Splidder, but Splidder had managed to contact his nephews Raphael and Michelangelo to provide some protection for him. In the end, though, nothing came directly from Splidder as FRED arrived to beat everyone to a pulp and put a temporary end to the search for truth!

The Undisputed Title had been held by only three men through to Mid-February, with Matt Cardona on his way to reigning through Starrcade. Yet, he found himself faced with his latest challenge: CM Punk. Punk had vanquished Jesse Hash en route to challenging for the gold despite losing his wife to Hash along the way. Now, he was ready to be a world champion for the first time. That moment would come, too, just as Cardona’s had; with outside help from a mysterious figure!

Cardona was enraged and demanded to know who cost him his chance at glory, but no one stepped up to own what had happened. Then, Cardona entered the Epic Royale to try and get another crack at the title, and was doing quite well in the match until he again was cost the match by the same unknown assailant! Now, Cardona had had enough and demanded a match with the person responsible! After having Sunfire come out and make it seem for a second like he may have attacked Cardona, he revealed that the real attacker would reveal themselves and accept Cardona’s challenge: Dragonfly! Dragonfly returned and demanded one more match which would end the loser’s exemption while also guaranteeing a World Title shot to the winner. Cardona accepted, and at Memorial Mayhem, Dragonfly defeated Cardona, which consequentially led to AEW drafting Cardona early in WOW Week!

Former WWE Commentator and brief AEW star, Connor McGregor had felt that he was getting ignored and repeatedly insisted on chances to prove himself. For a time, he proved to be quite the nuisance for Randy Orton, and even secured a victory over him in the process (which drove Orton insane, more on that in a few). Unfortunately for Connor, though, no one in management took him seriously as he declared himself for the draft and was picked up by WWE once again!

Back to Randy Orton, and we see a man who lost his way after losing in a World Title match at Starrcade for a second consecutive year. He disappeared for a few months to collect his thoughts and when Connor interrupted his comeback, Orton started to get increasingly violent to the point that he was threatening Stacy Keibler in the hallway for a chance at the title. Finally, he would get another chance, but we will cover that with what happened at Memorial Mayhem.

Ricky Starks had experienced some degree of success at the start of the season, but now he was rediscovering his footing with a second wind. Ricky managed to earn another crack at gold and secured the Undisputed League Championship at Kevin Owens’s expense. That wasn’t all, though, as the Manly Men had crossed paths with another up and comer en route to glory: Bron Breakker.

Breakker had stormed onto the scene at the start of the season by picking off veterans of the business. This stopped only when he put down Goldberg and used him to serve as his mentor. Now, back to 2025, Breakker was tiring of waiting for opportunities, so he resumed his assault on legends, and did so at the expense of the Manly Men by first taking out Lilo as her husband Crock watched in horror! This followed a series of mystery attacks wherein Bron was taking out one member of the group after the other.

This culminated in Bron accidentally costing CM Punk the Undisputed Championship against the Ladies Man. Punk was lost and Bron was even more so after he caused his enemy to leap to the top of the hierarchy! Enter Kevin Owens and his repeated attempts at cashing in and we see the opening moments of months of chaos and uncertainty with the Undisputed Title. Owens tried again to cash-in and upon being unsuccessful, he injured Ladies Man, which vacated the title!

Management tried to come up with ideas to crown a new champion, but either Owens or some other development would lead to the title remaining vacant. In the midst of this madness, Slammu announced that he would be pursuing his 26^th World Title, and when he had to witness Ted Dibiase Junior capture the gold, he lost his mind and injured him; forcing another vacancy! This insanity led Lenny to announce a reimagining of the Total Anarchy Match in what he called the “Absolute Mayhem Match” which would feature ten superstars in its inaugural installment! After an hour of hell at Memorial Mayhem, CM Punk managed to defeat nine other superstars (last defeating Randy Orton, who would end up getting traded to AEW) to become the new champion!

Unfortunately for Punk, though, his reign was only bound to last until Starrcade. Chris Jericho experienced a career resurgence in AEW with the creation of the Inner Circle. Now, he was in ULW and attempting to rebuild that group, but was instead subject to being ostracized by Proud N’ Powerful as they reconnected with the Lucha Brothers and Homicide to create LAX. Out of jealousy, Jericho cost the Lucha Brothers their tag titles and hired Magog (who he renamed “Garry”) to protect himself! Before the ULW Starrcade Main Event, Lenny emerged and revealed that there would be a third man in the Undisputed Title match, and that turned out to be Jericho who won the gold after Kevin Owens mysteriously helped him!

With Lenny, his grip on power only tightened as he declined further into paranoia and started hurling around accusations of fantastical plots from WWE and AEW to overthrow the Triad. At an infamous address to the wrestling media in February, Lenny told thousands of attendees in Memphis at Mickey’s Memorial that he had uncovered the part of the plot was being carried out by the media as he unleashed Jacob Fatu and his barbwire-wrapped 2X4 on the press members in attendance! His descent continued unabated, and then came his announcement of a major address to the fans in the run-up to Memorial Mayhem on an episode of Awesome Aggression!

Before that address, it was discovered that Catherine had escaped her so-called safe house that Lenny and Jacob had placed her in. During the address, each member of the Triad appeared and revealed that they had learned that Lenny had ordered Fatu to attack all of the victims on Friday the 13^th in December to seize control!

It’s important to note that the ominous and cryptic videos had continued throughout the beginning of 2025, revealing more and more pieces of the build to Mickey’s death and to the mysterious happening at Hallow-Travaganza. One of the things revealed was that Scott Nash had reluctantly partnered with Mickey to kidnap Dr. Evil and recruited him towards some mysterious end.

A major piece of the puzzle was laid bare during Lenny’s address, however, within seconds of Lenny being accused of ordering the attack, as the unknown fan with the perennial guest pass had ran out to the ring to secure an autograph. Everyone was confused, except the suddenly-returning Hans Gustav, who emerged behind her and snapped her neck only to reveal that he uncovered her identity as both the twin of Megan Mouse, and the adopted sister of Bray Wyatt…Abigail Wyatt!!

With that reveal, Abigail emerged and initiated a moment of chaos alongside the appearance of FRED. This chaos only stopped with the return of Bray Wyatt, who came out looking fresher and better than ever! After the brief confrontation with his adopted sister, Wyatt watched as Abigail disappeared! Still, Lenny was successful to a degree as the Establishment, Fatu, and Scott Nash grabbed the Triad and whisked them away to an undisclosed location!

In the weeks that followed, Lenny asserted that the Triad had been corrupted and that he needed to maintain control of the company pending an investigation and consideration of their options going forward. He also used Jacob Fatu to bully Shane McMahon to step down as Vice President of the Board of Directors and appointed Abigail Wyatt/Mouse to replace him!

During WOW Week 2025, Lenny continued to play the victim and lashed out at WWE and AEW both during the Draft and at Starrcade. He even ridiculed the first female inductee into the WOW Hall of Fame (Athena Star) after having inducted Amazon (and Mickey, among others) into the Cash Mouse Entertainment Hall of Fame!

AEW

Back to AEW where Sammy Guevara continues to be a thorn in the side of Cody Rhodes. Sammy secures a series of wins over Cody, but doesn’t do much else. This undoubtedly keeps Sammy’s stock high enough to remain on ULW’s radar, as ULW draft Sammy when the time comes.

Lady Love and Midget Hogan continue to have some marital struggles, and those struggles only get more complicated when Lady Love receives word that a child that she had with the help of Crock and Jill Woodstrum decades back was still alive and wanted to connect with her: enter the rebellious Young Crock! A spitting image of his famous father (the Crock) and Grandfather (Woody the Second), Young Crock doesn’t get along with his new stepfather, “Midgey”, and doesn’t even really like his mom. However, the introduction of Young Crock adds a new dynamic to the relationship!

Overall, though, High-Minded enters the final stretch of the season leading up to the Draft predominantly focused on Love and Midgey, with Matt Riddle increasingly estranged from everyone else. Riddle comical quips fade away as he seems more and more irritated with his place in the group, and he even winds up being the ONLY one of them not exempted from the Draft, though he remarkably gets saved by AEW late into the annual shakeup of the industry!

The Tag Division kind of slumps a little as most of the focus of AEW upon its return from Sympathy for the Devil is honed in on the World and Knockout’s titles. Still, there is a shock changing of the guard as the belated arrival of the Gunn Club leads to them earning a title shot at the Street Sharks, and they get the job done with the help of the arrival of Jay White! White and the Gunns reveal that they are here to right the ship, that they are tired of the false promises and the lack of opportunities, they reveal that they will be now known as the “Bullet Club”!

Dominik Mysterio’s TV Title reign even comes to an abrupt ending with the arrival and debut title match of Shelton Benjamin! Shelton came in to serve as a foil for Swerve, but his arrival became far more consequential when he defeated Dominik with the help of Bobby Lashley, and then reinforced their ranks with MVP to create the Hurt Syndicate! Swerve was unsuccessful in overcoming the odds when he and Shelton met at Exodus, and Lashley managed to win the Gold Rush Ladder Match at Starrcade 2025!

In addition to the arrivals of the Bullet Club and the Hurt Syndicate changing the company’s direction, another force became undeniable when Julia Hart and Brodie King showed up to flank Aleister Black! Julia was the first to emerge when she appeared and misted Liv Morgan after Morgan had successfully retained her title, but it soon became clear that Julia was not alone as Aleister revealed her as being by his side as part of an effort to take down the Mouse family once and for all!

Toni Storm’s continued ascension in AEW leads her through an incredibly bloody victory over Athena Star (after a series of awesome black and white vignettes showcasing Storm’s obsession over Star following Star winning their first encounter). This served as Star’s final match in her retirement tour and it solidified Storm as the next challenger for the Knockout’s Title. When the time came, Liv’s luck had run out (and now Liv had to worry about Julia Hart) as Toni claimed the Knockout’s Title to end the season on top of the world!

The other rapidly ascendant Will Ospreay started to hit some major speed bumps after the New Year as his participation in the Massacre Six Match at Genesis 2.0 was interrupted by the debuting Dragon Lee (who was begrudged after Ospreay had injured Lee in New Japan). The two had a brief, but fun, program wherein Ospreay defeated Lee in the first-ever Aerial Assault match in BWM Inc. history, and Ospreay earned a chance to try and get back to the world title!

At the same time that Ospreay experienced his feud with Dragon Lee, Adam Page – whose star rose rapidly after the season restarted for AEW, declaring that he would compete for the gold, but not as part of the Elite Warfare match – failed to defeat Logan Paul for the AEW title. This led him to reconsider his time with the company. But, before he could declare for the draft, the returning AJ Styles came out and challenged Page to a match at Exodus! However, Styles didn’t count on Page swerving everyone including Styles. Page showed a more ruthless side than we had been accustomed to up to that point. Then, at Exodus, Page brutally defeated AJ en route to a match slated for Starrcade between he and Ospreay to determine the next challenger for the AEW title as of the 50^th Installment of Dynamite; planned to serve as AEW’s season opener!

At Starrcade, Adam Page defeated Will Ospreay with the help of the returning Young Bucks (drafted early by AEW days earlier), and this signaled that Page was absolutely serious about what winning on his next go around!

In the run-up to the 2025 installment of WOW Week, AEW started having additional stipulations for important matches which included granting exempt status to certain winners or removing said status for certain losers. Looking back at the Massacre Six Match at Genesis 2.0, Heyman shocked the world by betraying Brock Lesnar and helping the resurgent “Forgotten” Brandon Lee. Lee didn’t win the match outright, but instead had a draw with MJF to earn both of them a shot at Logan Paul at Exodus!

Yet, the path was not easy for Lee, as the betrayal by Heyman ensured that the Beast Incarnate would seek revenge. To prevent an unstable locker room build to the season finale, Master Splinter (whose return will be addressed shortly) slated a match between Brandon Lee and Brock Lesnar wherein the winner would go on to the Triple Threat to challenge for the gold and the loser would forfeit their exempt status in the upcoming Draft. Unfortunately for Lesnar, Lee managed to pull off the win, effectively ending Lesnar’s season, but also paving the way for the aforementioned drafting of Lesnar as the first overall pick! As for Lee, he would go on to defeat MJF and Logan Paul (successfully seizing the moment as MJF and Paul were more concerned with each other than with him) to claim his first AEW World Championship!

No story in this season for AEW (at least through Exodus 2025) was bigger or more consequential than the power struggle at the top. The Elite Warfare special return of Dynamite saw Megan Mouse disappeared and a major clue left behind indicating that Benny was behind it. Then, Sami Zayn was eliminated in the Elite Warfare match and taken as well as Logan won the top prize! In the immediate aftermath of the Co-Chairs of the company disappearing, the Board appointed Master Splinter to run the show in their stead!

Splinter promised to correct BWM Inc.’s decades-long erratic curse and started slating big shows to keep everything on track. Along the way, though, we saw another journey which would prove to have an even greater influence over the direction of the company, as Mickey’s second enforcer of laws – Executioner – sought vengeance for his former boss.

Starting with Mickey’s Death in May 2024, Executioner entered into a spiral of depression, sobbing uncontrollably at Mickey’s funeral, visiting Mickey’s grave and promising to avenge him, and then making it his mission to destroy Sami, Megan, and eventually Benny as well! This consumed every fiber of Executioner’s being and eventually led him to the highly-manipulative and somewhat supernatural Danhausen, whom seemed to have a direct line to Benny.

Executioner initially sought to do the bidding of Danhausen to work with the Harlem Turtles to seize Sami as part of a promise to get to Benny afterwards. However, Danhausen betrayed Executioner and used the vengeful Aleister Black and Black’s group to protect himself against Executioner.

Enraged, but also having anticipated the betrayal, Executioner released Sami with Sami’s promise to help him get to Benny. Their forced pairing led them to Benny’s old nursing home room whereat the discovered Megan, who had lost her mind. Sami was apoplectic and Executioner pledged to help Sami get vengeance as well.

This led to the conclusion of Exodus, with Executioner and Sami standing tall together and calling Danhausen and Benny out! What they got initially was Danhausen and more tricks, but they were soon met with the emergence of a more twisted Harlem Turtles and the return of Armageddon, which preceded the literal ascension of Benny through the ring mat to reveal that he had restored his grip over his mind!

Benny then sought to convince Executioner to join him. He reminded Executioner of the exploitation that Mickey had put him through, and assured Executioner that he no longer needed to serve the ghost of his abusive former boss. Executioner then stunned all by attacking Sami and joining forces with Benny at the conclusion of AEW’s season!

Then, at the Draft, Benny addressed the world, declaring that the business belonged to him and maligning his only surviving sibling, Lenny, for his power grab in ULW. The speech served as Benny’s open challenge to the world to try and stop him from making this yet another BWM Inc. era! The draft went well for Benny, and the week was headlined by the biggest trade deal of all when Randy Orton was traded back to AEW!

The Era is officially underway and in its second season, so more on this after the end of the year!