Gaffney's 2025 Mid-Year Pro Wrestling Awards Watchlist

If nothing else, 2025 has already been as eventful and newsworthy a year in the realm of Pro Wrestling as any. From the World Wrestling Federation finally pulling the trigger on a John Cena Heel turn to diminishing returns, to New Japan Pro Wrestling, at long last handing the ball off to 21-year veteran Hirooki Goto earlier in the year, AEW's finding it's stride once again, and everything else in between, there's been a lot to talk about in the first six months of the year. But what's exactly been the best so far, or on the flipside, not precisely the best in the world of graps? Well, as of the turn of the month, here's my awards (watch)list(s).

Class B Awards Watchlist

Worst Booking/Creative Decision - The Entire Execution of John Cena's Heel Turn

Best Booking/Creative Decision - NJPW Not Belting Up Shota Umino and Instead Making Hirooki Goto the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion

Best on Promos (Men) - "Hangman" Adam Page"

Best on Promos (Women) - "Timeless" Toni Storm

Best Non-Wrestler - MVP

Best Talent Acquisition - "Speedball" Mike Bailey (AEW)

Worst Weekly TV Show - Friday Night SmackDown

Only nominee here. Regularly awful TV with what's a great roster on paper. You guys remember Carmelo Hayes and Dragon Lee? That's funny, neither do WWE.

Best TV Taping - AEW Dynamite: Spring BreakThru (4/16/25, Boston, Massachusetts)

Tag Team of the Year - Fraxiom

Faction of the Year - The Don Callis Family

Worst Major Show - TNA Sacrifice

Worst TV Taping - WWE SmackDown (2/2/25, New Orleans, Louisiana)

No other nominees here. An all-time bad WWE taping, from Charlotte Flair making Tiffany Straton look like a geek with a five-minute entrance as she sells a table spot, to a Rock closing segment that couldn't have aged worse if mid-2000s Vince Russo had the book.

"Moment" of the Year - (Tie) Penta's WWE Debut and Mistico's AEW Grand Slam Entrance

Honorable Mentions or Nominees "In the Hunt" in Class B:

Class A (Major) Awards

The 2025 Christian Cage Hater of the Year Award™ - N/A

Six months of hating in the books, and our glorious art form is alive and well. Here's the list of nine so far (no frontrunner).

Feud of the Year - N/A

No pick here yet after six months either. That said, I thought the Naomi-Jade/Bianca, Toni-Mariah Part 2, and the relatively brief MJF-Hangman programs were absolutely fantastic. Here's the full mid-point watchlist

Best Weekly TV Show - AEW Dynamite

It wasn't exactly a scorching hot start to the year for AEW's flagship program, but once January turned into Feburary, things began to pick up in a big way, and once they get close to Revolution, Dynamite has been on a tear ever since (Save for a few tapings. Namely the post-Dynasty and post-DoN renditions, the later due to the roster being beat up). Even with the Death Riders being lackluster, despite AEW crediting them for their peak rating numbers and social metrics, newer talents such as Megan Bayne, Mike Bailey, and Kevin Knight have been vital additions to the midcard/upper-midcard of this program, and never mind older hands like Mark Briscoe. Then, of course, you've had some of the better promo and storyline segments in show history, thanks to the usual suspects in Toni Storm, MJF, Hanger, Swerve, even Will Ospreay and Ricochet have been phenomenal talkers/storytellers this year; more so than usual, at least. Of course, having one of, if not the single greatest TV tapings in American wrestling history, in Boston a few months ago helps the cause, featuring Athena vs. Mercedes Mone and an all-time classic match between Will Ospreay and Konosuke Takeshita. (Was there in person, the latter was a life-changing experience)

In short, Monday Night Raw has been as consistent a wrestling program as it gets in 2025 (sans the Netflix premiere), and a very good one at that, make no mistake. However, Dynamite's highs in 2025 haven't been topped by anyone yet, and at the rate AEW is going, this is one of a few award categories that I'd expect to remain as such by year's end (not by much, albeit).

Best Major Show - AEW Double or Nothing

Now that enough time has passed, I don't think it's outrageous to say this year's Double or Nothing is in the conversation for one of the greatest PPV events in the history of the art form and on par with the all-time classic All Out showcase from 2021. Definitely a show that was a bit too long for most people's liking, but you can forgive AEW when they had the quality of matches here, such as both Owen Hart tournament finals, the Ricochet-Mark Briscoe ambulance match, the Okada-Mike Bailey Continental title match, and of course, Anarchy in the Arena. Speaking of which....

Multi-Person Match of the Year (Tag Team or Match with > 4 Participants) - Anarchy in the Arena (AEW Double or Nothing)

Simply the damndest thing I may have ever seen. Nothing I can say can do this justice; so if you haven't seen this yet, do so, and I'll leave you with this.

Women's Match of the Year [Tie] - Iyo Sky vs. Bianca Belair vs. Rhea Ripley (WrestleMania 41), Toni Storm vs. Mariah May (Falls Count Anywhere, AEW Revolution), Tam Nakano vs. Saya Kamitani (Career vs. Career, Stardom All-Star Grand Queendom)

This was just the first two at the top for a while in my view, but I finally got around to seeing the critically acclaimed Nakano-Kamitani bout from late April last Monday, and I was not disappointed. A hard-hitting, emotionally charged student vs. teacher matchup ending with Nakano going out on her shield, and to her own finisher, the "Twilight Dreams" German Suplex at that. Tons of backstory into that one, but if you're like me and not the most up-to-date with Stardom, you can watch this blind and be just fine. Really worth the watch. (The folks at Stardom have it up as a freebie on their YouTube).

I'm not sure what I can contribute to the discussion on the other two matches. The Hollywood Ending match was a legitimately perfect (and violently bloody) sendoff for Mariah May (now Blake Monroe in the WWE) in her very old school territory-esque AEW run and feud with Toni Storm, and that 'Mania triple threat was a work of art, especially given that those three ladies were only given around 15 minutes. You couldn't pay me to pick a favorite out of these three. All of them are as good as it gets and wrap up three distinctively great story threads, both short and long term.

Women's Wrestler of the Year - "Timeless" Toni Storm

For as special a 2025 as Mercedes Mone, or even Joshi stars Saya Kamitani or Sareee are currently putting together over in the far east, I don't know how the best women's wrestling has to offer in 2025 is anyone other than Toni Storm when you look at everything. Even with Mone sporting the more consistent 17-match catalog, highlighted by a pair of Owen Tournamant bouts vs. Jamie Hayter and Athena, Storm has been a big game player this year with two thrillers with Mariah May in Australia and Los Angeles (the later of which is one of only five matches in 2025 currently with a Cagematch rating north of 9.45/10), as well as a couple of other stout PPV outings vs. upstart monster Megan Bayne, and then Mina Shirakawa.

Of course, the promo and vignette work with the "Timeless" persona had been a near-weekly highlight throughout the first eight months of 2024, which remains the case this year as well. Even with the sexual inuendos and jokes aside, Storm's ability to flip the switch and get dead serious as a talker is spectacular to watch. That rang especially true in the go-home Dynamite before Revolution, where she verbally walked down Mariah May in what was her final appearance on AEW's flagship show.

I don't think this is a foregone conclusion by any means, and that speaks to the preposterous level of high-end talent women's wrestling has this year across several different promotions. However, Storm arguably has the best outright match and feud this year, an untouchable promo catalog, and is undeniably a top draw in the industry with as over-the-top a persona as you can get in modern-day wrestling. Feels like that's more than enough evidence as she's now only weeks out from the biggest match of her career at just 29 years old.

Men's Match of the Year - Kenny Omega vs. Gabe Kidd (WrestleDynasty)

There are athletes and performers in various disciplines who are simply in their element and untouchable in certain situations. For professional wrestling, one such example is Kenny Omega competing in the Tokyo Dome. For him to contract diverticulitis at the tail end of 2023 and nearly die because of it, miss around 14 months, and come back to have THIS MATCH in a crown jewel wrestling venue as a return match was nothing short of incredible.

This absolute classic also had some great story beats to it as well, with Kidd resenting the fact that Omega left New Japan for AEW after WrestleKingdom 13, "running from the grind" according to Bullet Club: War Dogs' British cohort, who would be quite litterally sporting the famed lion mark of New Japan on his gear in this match (objectively funny given the faction ties but I digress). Omega also forgetting Kidd's name in a presser right before a backstage brawl was a funny way to kick this build off as well.

Then on January 5th, we got something that can only be described as unreal. Omega, rocking a true final boss theme song created by an all-star cast of Final Fantasy composers Nobuo Uematsu and Masayoshi Soken, with vocals done by J.C. Miller, most famous for Red Sun and Rules of Nature from Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. Truly an entrance that fits the wrestler and, more importantly, the situation.

The match itself was truly a moment in time, and the story told in between the bell tolls was very grounded, with Kidd gaining advantages at various points in this 33-minute thriller, going for Omega's abdomen with body shots, chairs, hell, even Antonio Inoki's famed Cobra Twist, which Sean Ross Sapp most notably (and correctly) stating was a New Japan as it gets, especially for a gajin at that. Seeing Omega hit some of the spots he did with the long layoff, the springboard dive over the guardrail most prominently, was nothing short of absurd. He worked this match as if he never missed a beat, and was as dialed in as he needed to be to work a Japanese epic under the brightest lights.

Eventually, it always comes with the One Winged Angel, and that's how the latest Tokyo Dome masterpiece ended; a match so good that NJPW president Hiroshi Tanahashi, a man who's had several matches at that caliber in that very building, was in tears over it once the dust settled. A tremendous piece of business for everyone involved, and if you're of the mindset that Kenny Omega is the best pro wrestler to ever live, this should be your Exhibit A. Not his best match ever, which is insane to say at this level, but under the circumstances, this was nothing short of extraordinary.

Men's Wrestler of the Year - "Hangman" Adam Page

Even with a fraction of the in-ring catalog of elite performers this year, like Hirooki Goto, Konosuke Takeshita, or even Will Ospreay, there simply isn't a more compelling talent/character in the business this year than "Hangman" Adam Page, and much like Toni Storm, is as much of a "game day player" as anyone in the business. The MJF Revolution match, his entire Owen Hart Tournament run, and then Christopher Daniels' retirement match are textbook definitions of just that. Would also throw out the tag match that he did with Will Ospreay vs. Takeshita and Josh Alexander as well.

More so than the high-end in-ring work he's had, Page's ability to speak and convey stories in this run, but especially since the turn of the year, has been fascinating. If 1995 ECW Cactus Jack is the pinnacle of talking in pro wrestling (it is), I genuinely believe, at least on the men's side, that Hanger this year isn't terribly far off. The go-home DoN segment with Opsreay will almost certainly outlive both men. Hangman's monologue the night after said PPV was another great feather in the cap, on top of several others like the backstage confrontation before Dynasty with Swerve, the MJF faceoff in Phoenix, and then his Arena Mexico town hall that was done entirely in Spanish. He's kept audiences captivated as a talker all year, and with the level that he's operating at right now, you can certainly live with the fact that he's only had nine matches this year.

Page's upward character trajectory since mid-January has been one of the key cogs in AEW's re-ascension in 2025, and for all the talk about Hanger being the promotion's "Main Character", it's not without reason. His much longer road to the AEW World Title from 2019 to the very end of 2021 was central to AEW's programming, and that remains the case with this second ascent, probably even more so. Now, only just a month removed from the biggest match of his career, it certainly feels like we're only two weeks away from him summiting the mountain once again.

Honorable Mentions or Nominees "In the Hunt" in remaining categories for Class A:

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