Thomas Hall's 10 Favorite Wrestling Matches Of 2025
- Thomas Hall
- 2 days ago
- 8 min read
Updated: 2 hours ago
It’s safe to say that I watch a lot of wrestling. Honestly it’s probably more than is healthy for me, but there is a reason I want to do it this way: you never know what you are going to miss.
There is always the chance that you are going to see someone put on an instant classic and that took place multiple times this year. While there were too many great ones to list, here are the ten best matches that I saw in 2025.
Oba Femi Vs. Myles Borne (NXT Battleground)
NXT Championship Match
Time | 16:51 |
|---|---|
Winner | Oba Femi |
Thomas Hall's Rating |
This was a case where it wasn’t so much what we had, but rather what I was expecting coming in. Borne had earned the title shot by winning a battle royal and it almost felt like a mistake. There was no reason to think that Borne was going to win the title or even be little more than an annoyance to the monster Femi. What we wound up getting was such a surprise that it got my attention in a big way.
Borne went into this match with nothing to lose and that’s how he wrestled, giving a breakout performance as he went from just a guy to someone who felt like a player. He left everything he had in the ring and by the end I was wondering if a miracle was going to take place. This was an absolutely out of nowhere shocker and I got pulled all the way in without everything they were doing.
Bandido Vs. Mascara Dorada (AEW Collision, November 1)
ROH World Championship Match
Time | 22:44 |
|---|---|
Winner | Bandido |
Thomas Hall's Rating |
These two had to be included somewhere because they had such outstanding years. Bandido has a real case for the best wrestler of the year and Dorada has a case for most “Dang That Guy Is Awesome” of the year. That’s why it was such a treat to see them face off, and the fact that it worked so well made what we saw even better. The fact that it might not even be their best match that year is even more impressive.
These guys threw everything they had at each other and it had me wondering who was going twin. That’s a special feeling to have as you had nothing but athleticism and high flying throughout. I had a great time with this and it shouldn’t be surprising as both of them had some of the best matches throughout the year. Two of them just happened to be against each other.
Jon Moxley Vs. Kyle Fletcher (AEW Worlds End)
Continental Classic Semi Final Match
Time | 22:29 |
|---|---|
Winner | Jon Moxley |
Thomas Hall's Rating |
On the other hand you have something like this, as two were fighting for a chance to move forward in the Continental Classic. They were coming in with different approaches, as Fletcher was the young star who was ready to prove that he could still make this happen, while Moxley was trying to show that he wasn’t ready to be put out to pasture after a string of losses. What resulted was an absolute brawl that made for an awesome match.
This was a match that came on late in the year but more than stands up with the other great ones. For all of his faults, Moxley can have a very entertaining brawl if he is given the chance. It helps that Fletcher is one of the most athletic stars in the world today and is getting better by leaps and bounds week to week. In a promotion often built around physical matches, this one stood out and is worth another look (or maybe a first one).
Brody King & Bandido Vs. The Young Bucks (AEW Dynamite, August 6)
AEW World Tag Team Titles Eliminator Tournament Semi Final Match
Time | 20:26 |
|---|---|
Winners | Brody King & Bandido |
Thomas Hall's Rating |
Tag team wrestling is such a hard thing to pull off, as a lot of the time you will see people thrown together with little to no chemistry but they’re stuck out there anyway. At the same time though, you can occasionally see some people put into a team that just works. That’s what we got with King and Bandido (of course he was going to come up again) and dang this one was a showcase.
The match was part of a tournament to crown new #1 contenders and I was all but certain that the Bucks were going to move on, if not win the whole thing outright. That’s what made the match, which ran over twenty minutes, that much more satisfying as I can always go for seeing the Bucks lose. The fact that it came at the end of such a good match made it all the better, with both teams getting to shine. There wasn’t so much one moment that made this work, but rather a bunch of things coming together to have a great match.
Iyo Sky Vs. Rhea Ripley Vs. Bianca Belair (WWE WrestleMania 41 Sunday)
WWE Women's World Championship Triple Threat Match
Time | 14:27 |
|---|---|
Winner | Iyo Sky |
Thomas Hall's Rating |
I’m really not a big fan of triple threats, as they have become something of a cliché over the years. After doing them so often, it’s hard to find one that really works. With the same tropes and concepts being used time after time, there isn’t much left to be done with them. That being said, when the talent involved is clicking on all cylinders, they can make such a match work beyond well, and that’s what we got here.
Opening the second night of WrestleMania XLI, these three beat the living daylights out of each other until Sky manages to escape with her title. Sky has had an absolutely breakout year and this was no small part of it, as she went onto the biggest stage in wrestling as champion and walked out just the same. Ripley and Belair have long since established themselves as stars, but this match made Sky feel like she belonged on that level, which was one of the best performances of the year.
Bandido Vs. Konosuke Takeshita (ROH Supercard Of Honor)
ROH World Championship Match
Time | 29:23 |
|---|---|
Winner | Bandido |
Thomas Hall's Rating |
When this match was announced, it had me wondering how long it would be before the Don Callis Family picked up yet another championship. Takeshita had become the ace of the team and the idea of him getting to come to Ring Of Honor and go for the World Title was a scary possibility. At the same time, there was something special about the idea of Bandido getting to face someone on his level. What followed was a fight to the finish.
With Takeshita showing up on Bandido’s home turf, Bandido put on the greatest defense of his already outstanding title reign, fending off the incredible challenger in one of the best matches of the year. It was a match that kept Ring Of Honor going in a certain direction while also making Bandido feel like he was a special kind of champion. You do not get that very often, but Bandido has been making it happen more often than most.
The Street Profits Vs. DIY Vs. The Motor City Machine Guns (WWE SmackDown, April 25)
WWE Tag Team Championship Triple Threat TLC Match
Time | 22:52 |
|---|---|
Winners | The Street Profits |
Thomas Hall's Rating |
This one was different for a few reasons, not the least of which was that the match was a Tables Ladders And Chairs match, which you do not get very often. It helped that these three teams had been left off of the WrestleMania XLI card, leaving them with more time than they would have had otherwise. What followed was six men making the most of the chance that they were given.
These three teams went out and had one of the best TLC matches in history, absolutely tearing the house down and going nuts in the process. It had the drama, the impact, and the physicality that makes these matches so good, but then went beyond. The match wound up being one of the best television matches in a very long time and I can imagine they’re still sore as a result. What a match.
Hangman Adam Page Vs. Will Ospreay (AEW Double Or Nothing)
Men's Owen Hart Foundation Tournament Final Match
Time | 37:02 |
|---|---|
Winner | Hangman Adam Page |
Thomas Hall's Rating |
There are all kinds of titles and championships for wrestlers to go after these days, but some of them come with a bit of extra value. That is what we had with this one, as these two went at it in the Men’s Owen Hart Tournament final. In addition to the tournament, the winner was also guaranteed a World Title shot at All In, which meant that the stakes were already pretty high.
That’s why it shouldn’t be a surprise that Page and Ospreay went on to have one of the hardest hitting fights you will find in AEW, or anywhere for that matter. They beat the tar out of each other until Ospreay was no longer able to get up. That played into the story that had been told coming into the match, as Page just wanted the win that much better, and he more than showed it with what he did in the ring.
2025 Men's Royal Rumble Match (WWE Royal Rumble)
Jey Uso Won The 2025 Men's Royal Rumble Match
Time | 1:20:08 |
|---|---|
Winner | Jey Uso |
Thomas Hall's Rating |
The key to a good Royal Rumble is the amount of potential winners. If there is one person who has a real chance to win (1996) or maybe two (1994), it doesn’t make for a great Rumble. When almost anyone could win it though, things can get very exciting very fast. It also helps to have significant star power involved, and this year’s men’s Royal Rumble managed to check both boxes in a big way.
This Royal Rumble was stacked from top to bottom, as it started with an interesting Rey Mysterio vs. Penta showdown and then slowly built, as one big name after another was added. The stretch near the end, with CM Punk, Roman Reigns, John Cena and Seth Rollins getting involved made for an incredible spectacle, and then it was paid off with a big surprise as Jey Uso of all people won. That’s an awesome way to elevate someone to the next level and Uso more than lived up to the hype down the line. They figured out the right combination for this match and it couldn’t have been much better.
John Cena Vs. AJ Styles (WWE Crown Jewel)
The Final John Cena Vs. AJ Styles Match Happened In Australia
Time | 27:12 |
|---|---|
Winner | John Cena |
Thomas Hall's Rating |
There are times when you watch wrestling and you start to think that you’re seeing the same things over and over. Nothing stands out and it comes off like everything is just a repetition of the same stuff. That’s what makes a standout match feel so special, as you do not get them very often and they are just so different than anything else. That is what these two managed to deliver.
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John Cena’s Retirement Tour was the biggest story of 2025 and the story seemed to focus on the idea of Cena facing his greatest rivals one more time. That is what we had with Styles, who more or less admitted that there was no reason for them to fight other than they had done it at a high level before. That’s what made their match so much better, as they were able to do almost anything they wanted. In this case, that wound up being more or less Fans’ Choice, as the two of them just started doing random finishers to each other, often after the fans’ request. It made for a very unique match and I have not had so much fun in a very long time. That’s why it’s at the top of my list: it was so much fun.
There was a wide, wide selection of great matches to pick from this year (I had more than ten other matches rated at an A- that I had to cut out) and that’s a great sign. They came from across the wrestling landscape because there are so many great things taking place in the sport at the moment. It’s incredible to get to see these things over and over and hopefully the coming year blows all of this away.