2025 in professional wrestling describes the year's events in the world of professional wrestling.
List of promotions
These promotions held events throughout 2025.
Calendar of notable shows
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Notable events
- January 1 âÂÂ
- Fight for the Fallen special of AEW Dynamite began All Elite Wrestling's (AEW) new media rights deal with Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), where Dynamite, AEW Collision, and other television specials would be simulcast on their respective TV channels (TBS and TNT) and WBD's streaming platform Max.
- WWE Network nearly worldwide shut down, with WWE content moved to Netflix in international markets where WWE Network was still available. A select few territories maintained the WWE Network throughout 2025 due to pre-existing contracts. Most of these transitioned to Netflix on January 1, 2026, with only Austria, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland still on the Network in 2026 for an undetermined period of time, while Sub-Saharan Africa and Japan remain on SuperSport and Abema, respectively.
- January 3 â WWE SmackDown expanded to three hours for the first time since its inception.
- January 6 â WWE Raw premiered on Netflix after airing on the USA Network since 2005, also marking the first time in the show's history in which it did not air on linear television. Also for the first time and due to the advantage of the streaming platform over set runtimes on cable, the show became flexible, with WWE Chief Content Officer Paul "Triple H" Levesque stating the average runtime would be around 2.5 hours.
- January 16 â WWE and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) announced a multi-year partnership, allowing more opportunities for wrestlers from WWE's NXT brand to perform at TNA events and vice versa. An agreement between the two companies began in January 2024, which saw various wrestlers from each company appearing and performing on the other's shows.
- February 12 â Carlos Silva was appointed President of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), after the resignation of Anthony Cicone.
- February 15 â Grand Slam Australia and Global Wars Australia were All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and Ring of Honor's (ROH) first events in Australia, respectively; AEW's event aired on tape delay later that same day in the United States while ROH's event aired on tape delay on February 17.
- February 16 â WWE LFG premiered on A&E.
- March 1 â At WWE Elimination Chamber, John Cena turned heel for the first time since 2003.
- March 5 â WWE Evolve, a relaunch of the defunct Evolve promotion under WWE as the Evolve brand, premiered on Tubi in the United States and YouTube internationally.
- March 9 â After winning the AEW International Championship at Revolution, Kenny Omega became recognized as All Elite Wrestling's (AEW) first Grand Slam Champion, after previously holding the AEW World Championship, AEW World Tag Team Championship, and AEW World Trios Championship.
- April 16 â The Spring BreakThru special of AEW Dynamite was the program's 289th episode, making it the longest-running prime time weekly pro-wrestling program in Turner Sports history, surpassing the former World Championship Wrestling's Monday Nitro, which had a total of 288 episodes.
- April 19 â WWE announced their acquisition of Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide, and the return of WWE Worlds Collide involving AAA.
- April 28 â Mayu Iwatani announced her departure from World Wonder Ring Stardom, later signing with Dream Star Fighting Marigold on May 1.
- April 30 â Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff, and freestyle wrestling trainer Izzy Martinez announced the formation of Real American Freestyle (RAF), an unscripted freestyle wrestling league that launched on August 30.
- May 25 â Trick Williams became the first WWE-contracted wrestler to hold a Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) title by defeating Joe Hendry for the TNA World Championship at NXT Battleground.
- July 4 â WWE SmackDown returned to two hours after airing for three hours since January 3.
- July 6 â Tiger Mask officially announced that 2026 would be his final year as an in-ring performer, retiring in June of that year.
- July 9 â WWE Speed aired its final episode. No official statement was made regarding the future of the series, but on August 24, it was confirmed that the program's championships would be defended on WWE's NXT brand going forward, effectively confirming that the series had been quietly cancelled.
- July 12 â was All Elite Wrestling's (AEW) first event in a Major League Baseball stadium and the first professional wrestling event held at Globe Life Field. During the main event, Darby Allin made his AEW return for the first time since 2024 after taking a hiatus to successfully climb Mount Everest.
- July 20 â NXT Women's Champion Jacy Jayne became the first wrestler to simultaneously hold titles in both WWE and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) by defeating Masha Slamovich for the TNA Knockouts World Championship at Slammiversary.
- July 24 â Hulk Hogan died at the age of 71 as a result of a cardiac arrest.
- July 29 âÂÂ
- NWA Powerrr premiered on The Roku Channel in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, after streaming on X since October 2024.
- ' premiered on Netflix, a docuseries going behind-the-scenes of various WWE events.
- August 2 and 3 â First two-night WWE SummerSlam.
- August 3 â At the conclusion of Night 2 of SummerSlam, Brock Lesnar made his WWE return for the first time since SummerSlam in 2023 after being on hiatus due to being named in the Vince McMahon sex trafficking scandal.
- August 24 â The All Elite Wrestling and New Japan Pro-Wrestling cross-promoted event, Forbidden Door, broke The O2 Arena's attendance record for a professional wrestling event.
- August 31 â Clash in Paris was WWE's final main roster pay-per-view and livestreaming event to air on Peacock, which had exclusive distribution rights to WWE Network content in the United States since March 2021. Peacock will maintain NXT's livestreaming events until at least March 2026, as well as other content, such as Saturday Night's Main Event, for the next several years.
- September 5 â On WWE SmackDown, AJ Lee made her return to WWE for the first time since initially retiring from in-ring competition on April 3, 2015.
- September 12 â WWE announced that WrestleMania 43 in 2027 would be held in Saudi Arabia, marking the first-ever WrestleMania to be held outside of North America.
- September 20 âÂÂ
- All Out was All Elite Wrestling's first pay-per-view event available to livestream on HBO Max, with subscribers getting a discount (US$39.99 as opposed to US$49.99).
- Wrestlepalooza was WWE's first main roster pay-per-view and livestreaming event to air on ESPN's direct-to-consumer streaming service in the United States (this changeover was originally slated to begin with WrestleMania 42 in April 2026).
- September 24 â All Elite Wrestling (AEW) announced the establishment of the AEW Women's World Tag Team Championship.
- October 7 â A special episode of WWE NXT aired titled NXT vs. TNA Showdown (originally titled Invasion), which featured wrestlers from Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) facing off against NXT wrestlers for promotional supremacy, marking the first "invasion" angle since WWE acquired World Championship Wrestling in 2001. At the event, The Hardys (Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy) became the first TNA-contracted wrestlers to hold WWE titles by defeating DarkState (Dion Lennox and Osiris Griffin) for the NXT Tag Team Championship.
- October 10 â During WWE's Crown Jewel Kickoff event, AJ Styles officially announced that 2026 would be his final year as an in-ring performer, retiring at the end of that year.
- October 15 â WWE Evolve aired its first television special titled "Succession", which was taped on September 23 and aired on tape delay.
- November 8 â Deadlock Pro-Wrestling announced the company would be going on an indefinite hiatus in 2026, with 4th Anniversary being its last ever show in the United States.
- November 10 â During WWE Raw, John Cena defeated Dominik Mysterio to win the WWE Intercontinental Championship for the first time, thus simultaneously completing the WWE Triple Crown and WWE Grand Slam.
- November 13 â During TNA Impact!, JDC officially announced that he would retire in 2026 following January's Genesis event.
- November 14 â WWE SmackDown was announced to return to three hours on January 2, 2026, after reverting to two hours on July 4, 2025.
- December 2 â TNA Wrestling and AMC Networks announced a multi-year television deal to air TNA's flagship weekly television series, TNA Impact! on Thursday nights, beginning January 15, 2026, marking TNA's return to a major cable television channel for the first time since 2014.
- December 13 â At WWE's Saturday Night's Main Event XLII: John Cena's Final Match, John Cena tapped out to Gunther in the former's retirement match, marking the first time that Cena had tapped out since 2004 to Kurt Angle.
- December 24 â At All Elite Wrestling's (AEW) Dynamite on 34th Street special, which was taped on December 20, Bandido became only the second wrestler to win the AEW Dynamite Diamond Ring since its inception in 2019; MJF had won it every year from 2019 to 2024 but was excluded from the 2025 event.
Accomplishments and tournaments
2AW
AAA
AAW
AEW
AIW
AJPW
Basara
BJW
BZW
CF
DDT
Noah
TJPW
ChocoPro
CMLL
The Crash
CZW
DEFY
DG
Diana
DPW
EVE
GCW
Gleat
GWF
HOG
Ice Ribbon
IWRG
JCW
JTO
Marigold
Marvelous
MLP
MLW
NJPW
NWA
Osaka Pro
OVW
Oz Academy
Progress
RevPro
REVOLVER
ROH
Stardom
Tenryu Project
TNA
Wave Pro
West Coast Pro
WWE
Raw and SmackDown
NXT
WWE Speed
WWE ID
wXw
Zero1
Title changes
2AW
AAA
AAW
AEW
AIW
AJPW
Basara
BJW
BZW
CF
â DDT Pro-Wrestling
â Pro Wrestling Noah
â Tokyo Joshi Pro-Wrestling
DDT
Noah
TJPW
ChocoPro
CMLL
The Crash
CZW
DEFY
DG
Diana
DPW
EVE
Freedoms
GanPro
GCW
Gleat
GWF
HOG
Ice Ribbon
IWRG
JCW
JTO
Marigold
Marvelous
MLP
MLW
M-Pro
NJPW
NWA
Osaka Pro
OVW
Oz Academy
Prestige
Progress
Pure-J
PWG
RevPro
REVOLVER
ROH
Seadlinnng
Senjo
Spark Joshi
Stardom
Tenryu Project
TNA
UWN
Wave Pro
West Coast Pro
WOS
WOW
WWE
â Raw
â SmackDown
â NXT
â Evolve
â Unbranded
Raw and SmackDown
Raw and SmackDown each exclusively have a world and secondary championship for both the men and women, as well as a tag team championship for men.
NXT
NXT exclusively has a primary and secondary championship for both the men and women, as well as a specialty and tag team championship for men.
Unbranded
These titles are non-exclusive, available to wrestlers from Raw, SmackDown, and NXT.
WWE Evolve
Evolve, a relaunch of the former promotion, is WWE's newer developmental brand focused on trainees from the WWE Performance Center.
WWE ID
The WWE Independent Development (ID) program has two championships, one each for men and women, which are defended exclusively across partner independent promotions. Additionally, if a non-WWE ID wrestler were to win either title, they also earn a WWE ID contract.
wXw
Zero1
Awards and honors
AAA Hall of Fame
Cauliflower Alley Club
CZW
CZW Hall of Fame
ECWA
ECWA Hall of Fame
ESPN
ESPN Pro Wrestling Awards
Fightful
Fightful Awards
GCW
Indie Wrestling Hall of Fame
Deathmatch Hall of Fame
George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
Hardcore Hall of Fame
International Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
Marigold
DreamâÂÂ
Star GP Awards
Marigold Year-End Awards
MLW
MLW Founding Father Award
NWA
NWA Year End Awards
NJPW
NJPW Concurso (Best Body)
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
Yearly Rankings
Pro Wrestling Illustrated awards
RevPro
RevPro Hall of Fame
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated Pro Wrestling Awards
St. Louis Wrestling Hall of Fame
Stardom
5âÂÂ
Star GP Awards
Stardom Year-End Awards
TNA
TNA Hall of Fame
TNA Year End Awards
Tokyo Sports
Tokyo Sports Puroresu Awards
Women's Wrestling Hall of Fame
WWHOF Awards
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame
Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards
WWE
WWE Hall of Fame
WWE Slammy Awards
NXT Year-End Awards
Debuts
Retirements
Deaths
See also
Notes
References