It’s 2016 at the American Legion Post #308 in Reseda, California. There are between 300 and 400 people packed shoulder-to-shoulder in this cramped, hot legion hall with little-to-no air conditioning at the end of the summer to witness one of the biggest annual tournaments on the independent wrestling scene – Pro Wrestling Guerrilla’s Battle of Los Angeles.
Some of the names taking part in the three-day tournament include the Lucha Bros, Will Ospreay, Zack Sabre Jr., Adam Cole, The Young Bucks, Cody Rhodes, Pete Dunne, Tommaso Ciampa, Ricochet, and even the legendary Jushin Thunder Liger
Over the next three days, fans in attendance get to witness some of the best professional wrestling in the world featuring some of the hottest names available. This will range from high-flying showcases to technician battles, striking wars, and even some comedy to help close out the weekend.
While the Battle of Los Angeles historically involved many big independent and international names in the wrestling industry, the 2010s in particular saw every show put on monthly from the Southern California indie promotion featured talent that are still active today and among the top talents in the world still active in 2026.
The biggest North American promotions anyone booked at PWG worked for during this period was either TNA or Ring of Honor, while managing to book major names from Europe, Mexico, and Japan on occassion.
PWG became such a hotspot, even Hollywood celebrities made their way to Reseda to see what all the ruckus was about. Joe Manganiello, Sofia Vergara, Danielle Fishel, and Ronda Rousey are among a few of the names spotted in attendance at PWG shows across the 2010s as the independent promotion was at its peak.
It also became a key promotion WWE sent talent scouts to, especially during the height of the NXT Black and Gold Era. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn have spoken multiple times about meeting William Regal, who began working as a talent scout for WWE after stepping away from in-ring competition, whenever he stopped by PWG shows to see who was on it and if anyone caught his eye.
In spite of its popularity, PWG was one of many independent promotions hit hard by the COVID-19 shutdown. It wasn’t able to put on shows for well over a year before it was able to start back up, this time at the Globe Theater in Los Angeles, California, due to ticket demand surpassing the Legion hall’s capacity. While it was able to continue putting on the kind of shows fans had come to expect, the start of AEW and multiple talent raids by multiple companies had drained the independent scene at the time, even if several of those promotions allowed talent to continue taking indie bookings.
By 2023, though, PWG co-founder, co-owner, and independent wrestling legend Super Dragon announced the promotion was going on “indefinite hiatus” due to his girlfriend’s battle with cancer. It has remained on “hiatus” since as of January 2026, which has since seen the Globe Theater close its doors and no update provided on the status of Super Dragon’s girlfriend’s health.
Since then, the independent scene has missed that one “all-star” promotion that brought in the hottest names available to let them show what they could do.
Deadlock Pro-Wrestling appeared to be on its way to filling that void, with the North Carolina-based indie featuring a mix of prominent talent working along the U.S. East Coast. Unfortunately, the promotion’s founders and content creators James Darnell, John Blud, and Anthony Douglas announced DPW would be going on an “indefinite hiatus” as well amid rising show costs and multiple other promotions such as Prestige Wrestling also going on hiatus or closing their doors completely.
All this is to say that PWG has left a massive void on the indies that has yet to be filled.
Some fans could argue Game Changer Wrestling more than fills that void between showcasing talent local to whichever country or area of the U.S. they were running a show along with a core group of talent seen fairly regularly at GCW shows. However, it could also be argued between GCW’s branding and focus on deathmatches that it has more in common with ECW and CZW than PWG.
Anyone who was anyone in wrestling not already signed to WWE or to an exclusive deal with another promotion worked in PWG. WWE, AEW, TNA, and New Japan are four of the many promotions packed with talent who wrestled in PWG between 2010 and 2023.
As mentioned previously, the 2016 Battle of Los Angeles lineup was just one example of how loaded the monthly PWG shows had become during the 2010s. One month, fans in attendance could see Kevin Steen and El Generico have one of their rivalry’s most legendary ladder matches, the next, a chaotic, hilarious ten-man tag that involved slow-motion and thumbs being shoved into posteriors.
It truly was wrestling’s equivalent of underground punk rock and the three years without PWG has definitely been noticeable.
This isn’t because of a lack of talent. If anything, it is the opposite in January 2026. It took several years for the indies to recover from the formation of AEW in 2019 and the scene being gutted of most of its high-profile talent. While it hurt in the short run, it opened the door for new names to emerge and emerge they have.
Some of the names that could easily be featured on a modern PWG-style show include 1 Called Manders, Gringo Loco, Titus Alexander, Labron Kozone, Sinner and Saint, Violence is Forever, Cara Noir, and Man Like DeReiss. It is just as deep on the women’s side of things, as well, with Shotzi Blackheart, Priscilla Kelly, Brooke Havok, Brittnie Brooks, VertVixen, Millie McKenzie, and Hyper Active.
The real question is what promotion could capture similar lightning in a bottle PWG was able to on its way to becoming what it did on the indies.
Part of what worked in PWG’s favor was that there really wasn’t any other independent promotion quite like it out there. Getting booked on one of these shows was a pseudo-endorsement of a talent’s ability, especially if they were brought back. The crowd felt just as important to making the show, whether it was quietly focusing on two technicians trading holds or losing their minds, chanting until their voice is horsed and slamming their hands on the edge of the ring since the crowd was packed together so closely.
While that sort of environment can be difficult to replicate, it can be done and one promotion will, in all likelihood, be able to recapture that magic one day. As for what promotion is able to fill that void, or if PWG is able to make a triumphant return in the future, professional wrestling will be better for it when that promotion finally emerges.
Coming out of April 2018, the then-Andrade ‘Cien’ Almas dropped the NXT Title to Aleister Black to close out a very strong in-ring reign and was main roster bound in WWE. He would be moved to SmackDown, have his name shortened to just Andrade, and remained fairly stagnant in WWE’s midcard.
The following years saw Andrade go thru a variety of professional and personal ups and downs from being released by WWE, signed by AEW, depart AEW for WWE after a drama-filled first tenure, rejoining his then-wife Charlotte Flair only to end up in the same spot he was before and the couple divorcing.
Andrade was ultimately fired by WWE, again, in September 2025 reportedly for “numerous WWE Wellness violations” during his second tenure.
He returned to AEW a few weeks later in October by attacking Kenny Omega and joining the Don Callis Family, only to have that temporarily halted after WWE accused Andrade of violating his non-compete clause. The alleged clause could have kept Andrade out of the ring, at the very least on TV, for a year.
The situation was resolved by December and Andrade was free to get back to work. He started by ringing in 2026 with New Japan on Wrestle Kingdom 20 on January 4 and New Year’s Dash on January 5 as United Empire’s new financial backer. He then returned to AEW TV, still part of the Don Callis Family, and to say he has hit the ground running would be an understatement.
In one month, Andrade appears to have made believers out of most wrestling fans that he could, should, and would be right at the top the card vying for world titles.
One Fateful Night
The evening before this was written, Andrade got to share the ring with Kenny Omega for the first time since a match in AAA for the AAA Mega Championship in August 2021.
Omega was in the midst of his Belt Collector run and Andrade had only been released from WWE a short time before this. It was a very good match, but was nothing that stood out among the rest of either wrestler’s career. Omega was also working through several injuries at the time, injuries that would keep Omega off AEW television for almost a year.
Additionally, Andrade is lacking the confidence he has exuded in his first month back with AEW. He is still good, but it appears as though the state of his career is getting to him.
The Omega and Andrade that met in the ring the evening of Wednesday February 4, 2026, are most certainly not the wrestlers they were when they met in the early 2010s. These are two men who have seen their share of injuries and professional struggles in that time, along with plenty of success and growth as professional wrestlers.
These were not the two who met while neither was at one-hundred percent physically or psychologically. Omega and Andrade were like a pair of seasoned, well-tuned muscle cars that may not be as fast as the supercars, but they’ll still out run 90% of what’s out there on top of having the size and strength to throw its weight around.
Omega and Andrade are every bit of the grizzled veterans they are and proved it on AEW Dynamite.
And in a situation where the winner of a number one contender’s match at AEW Grand Slam Australia punches their ticket to the main event of AEW Revolution, some fans expected to see Omega win to face ‘Hangman’ Adam Page in Australia to challenge the champion, who the week before many presumed would be Maxwell Jacob Friedman.
But in this one night, that may have changed.
Andrade would end up winning the match against Omega thanks to Swerve Strickland intervening to stop Andrade from hitting Omega with a screwdriver. Strickland distracted the referee as a result, allowing Andrade to hit a low blow on Omega followed by the DM to win.
Andrade is scheduled to face ‘Hangman’ Page in Australia at AEW Grand Slam on February 14, 2026.
Later in the night, Brody King faced MJF in Dynamite’s main event in an eliminator match where if King wins, he gets an AEW Men’s World Championship match in Australia. King has had a slow but steady rise in AEW with fans gravitating to his physical, hard-hitting style, his look, and his use of AEW to platform to promote LGBTQ+ and immigrant rights.
The latter of these four appears to have resonated the most with AEW’s audience and was on full display on this Dynamite with a very loud “F*ck ICE” chant as King and MJF met in the main event.
After the referee rings the bell, Page comes out on the stage to distract MJF. This leaves the AEW Men’s World Champion open to a hanging sleeper hold from King over the edge of the outside apron. King then drags MJF back in the ring and throws him in a corner to hit MJF with a running cannonball senton. King pulls MJF up and closes the match out with a Gonzo Bomb in the center of the ring, earning an AEW Men’s World Title match at Grand Slam Australia.
In one night, AEW set up the genuine possibility of Brody King going to AEW Revolution in King’s hometown of Los Angeles, California, at the Crypto.com Arena as AEW Men’s World Champion. Andrade could find himself standing across the ring as King’s opponent in the show’s likely main event.
Eight Years an Overnight Sensation
In King’s case, the end of the evening felt like a culmination of a long build for the 38-year-old, ten-year veteran. It felt as if he had been earmarked by AEW for a long time as a potential main event player, in spite of any bumps in the road he experienced in his near-four years with AEW.
Andrade’s rise up the AEW card in such a short period cannot be overstated. Saying it has been meteoric doesn’t do justice to how quickly Andrade rose up the card and started knocking on AEW’s main event scene. He has beaten Swerve Strickland and Kenny Omega in back to back weeks and doesn’t feel out of place at all.
To steal a phrase, he waited eight years to become an overnight sensation.
Watching Andrade in the ring the last several weeks, it is as if he has rediscovered what made him NXT Champion to lose out 2017 and ring in 2018 for the then-Black and Gold brand. He is carrying himself with a clear and present confidence that has been missing for the last several years. Andrade remembered who he is and what he can do and is showing that on TV every week.
The skeptic would say this is likely due to Andrade knowing this is probably his last shot at a major, televised wrestling promotion and is on his best behavior in and out of the ring. Even if that is the truth, it is paying off for Andrade. Between his ring work looking the best it has in years and the confidence written all over his face, Andrade is proving how natural he fits right in at the top of the card.
Just The Start?
All this could just be first of many big moments to come for Andrade on this second outing with AEW.
As mentioned earlier, King vs. Andrade is a genuine possibility to main event AEW Revolution for the AEW Men’s World Championship. It would be the ideal situation for any promotion to find itself in as either wrestler leaving with the world title if a good direction. There are plenty of opponents lined up that can be put up against King or Andrade and either one works. An Andrade may have slightly more longevity since he is a heel so it may be easier to build up fresh opponents, but its a win-win all around.
Then there is Andrade’s involvement with the Don Callis Family, which is experiencing some internal issues at the moment due to friction between Konosuke Takeshita and Kazuchika Okada. Depending on how things shake out, it could leave an opening at the top of the Don Callis Family and Andrade would be in the perfect position to claim that spot for himself.
And this isn’t to mention what his involvement in New Japan and United Empire could be beyond just the odd appearance with the faction for bigger shows. He could also find his way back to CMLL, this time as Andrade el Idolo and not La Sombra.
The sky looks to be the limit for Andrade this time around, and at the rate he’s going, he could very well surpass that in record time.
To say WrestleMania 13 isn’t particularly memorable, on the whole, is a pretty fair statement. It is not on the lows of WreslteMania 9, 11, or 27, but there isn’t much that stands out either. This is due to WrestleMania 13 being smack in the middle of the WWF’s most important transitional periods as WrestleMania 14 the next year would cement the Attitude Era’s arrival.
The irony is that this same, largely unmemorable WrestleMania delivers, arguably, the greatest match in WrestleMania history. It would be the second one-on-one pay-per-view meeting between ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin and Bret ‘Hitman’ Hart, this time in a No Disqualification Submission match. Former-UFC Superfight Champion Ken Shamrock would serve as the special guest referee ahead of making his in-ring debut for the WWF.
All this would coalesce into a match still considered the gold standard for double-turns in professional wrestling, along with simply being a great, chaotic, story-driven match.
How did they get there?
To figure out how Austin and Hart found themselves at WrestleMania 13, we have to jump all the way back a year to WrestleMania 12.
Hart had lost the WWF Championship to Shawn Michaels in a 60 minute iron man match that wound up going to overtime as neither man could score a fall against the other within the 60 minutes. Michaels would ultimately score the winning pinfall after not even two minutes. Hart would then step away for much of 1996 before announcing his in-ring return would come at Survivor Series in November.
On the undercard of WrestleMania 12, ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin was making his WrestleMania debut after debuting for the WWF in December of 1995. Austin originally debuted under the moniker ‘The Ringmaster’ and was managed by Ted DiBiase. It quickly became clear, though, that ‘The Ringmaster’ wasn’t clicking and it was ditched for what would ultimately become ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin. Over the next several months, Austin would ditch DiBiase become more involved with more of the WWF’s main event scene.
As Hart would announce his return, Austin would begin calling out the ‘Hitman’ every chance he could. Hart issued his direct challenge to Austin for Survivor Series, in response, in a match that would also decide the next number one contender for the WWF Championship. Hart would win in a near-30 minute classic still looked at in very high regard.
It wouldn’t be the end of the pair’s rivalry, though, as they would be tied at the hip for the next year, all the way up to Montreal Screwjob and Hart’s WWF exit. It was the road to WrestleMania 13, though, that would see the peak of this rivalry.
The two found themselves, along with others including The Undertaker, Sycho Sid, and Vader, chasing the WWF Championship heading into 1997. It was made more chaotic due to Shawn Michaels vacating the WWF Championship due to a reported knee injury, though there has always been speculation it was Michaels’ way of getting out of an allegedly planned WreslteMania rematch with Hart that Michaels would lose.
Things between Austin and Hart would reach a boiling point in the final weeks before WrestleMania, and the two would be set for a no disqualification submission match.
The match coincided with Hart beginning to get on fans’ nerves with his complaining which, while justified, was turning fans off because of Hart’s own inaction whenever he got “screwed,” as Hart put it. Austin, meanwhile, was becoming more and more popular because of his loud, in-your-face, unapologetic style and physical matches.
Add Ken Shamrock, who had just signed with the WWF after a successful tenure in the UFC, as the special guest referee to sell the seriousness of this match, and fans in Chicago would be treated to something truly special.
The Match
Austin and Hart would be third-to-last on the show and followed what had largely been an underwhelming show to that point. Nothing had been bad but there was nothing of real note that happened either. It would set the stage perfectly for what was to come.
Austin would make his entrance first as he would walk over shattered glass on his way to the ring. Hart would follow, joining Shamrock who was already in the ring. Austin wouldn’t waste time and immediately tackle Hart down to the mat after Hart entered the ring. The two would trade blows in and around the ring before Austin would send Hart into the crowd by dropping the ‘Hitman’ on the railing and sending him over with a clothesline.
The two would continue brawling around the crowd, even working their way up to one of the cement stairways. It was here Austin, who appeared to be setting up a piledriver on the stairs, would suffer a back-body drop from Hart onto the stairs, though the it couldn’t be seen clearly because of the crowd.
Austin and Hart would work their way back to the ringside area, where things would continue to escalate. The pair start by making use of the stairs, throwing each other into them or picking up a piece of the stairs to slam into the other.
The match found its way back into the ring and it was here that Hart began doing what he did best. Hart, widely regarded as one of the best technicians in pro wrestling history, began targeting Austin’s left knee. Austin began wearing a knee brace on his left knee due to years of wear-and-tear from college football and professional wrestling.
Hart was methodical with his work on the knee, but never feels plodding. The ‘Excellence of Execution’ lives up to the name with perfectly timed and executed offense to Austin’s knee in preparation for the Sharpshooter.
Austin eventually scores and opening and hits a desperation Stone Cold Stunner to create some space between himself and Hart. It would be for naught as Hart would take back control with a kick to the left knee and drag Austin to one of the corners. Hart wrapped Austin’s legs around the post and locked in a figure-four, but Austin refuses to submit.
After failing to score the win there, Hart would introduce a steel chair to the match and use it to further damage Austin’s knee. It was when Hart goes to the top rope to seemingly “Pillmanize” Austin’s leg in the chair, ‘The Rattlesnake’ slips out of the chair and is able to crack Hart in the back and knock him off the turnbuckle.
Austin doesn’t waste time as he hits Hart with another chair shot to the back before raining down punches and kicks on the ‘Hitman.’ Eventually, Austin starts applying different submission holds to Hart, allowing Austin to remind everyone that he is talented technical wrestler in his own right. It would change as the years went on and Austin became more of a brawler as he accumulated more injuries, but at WrestleMania 13 he was still in good enough shape that he was considered a “workrate guy.”
The two found themselves once again on the outside, where Austin attempted to Irish whip Hart into the timekeeper’s area. Hart reversed it and sent Austin flying into the timekeeper’s table and guardrail behind them. When Hart picked Austin up, Austin was bleeding from the head as result of hitting the guardrail. Hart ramped up the viciousness, in response, by slamming Austin’s head into the post and stairs to worsen the wound. Once they were back in the ring, Hart continued using the chair on Austin’s knee but still couldn’t lock in the Sharpshooter.
Austin is able to get back to his feet in one of the corners and, with no hesitation, delivers a low blow to Hart in order to catch his breath from Hart’s onslaught. Austin then fired up against Hart, hitting him with plenty of kicks and suplexes.
While all this chaos has been happening, the crowd has been hanging on every move from Hart and Austin as the match went from the ring to the crowd and back. Austin has been getting more and more of a babyface reaction as the match has unfolded and the crowd gets behind him for continuing to fight back. Hart is still being cheered, but there are noticeable boos from the crowd as he shows a more vicious, frustrated side to his offence.
After getting his licks in, Austin grabs the ring bell and some cabling to try and end the match. He wraps the cabling around Hart, who is sitting on the apron while Austin is inside the ropes, and begins choking the ‘Hitman.’ However, Hart is able to get his hands on the ring bell and hits Austin in the head with it to send him flying backwards into the ring. Hart doesn’t waste time as he gets in the ring and is finally able to apply the Sharpshooter.
It is here where fans were treated to one of the most iconic shots in pro wrestling history.
Hart has the Sharpshooter locked in near the center of the ring. Austin is bleeding from his head and screaming in agony, but refuses to quit. After failing to get to the ropes, Austin attempts to push back and brute force his way out of the Sharpshooter. It appears to work momentarily as Hart gets pushed forward and seems to lost his footing. Unfortunately for Austin, Hart is able to keep the hold locked in and Austin cannot escape.
Eventually, Austin appears to pass out from the pain and forces Shamrock to call for the bell for Austin’s safety. Hart is declared the winner after a physical war but doesn’t appear satisfied with the victory. He continues attacking Austin’s left knee and forces Shamrock to become more involved to break it up. Hart ignores this and tries to lock in the Sharpshooter again, forcing Shamrock to waste-lock the former-WWF Champion and toss him to the side to protect Austin. Hart attempts to walk down Shamrock, but the former-UFC Superfight Champion doesn’t back down. This causes Hart to back off, something that was uncharacteristic if Hart up to that point, and received a smattering of boos from the crowd as he walked to the back.
Austin finally comes to after a few moments as referee Mike Chioda helped him to his feet. In exchange for helping him, Chioda was hit with a Stunner as Austin refused help from anyone and walked to the back on his own to a round of applause and cheers.
The Aftermath
The Raw after WrestleMania 13, Hart’s heel turn was cemented as he came out and berated U.S. fans for turning their back on the ‘Hitman.’ He said he remained grateful to his fans around the world who stood by his side while he was being “screwed” by everyone in the WWF, and that his ire was only aimed at the U.S. fans he felt abandoned him.
By the end of the show, Hart will have reunited with his younger brother Owen and their brother-in-law Davey Boy Smith, aka the British Bulldog, to form the new Hart Foundation. Jim ‘The Anvil’ Neidhart would return to the WWF shortly after to rejoin his former-tag team partners and Brian Pillman joined over the summer due to his history training in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, at the famed Hart Dungeon and starting his wrestling career at Stampede Wrestling.
Austin, meanwhile, would acknowledge the cheers he received from fans but reiterated that he didn’t care if he was cheered or booed and that he wasn’t done with Hart by a long shot.
Hart and Austin found themselves as prominent parts of the Hart Foundation vs. U.S. storyline that dominated the WWF from then until Survivor Series in November, where Hart’s time in WWF came to a chaotic end.
Austin moved on to win the 1998 Royal Rumble then to WrestleMania 14, where he would defeat Shawn Michaels for the WWF Title. While the Attitude Era was already in affect by this point, Austin’s win here would cement the era as being in full swing.
After being crowned champion, Austin began his iconic feud with Vince McMahon and became the centerpieces of WWF at the end of the 90s and heading into the 2000s. Austin made McMahon’s life hell on TV and crowds ate it up week after week, excited to see what Austin was going to put his boss through every week.
Austin’s other major rival during this time would prove to a be a young, third-generation upstart named Dwayne Johnson, better known as The Rock. After shedding his early Rocky Maivia character, The Rock would begin his rise to prominence in The Nation of Domination before taking over the group from Faarooq. Rock eventually broke out on his own as McMahon’s hand-picked champion coming out of Survivor Series 1998. Rock and Austin would then have their first WrestleMania collision at WrestleMania 15 in 1999 and remain in each other’s orbit for the next several years.
Hart, meanwhile, would go to WCW and debuted as the special guest referee for the much-anticipated Sting vs. Hollywood Hogan match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Starrcade 1997. This match would mark the start of a tumultuous run in WCW for Hart as Hogan would allegedly sabotage the finish by telling referee Nick Patrick to do a normal three count when he was meant to do a fast count that Hart would then wave off, paving the way for Sting to win the title and finally defeat the nWo’s leader.
While Hart would find himself working with most of WCW’s top names, it was clear in hindsight that something about Hart in WCW wasn’t clicking.
Things came to a screeching halt in December 1999, when Hart was scheduled to defend the WCW World Heavyweight title against Goldberg in the main event of Starrcade. This is the infamous match where Goldberg delivered a thrust kick to Hart’s head, causing him to suffer a severe concussion. Hart was able to finish the match and retain the title, but it quickly became clear that Hart was not well after the match.
Hart continued to work for a few weeks after Starrcade, turning heel once again and forming the nWo 2000 with Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and Jeff Jarrett. However, Hart vacated the WCW World Heavyweight title a few weeks into 2000 due to the injuries he suffered at Starrcade. He appeared a handful of times on WCW TV after that at various points in 2000 before he was released by WCW via FedEx letter in October and announced his retirement from professional wrestling shortly after.
Closing Thoughts
The importance of this match cannot be understated.
It was this match that set the table for what Austin and Hart would experience over the next few years. Austin would be the figurehead for one of the WWF’s most successful periods while Hart experienced the closing months of WCW’s height before the company began its two and a half year spiral that results in its purchase by WWF for $4.2 million.
Within the chronicles of WrestleMania matches, it still stands as one of the best of all time as well.
WrestleMania has seen its share of amazing matches in the years following WrestleMania 13, especially as in-ring styles became more athletic, physical, and flashier. That said, Austin and Hart’s match still holds up because the story told within the match is executed to perfection. The two went to the ring that night knowing they had to make this double-turn work, and as a result, fans were treated to two of the all-time greats showing why they are in the conversation.
Hart got to showcase his technical skills at their arguable peak, with so much of his offense looking smooth and measured. He was able to show he could get physical, too, with how he brawled and used weapons in the match.
The same can be said of Austin, though going the other way. He is starting to put together who ‘Stone Cold’ is and how he operates in the ring with his physical and, at times, chaotic brawling. But Austin still in good enough physical shape that he could match Hart at the technical level, reminding fans why he was regarded as one of best in-ring wrestlers in the world during his tenure in WCW as ‘Stunning’ Steve Austin in the early 90s.
These are two wrestlers who know who they are and what they are about in the ring. They don’t need to do anything to flashy or crazy to hook the crowd since they are already hooked on the pair’s animosity and the more it can look like a wild brawl, the more the crowd bought into the match.
Since AEW President Tony Khan acquired Ring of Honor in March 2022, it hasn’t always been clear what RoH means in the All Elite Wrestling ecosystem. It wasn’t known if RoH could get back on TV after struggling in its final few years due to multiple talent raids, shrinking crowds, and COVID-19, all things which could damage a brand in some people’s eyes.
A weekly show ultimately launched in early 2023 and while it made a little bit of a splash early on, it ultimately evolved into a replacement for AEW Dark and Dark: Elevation after those shows ended. It just felt like a show for having the sake of a show.
Then, Supercard of Honor 2025 happened and things slowly started to change. It felt as if more effort was being directed into the show with a renewed focused on clearly earmarked talent, scouting and signing notable independent talent, competitive matches, and actual stories and angles. Ring of Honor on HonorClub closed out the year strong which, on top of a spree of signings to kick off 2026, got fans talking about what Tony Khan could be preparing for.
Additional depth could hint toward a new show, meaning Ring of Honor could potentially be back on TV.
Now say that is what it ends up being, there is another question to ask – what does a weekly Ring of Honor show back on linear TV look like?
While all this remains a big WHAT IF, let’s take a crack at what a new weekly Ring of Honor could, and in some cases should, look like.
A Separate “Showrunner”
Tony Khan has never been shy about how much time he dedicates to AEW/RoH as it is, on top of his duties for the Jacksonville Jaguars and Fulham. Adding a third wrestling show to the rotation is a difficult ask, no matter how you cut it. This means that Ring of Honor would best be left in the hands of a “showrunner” of sorts who can oversee the day-to-day operations and creative while working with Khan on RoH’s overall direction.
It would also give Tony Khan a way to have a “general manager”-type character on a weekly show that wouldn’t directly impede with AEW’s creative direction. They can simply say “due to Tony Khan’s various other duties he is unable to be at the show regularly and in his place is,” and they give you the name of Ring of Honor’s main authority figure.
And, if I may speak freely for a moment, I believe there is only one person for the spot – Scott D’Amore.
The former-President of Impact Wrestling has kept a fairly low profile in the professional wrestling space, only popping up when it comes time for his promotion, Maple Leaf Pro, has a show coming up. Before that, he oversaw Impact Wrestling as it began to earn back fans’ trust and made the slow transition back to TNA Wrestling. However, he was ultimately fired in February 2024, less than a month into the name change, and was replaced with Anthony Cicone before Carlos Silva was named President of TNA.
Despite the manner he was let go in, D’Amore’s experience makes him the perfect candidate to help guide a new Ring of Honor show. He oversaw creative and production for TNA Wrestling for years and would be intimately familiar with the kind of buildings Ring of Honor would likely run for its weekly show as the ones TNA ran while D’Amore was there.
He is also a trained professional wrestler and familiar with performing on TV, giving Ring of Honor the ideal situation for a largely neutral on-air authority figure who typically doesn’t take sides but can take a bump when they need to.
A Manageable Taping Schedule
Next is making sure Ring of Honor has a manageable TV taping schedule for both talent and production. To this end, Tony Khan can once again look at Scott D’Amore and his history for the perfect solution.
TNA’s filming schedule, for a long time, saw the company host a live special, or one of its four yearly pay-per-views, to kick off a weekend of TV tapings at smaller, easier to fill venue.
The Friday evening special would serve as the payoff to whatever stories or feuds were built up on TV filmed during the previous taping. The next two days would then be tapings for the next several weeks of TV, building up to another special and TV taping weekend.
It would likely need to be changed depending on what day of the week the show will air, as it could make it easier or harder to schedule tapings.
A possible solution could be having the weekly show on Fridays and rolling the live specials into being monthly TV specials. It would allow them to properly plan around the three Ring of Honor pay-per-view shows the brand has as of February 2026 and then simply time out a taping schedule they’re happy with.
As for the length of the tapings’ themselves, that would likely depend on how long the weekly show is. One weekend could produce eight episodes for a one-hour show or four episodes for a two hour show, which results in either needing fewer or more regular tapings. It isn’t a real issue, more just something to be mindful of for production and talent’s sake. In the latter’s case, it allows them to take more independent bookings if they are only working the Ring of Honor tapings regularly.
Speaking of talent.
A Clear Direction and Roster
The third thing a new Ring of Honor show on linear TV would need is a clearly defined and separate roster from AEW.
When Tony Khan bought Ring of Honor, he kept the promotion’s belts alive as he tried to figure out what to do with the brand. If this would continue to be the case if Ring of Honor got on linear TV, it would need to have its own dedicated roster who had little-to-no presence on AEW TV.
This feeds directly into what Ring of Honor should be, which is AEW’s in-house “developmental” show.
With how AEW has grown in six short years, it having effectively its own version of NXT just seems like a natural step for the company’s growth. A Ring of Honor show could easily fill that role for AEW, while still having a long and storied history to help keep some of that identity alive.
The roster, in turn, should be mostly comprised of young or newly signed talent that AEW want to see grow over time. Names like the recently signed Zayda Steel, Alec Price, and Jordan Oliver would be ideal for this show, along with plenty more already under contract.
That’s not to mention the unsigned talent who could quickly find themselves signed and on the show immediately. Adam Priest is one such example as he started appearing on Ring of Honor more regularly, despite not being signed at the time. Many fans believe he has since signed some sort of deal, despite no formal announcement, especially after he faced Kazuchika Okada on the January 31 episode of AEW Collision
Ring of Honor would also be an ideal place for some talent who may be in need of a refresh to test the waters with some new ideas. Sammy Guevara is a prime example of this over the last year as he appears to have finally shaken the “Jericho stink” off of him after being tied to Chris Jericho pretty much since the start of AEW. He is, at the time of writing, one-half of the RoH World Tag Team Champions alongside Beast Mortos and representing La Faccion Ingobernable while Rush and Dralistico recover from injuries.
Deonna Purrazzo was another who has been able to regain her footing under the AEW/RoH umbrella in 2025. After a rocky first year with the promotion on top of personal issues she said she had been struggling with, Purrazzo was able to use Ring of Honor and the new Women’s Pure Championship to help refocus on wrestling and since then she has looked like her old self again while reminding fans why she is considered one of the best technical wrestlers in the world, regardless of gender.
The talent is there, and if given the chance, could really help a potential show to hit the ground running.
Final Thoughts
There are more that you could get into when it comes to making a weekly show work, including picking out venues to film the show, these three may be among the most important ideas to help bring a new Ring of Honor show to life.
Ultimately, a reborn Ring of Honor TV show would pay dividends for Tony Khan as part of his catalogue of shows. The talent is there, along with the creative direction based on the last several months, and could get things off to a hot start.
Barely a month into 2026 and already professional wrestling has delivered some standout highlights. One of the most memorable Wrestle Kingdoms in history headlined by Hiroshi Tanahashi’s retirement, AJ Styles teasing retirement, Bandido and MJF tearing the house down in what will be in discussion for TV match of the year, and so much more.
And while these were incredible moments and matches, it was all carried on the back of an apparent tag team resurgence.
AEW closed 2025 by crowning their first AEW Women’s World Tag Team Champions in Willow Nightingale and Harley Cameron, the Babes of Wrath, as the new division hit the ground running. Women’s tags have been fairly common on TV following the title tournament and even landed independent standouts Hyan and Maya World contracts.
WWE’s women’s tag division experienced a much needed surge to ring in 2026, as well, with many of the division’s top names including Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky wrestling for the Women’s Tag Titles. Roxanne Perez and Raquel Rodriguez, in particular, have been one of the biggest standouts in this period because of the pair’s natural chemistry that echoes Shawn Michaels and Diesel.
It has been pretty good on the men’s side, as well.
FTR has been on one of their best in-ring runs of their AEW careers as AEW Men’s World Tag Team Champions while new teams like the Don Callis Family’s Davis and Doyle or new signees Alec Price and Jordan Oliver have helped keep the division fresh. More established teams such as Jurassic Express and The Acclaimed received refreshes that have also gone over well with audiences.
In New Japan, the Knockout Bros. appear to have single-handedly revitalized the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Titles and larger division since returning from excursion in 2025. Yuto-Ice and OSKAR welcomed 2026 with a lauded titled defense at New Year’s Dash against TMDK’s Zack Sabre Jr. and Ryohei Oiwa. This was followed a few weeks later by another fantastic match, this time between the teams of Shota Umino and Yuya Uemura against Taichi and Tomohiro Ishii.
It continues down to the indies, as well, with plenty of standout teams for the bigger companies to take a look at. Some of the more notable teams, men’s and women’s, include Hyper Active, Violence is Forever, Cowboy Way, Fresh Air, Waves and Curls, and Medusa Complex, among many others.
And that isn’t to say anything of the trios, intergender, and multi-person matches have done to kick off the new year. AEW has joined TNA in finding avenues to show intergender wrestling on national TV, typically in a mixed/intergender tag match. Several mixed trios now dot AEW and Ring of Honor’s roster between Cru, the Premier Athletes, and Shane Taylor Promotions.
Finally there are the number of potential stars being able to use their successful tag team as a springboard.
Oiwa and Yuto-Ice were many fans’ standouts from the New Year’s Dash tag title match, Ice maybe more-so due to his post-match promo. Kevin Knight, Bandido, and Brody King have also made big splashes on AEW TV as singles stars in 2026 thanks to their ongoing success in the tag team division.
All this is to day that 2026 looks to be a year tag team wrestling dominates the fans’ attention.
Tag wrestling has its normal ups-and-downs, as any aspect of professional wrestling can. However, it seems like ever handful of years there is one or two years where tag team wrestling is all the talk among fans.
An easy example would be 2000 and 2001 WWF where the Hardy Boyz, Dudley Boyz, and Edge and Christian were at the peak of their three-way rivalry that saw the teams regularly trade the WWF World Tag Team Titles. Other teams including the APA, Too Cool, and Test and Albert, would find themselves involved to keep the scene fresh and find their own success in this period, as well.
And looking at the rest of 2026, the pieces are in place for tag team wrestling to have a big year across the globe.
Let’s take a look at AEW as just one example.
Between AEW and Ring of Honor, the tag team division has been in the middle of a resurgence that really picked up during Brodido’s tag title reign in mid-to-late 2025. The Young Bucks underwent a much-needed and very entertaining refresh, Jurassic Express reunited, Anthony Bowens and Max Caster have rediscovered the chemistry that birthed The Acclaimed, and GoA emerged as a standout team thanks to forming The Demand alongside Ricochet.
Younger teams including Price and Oliver, The Swirl, Cru, and Tommy Billington and Adam Priest have helped breath new life into a Ring of Honor weekly product that felt extremely stale heading into the summer of 2025. Since then, the weekly show on Honor Club has vastly improved, though there is still plenty to improve, and part of that has been on the back of these teams.
And then there is the teases of potential tag team runs involving some of AEW’s top stars. Swerve Strickland and ‘Hangman’ Adam Page have already tagged together since Swerve returned at Full Gear 2025 as fans buzz about the idea of the pair having a tag title run. Kyle Fletcher and Konosuke Takeshita have teased a similar idea amidst teases of them breaking away from the Don Callis Family, with the idea of Fletcher having a tag team run with Kazuchika Okada also teased as part of this story.
The still fairly new women’s tag division hasn’t slowed down, either. At the time of writing, the Triangle of Madness are going after Kris Statlander, Willow Nightingale, and Harley Cameron as the trio hold the Women’s World, TBS, and Women’s World Tag Team titles. Toni Storm and Mina Shirakawa, the Timeless Love Bombs, have also found themselves embroiled in a fight against Megan Bayne, Penelope Ford, and Marina Shafir.
AEW has also signed or reportedly signed multiple women in recent months to improve the division’s talent depth with names including Hyan, Maya World, Persephone, Zayda Steel, Lena Kross, Christyan Reed, and Stori Denali.
Taking a step back and looking at the wider landscape, tag team wrestling looks to be the healthiest it has been in several years. There is no shortage of talent in professional wrestling, especially when it comes to tag teams. WWE, AEW, New Japan, MLW, and other major promotions have a veritable pick of the litter when it comes to teams and talent if they needed to freshen things up.
It doesn’t mean some promotions will experience it as overtly as others have been, but that’s nothing to say of the wealth of tag talent dotting rosters all over the world ready to go out and steal the show at a moment’s notice.
Its been well over a month since the release of Destiny 2: Renegades, and while there is still plenty of work to be done on the overall game, the reaction to Destiny’s first crossover expansion has been largely positive. While some fans had concerns about how overtly Star Wars the expansion would be, most players and critics applauded the balance Bungie hit in style and tone while still feeling like Destiny.
It then begs the question – what other universes could Destiny 2 explore in future expansions?
Bungie has already said there are no immediate plans for more crossover expansions, with the next expansions Shattered Cycle and The Alchemist already announced for 2026. It would not be surprising to learn early development has already started on whatever content is planned for Destiny 2 in 2027 and with no guarantees of any crossover content.
Even so, Renegades’ success may push Bungie to look at what other universes they could find a way to Destiny-fy in future expansions.
Here are just a couple that could easily find their way to Destiny 2 down the road –
Warhammer 40,000
A relatively easy first option, especially with its recent surge in mainstream popularity, is the grimdark universe of Warhammer 40,000.
Some content creators such as MyNameIsByf have previously pointed out that Destiny, itself, can be considered grimdark given the state of humanity in this universe. They have been reduced to a single safe city on Earth being defended by, effectively, undead demigods imbued with powers by a god-like entity locked in an intergalactic conflict with another god-like entity and its many forces.
While humanity may be more populace in the 40K universe, it is effectively in a similar state between the xenos and god-like threats bearing down on the Imperium on all sides.
It is another universe that, narratively, could easily be tweaked to fit in Destiny 2 the way Star Wars was in Renegades. It may be doubly so in 40K’s case as Destiny 2 is currently embroiled in the Fate Saga, the current overarching narrative for the universe centered on the mysterious Nine. Following the reveal the role the Outer Nine, Six especially, have played in setting the Fate Saga in motion with the death of Three in Renegades, Bungie could easily use the four Outer Nine as narrative proxies for the four major Chaos gods in a 40K-inspired narrative.
There’s no shortage of material to use when creating 40K-inspired gear for players to chase. The Imperium of Man, alone, provides plenty of variety between the Imperial Guard, Space Marines, Sisters of Battle, Adeptus Custodes, Inquisition, and Adeptus Mechanicus. That’s not to mention the various other forces including the Eldar, Dark Eldar, Orks, Tau, Necrons, and forces of Chaos, among others.
It isn’t that difficult to imagine a Titan rocking Space Marine-style armor and armed with an exotic clearly inspired by a Bolt Rifle while fighting Scorn that look like Chaos worshippers.
Lord of the Rings
Going from the grimdark far future to the mysterious and mystical world of Middle-Earth created by JRR Tolkien.
While the science fiction inspirations are more obvious, Destiny 2 isn’t shy about sharing its fantasy inspiration across so much of the universe. The Iron Lords serving as an analogy for Arthur and the Knights of Camelot, the powers of Light and Darkness being almost magical in nature, and Guardians actively using swords, glaives, and bows along with the rest of their arsenal.
A more fantasy-centric expansion is not out of the picture for Destiny 2, and if it were to be a crossover, what better to do it with than Lord of the Rings.
Tolkien’s Middle-Earth is one of the most easily recognized fantasy worlds in modern media and is another that could easily be translated to the Destiny universe. A narrative could easily center on the Awoken, who serve as almost a stand-in for Elves in this universe, and one of the Outer Nine serving as the narrative’s Sauron.
Xivu Arath and her Hive could be involved, as well, effectively as the expansion’s stand-in for Orcs.
Bungie has already shown it can easily draft up gear and ornaments that can let players turn their Guardians into the ultimate expression of space fantasy. From swords that resemble medieval claymores to armor pieces made to look like wizard robes, Destiny 2 oozes fantasy.
There was also the overt fantasy tones in Destiny: Rise of Iron with its focus on the Iron Lords. This juxtaposed the deep sci-fi visual tone of the Fallen Devil Splicers and SIVA nanotechnology they got their hands on.
Why not let players channel their inner Fellowship of the Ring in this space fantasy universe?
The first days of January brings with it the first major wrestling show of the year, courtesy of New Japan Pro-Wrestling, with Wrestle Kingdom emanating out of the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan.
2025 marked the twentieth entry in the show’s history, but more importantly it was the final show for New Japan icon and longtime Ace, Hiroshi Tanahashi. The show followed a year-long retirement tour across the world and multiple promotions, including AEW and RevPro in the UK, celebrating his 25-year career with New Japan.
And the promotion certainly delivered with Wrestle Kingdom 20 in front of a sold out crowd of 46,913 at the Tokyo Dome.
One thing has to be said before getting into the show, though.
As good as the show was, it was also another example of why Gedo’s booking in recent years has been failing New Japan. There continues to be a perceived hesitance to push certain names up and down the card, which is only reinforced when certain stars were put in certain matches at Wrestle Kingdom. It is exacerbated by Gedo’s continued reliance on House of Torture as a source of easy heel heat, something which appears to play well with Japanese audiences but not with foreign viewers.
Three matches, in particular, highlight one or both of these issues in spades and it will be clear which matches they are from the outline of events.
Now, on with the show.
NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship Ranbo
Kicking off the main card for New Japan’s annual January 4 show was the New Japan Ranbo for the NEVER Openweight 6-Man titles. The champions Toru Yano, Master Wato, and Yoh defended the titles in the annual Wrestle Kingdom Royal Rumble-style match where participants were eliminated by pinfall, submission, or being thrown over the top rope and having both feet hit the floor.
Eight teams, including the champions, participated in the match that, while it has delivered surprises, might be one of the most star-studded Ranbos in recent memory. Participants included former IWGP World Champions Zack Sabre Jr., Hirooki Goto, Satoshi Kojima, and Sanada, along with other big names including Tomohiro Ishii, Taichi, the Knockout Bros., and Boltin Oleg.
The match, itself, was largely messy due to the sheer number of people in and around the ring at any given time. It ultimately came down to TMDK, represented by Zack Sabre Jr., Ryohei Oiwa, and Hartley Jackson, and the team of Boltin Oleg, Hirooki Goto, and Yoshi-Hashi, with TMDK ultimately coming out the victors.
RATING – 2.5/5
Not bad by any means, but the Ranbos are not known for ever producing any real memorable moments. Getting gold back over Sabre Jr.’s shoulder is never a bad thing, either, but the fact so many big names were in this match raises questions about the booking of this show the issue they’ve had with pushing new stars.
Winner Take All for the Strong Women and IWGP Women’s Championships – Saya Kamitani vs. Syuri
Things immediately picked up in the show’s second match as World of Stardom and Strong Women’s Champion Saya Kamitani put the Strong title up against Syuri and her IWGP Women’s Championship.
Kamitani was coming off the biggest year of her career as she celebrated a calendar year as World of Stardom Champion, winning the Strong Women’s title in September 2025, and no shortage of accolades from various outlets and publications for her work in and out of the ring. It was under her tenure as champion that Stardom experienced one of its best years ever and plans to carry this momentum into 2026.
Syuri, meanwhile, entered the Tokyo Dome as champion after defeating then-IWGP Women’s Champion Sareee at New Japan’s King of Pro-Wrestling in October 2025, avenging Syuri’s loss to Sareee at Stardom The Conversion 2025 in June. It, also, marked the end of what had been an up and down year for Syuri between some of the opponents she traded wins with along with a badly timed injury in July derailing a teased run in AEW and Ring of Honor.
Going 12 minutes, the match was a proverbial sprint from the second the bell rang. Syuri and Kamitani are two performers known for their in-ring ability and they delivered the kind of fast-paced, impactful action Stardom fans are accustomed to.
Syuri ultimately emerged victorious after hitting Kamitani with an electric chair into what appeared to be a Death Valley Driver, walking away as the IWGP and Strong Women’s Champion.
RATING – 4/5
It isn’t out of turn to say Kamitani and Syuri are among the best women’s wrestlers in the world today, and this title-for-title match was an example as to why. The only real knock on the match was the time, which meant the two were off to the races when the match officially began and didn’t look back. But in all likelihood, it is far from the last match these two will have.
Ten-Man Tag Match – Bullet Club War Dogs/Unaffiliated vs. United Empire
Next on Wrestle Kingdom was a ten-man tag match pitting David Finlay, Drilla Moloney, and Gabe Kidd of Bullet Club War Dogs alongside Shingo Takagi and Hiromu Takahashi against United Empire’s Callum Newman, Great-O-Khan, Henare, the group’s new backer Andrade el Idolo, and a mystery partner.
United Empire’s mystery partner was ultimately revealed to be Jake Lee, who was returning from a year-and-a-half long absence due to an injury to his right foot. He was originally part of the War Dogs when he jumped from Pro-Wrestling Noah to New Japan in 2024 before going down to the injury and being largely forgotten about.
While the ten-man was similarly chaotic to the opening Ranbo match, it being a ten-man tag gave it more focus and allowed the talent involved to showcase themselves.
Arguably the biggest spot of the match saw teammates Hiromu Takahashi and David Finlay use the other as weapons against the opposing team by suplexing or powerbombing each other. This was born out of the pair’s chemistry during New Japan’s annual tag team tournament, World Tag League, only a few months earlier.
After largely clearing the field, Takahashi began running around the ring in celebration before being caught with a big boot from Jake Lee. The former-War Dog quickly tossed Takahashi into the ring and hit him with his running boot to the corner to secure the pinfall for United Empire.
RATING – 3/5
The ten-man was a fun, chaotic mess, but the match, itself, was nothing to write home about. Lee’s defection from War Dogs to United Empire does set himself and the group up to go in some potentially interesting directions. Beyond that, though, it is every fun, multi-man tag match seen before in and out of New Japan.
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship No. 1 Contender Match – Kosei Fujita vs. Taiji Ishimori vs. El Desperado vs. Sho
Fourth on the main card was the number one contender’s match for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight title, with the champion Douki sitting ringside and joined by fellow House of Torture member Yoshinobu Kanemaru.
The match only went over 7 minutes 30 seconds and after an opening sequence allowing the four participants to show off their abilities until the referee got hit and taken out during a sequence, House of Torture didn’t hesitate to get involved after this, allowing Douki and Kanemaru to aid their stablemate Sho. Fujita, Ishimori, and Desperados tag partners Robbie Eagles, Robbie X, and KUUKAI, respectively came out to even the odds against House of Torture.
Eventually, Sho appeared to have the match won at Fujita’s expense when Desperado breaks up the pin at the last second. Desperado quickly grabs Sho, quickly hitting a Tiger Driver followed by Pince Loco to win and secure the number one contendership.
RATING – 2/5
Easily the worst match of the night, it started off strong with each wrestler getting a moment to shine before the referee was hit and House of Torture got involved. The match quickly went downhill until Desperado finally scored the pin. It highlights the two problems spoken about at the beginning plaguing Gedo’s booking, as fans have been vocal about seeing Fujita at the top of the Jr. Heavyweight division along with House of Torture having to get involved..
NEVER Openweight Championship – EVIL vs. Aaron Wolf
The first of Wrestle Kingdom’s three big singles matches, the NEVER Openweight Champion EVIL defended the title against the judoka and 2020 Gold Medal Olympian Aaron Wolf in his debut match for New Japan.
Wolf was signed by New Japan in June 2025, a move that gained massive media coverage due to Wolf’s fame in Japan following the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. There, it was announced he would be making his in-ring debut at Wrestle Kingdom 20, beginning a roughly-six month promotional period for New Japan as the match was poised to draw major news and media coverage in Japan.
The judoka quickly found himself standing up against EVIL and House of Torture as they continued running rough shot on New Japan during the middle and late-2025. It led to Wolf challenging EVIL for the NEVER Openweight title, which EVIL accepted.
Wolf already turned heads at the start of the match when he took off his gi to reveal he’d shaved his head and was wearing the traditional Young Lion garb of black trunks, black pads, and black boots in response to a challenge by EVIL.
The match ended up being one of the better matches on the show, as EVIL stepped up his ringwork for the big stage while Wolf leaned on his judo background to either heave EVIL across the ring or take down House of Torture’s leader.
EVIL attempted to hit Everything is Evil when Wolf caught him with a hip toss into an attempted armbar, which EVIL was quick to try and counter. In response, Wolf transitioned and locked in what appeared to be a modified-Triangle choke, causing EVIL to pass out and winning the match and title for Wolf.
RATING – 4/5
There had been some concern voiced online about how this match and whether it would be good or not. The quality of EVIL’s ring work along with it being Wolf’s in-ring debut made some fans wary of how good it could actually be, but were relieved when the pair delivered as hard-hitting a match as any on Wrestle Kingdom 20..
Winner Take All for the IWGP World Heavyweight and Global Heavyweight Championships – Yota Tsuji vs. Konosuke Takeshita
Next was the second Winner Take All match of the show as the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Konosuke Takeshita and IWGP Global Heavyweight Champion Yota Tsuji facing off with both belts on the line.
After winning the G1 Climax 35, Takeshita decided to follow in Zack Sabre Jr.’s path by using his title shot at King of Pro-Wrestling with the hope of winning the IWGP World Heavyweight title and walk into the Tokyo Dome as champion. Takeshita did just this as he defeated Sabre Jr. to win the title in the show’s main event.
Yota Tsuji won the IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship from then-champion Gabe Kidd on the same show. He later challenged Takeshita to a title-for-title match at the Tokyo Dome after Takeshita successfully defended the IWGP World Heavyweight title at November’s Final Homecoming.
While Tsuji had previously voiced his concerns about AEW and New Japan’s partnership, he ramped it up ahead of Wrestle Kingdom as Takeshita is an AEW-contracted wrestler. He is also a New Japan and DDT contracted talent, all of which Tsuji pointed to as saying why Takeshita wasn’t fit to be World Champion since he didn’t commit the time Tsuji felt the World Champion should to New Japan.
The following 29 minutes saw the two champions trade haymakers one after another, reminding fans why they are considered two of the top in-ring performers in their respective promotions and the world. It included a sequence that saw Tsuji and Takeshita trade moves, with Tsuji hitting Takeshita with the Power-Drive Knee while Takeshita got his payback with a Gene Blaster to Tsuji.
Tsuji was finally able to hit the Gene Blaster on Takeshita and quickly transitioned to a deep Boston Crab. Takeshita attempted to get to the ropes, but Tsuji was able to hold his opponent near the center of the ring and ultimately forced Takeshita to tap out, crowning Tsuji as the World and Global Heavyweight Champion.
RATING – 4.75/5
It may come as no surprise to some fans that Tsuji and Takeshita had was has largely been considered the best match on Wrestle Kingdom 20. The two wrestlers, known for their explosiveness and heavy-handed striking, went back and forth for almost a half-hour before Tsuji emerged the victor in the biggest win of the star’s career.
Tsuji’s celebration was short-lived, though, as Jake Lee attacked the new double-champion while he spoke to the crowd, making it clear who Tsuji’s first major opponent would be.
Retirement Match – Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada
Closing out the night was the retirement match in a year in the making as ‘The Ace,’ ‘The Once in a Generation Athlete,’ ‘The One in a Hundred Star’ Hiroshi Tanahashi had his final match. Standing across from Tanahashi is one of his greatest rivals and former-IWGP World Champion Kazuchika Okada.
By the time November rolled around, it still wasn’t known who would face Tanahashi in his final match. Fans had speculated a variety of names including Kenny Omega, Yuya Uemura, EVIL, and even Shinsuke Nakamura.
It was made clear at the November 8 New Japan Road show in Anjo where, after defeating Yuto-Ice, Tanahashi’s post-match celebration was interrupted by none other than ‘The Rainmaker’ Kazuchika Okada in his return to New Japan after leaving to sign with AEW in March 2024. The following day, it was confirmed Okada would face Tanahashi in the main event of Wrestle Kingdom 20 to close out Tanahashi’s in-ring career.
Fans were treated to one more epic main event between two of New Japan’s biggest stars in its history, with it specifically being the fourth match the pair have had against each other in the Tokyo Dome.
As with the many main events matches the two had against each other, the match was a 30+ minute epic that saw Tanahashi leaving everything he had left in the tank out in the ring. Okada, meanwhile, was far more heelish than he had been in his latter years in New Japan due to his time in AEW and affiliation with the Don Callis Family.
However, Okada would slowly take the match more seriously and seemingly revert back to his New Japan persona by striking ‘The Rainmaker’ pose properly for the first time in well over a year. He would then hit a Rainmaker with more force than he had earlier in the match, keeping Tanahashi’s shoulders’ down to score the pinfall win.
This meant the two were now tied for Tokyo Dome wins against each other at 2-2.
RATING – 4.5/5
However fans may have felt going into Wrestle Kingdom, it was clear as the match progressed that Okada was the perfect final opponent for Tanahashi. The pair have always had incredible chemistry in the ring and delivered incredible main events, no matter their ages or physical condition.
It was not the end of the show, though, as the next hour was dedicated to celebrating the career of the man known as ‘The Ace.’ Tanahashi would be joined in the ring by former-New Japan stars and current-AEW stars Jay White, Will Ospreay, Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi, and Katsuyori Shibata.
Shibata and Tanahashi’s reunion was particularly emotional and entertaining as Shibata took of his shirt and the two traded chops briefly before an emotional embrace.
Japanese wrestling icons Keiji Mutoh and Tatsumi Fujinami were the next to join in the ring and pay their respects to Tanahashi.
After the ring cleared out, the crowd was treated with the surprise return of Tetsuya Naito and Bushi, who only days earlier won the GHC Tag Team Championship from Kenoh and Naomichi Marufuji at Noah’s January 1 show, The New Year. Naito spoke cryptically, as he is known to do, hinting that while he may never wrestling in a New Japan ring again, he hopes to find his way back to the promotion one day and reunite with Tanahashi.
Tanahashi closed out the festivities with his iconic air guitar solos, performing two encores for the crowd. He then got on an elevated cart and was paraded around the Tokyo Dome, waving to the crowd and thanking them for everything, before getting back to the main stage and saying goodbye to the crowd one more time.
The proverbial cherry on top was a video airing on the stage’s trons showing highlights of Tanahashi’s career, set to his previous and extremely popular entrance music High Energy.
OVERALL RATING – 4/5
Wrestle Kingdom 20 certainly lived up to the show’s lineage and was a grand celebration to one of the greatest to ever step foot inside a ring, in Japan and the world. Some of the early matches did suffer from feeling like filler, and some of Gedo’s worst booking practices were on display in at least three of he matches, but the main singles matches all massively delivered. The final two, in particular, may have been the strongest semi-main and main event matches at Wrestle Kingdom since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
But with the end of the show came the end of Tanahashi’s long and illustrious career in the ring. He will still be in the wrestling industry, serving as New Japan’s president, but ‘The Ace’ has taken his final bow.
Saturday, December 28 closed the book on AEW’s final pay-per-view entry for 2025 with Worlds End. Emanating from AEW’s pseudo-forming grounds of the NOW Arena in Hoffman States, Illinois, the show would see the AEW Men’s World Title up for grabs in a four-way match and crown another Continental Classic winner.
There is plenty more to talk about from the first pay-per-view defense of the AEW Women’s World Tag Team Championship to New Japan’s Gabe Kidd taking on Darby Allin, arguably AEW’s biggest advocate, so let’s get into the show.
Zero Hour
The evening began, as always, with a pre-show. Worlds End would see the return to the Zero Hour format on streaming and digital after three Tailgate Brawl pre-shows that also aired live on TNT. No reason was given for why there wasn’t another Tailgate Brawl with Worlds End.
Whatever it is called, it featured four additional matches to lead into the beginning of the main pay-per-view card.
The first match saw Julia Hart and Skye Blue, aka Sisters of Sin, taking on the team of Hyan and Maya World. While the Sisters of Sin would pick up the win, the real story coming out of the match was Hyan and Maya World.
The two reportedly had a lot of positive buzz backstage at AEW for stepping up when Nixon Newell and Miranda Alize walked out of a Collision taping due to disagreements of the pair’s planned tag team match in early November. Hyan and World, who were also there as extras/enhancement talent, were asked to step in on short notice for a match against the team of Tay Melo and Anna Jay. Since then, World and Hyan have appeared on TV as extras or enhancement talent multiple times and reports of the pair’s positive buzz backstage soon followed.
Zero Hour was the cresendo as after the match, it was announced Hyan and Maya World were officially signed. The news was met with almost universal acclaim by fans online, many of whom had been calling for the both to get signed by a major promotion.
Second on Zero Hour was Eddie Kingston taking on Zack Gibson, one-half of the team Grizzled Young Veterans with James Drake. The two had a short but physical match that saw Kingston pick up the win with a snap DDT. Kingston was jumped by Drake immediately after the three-count as Gibson recovered and joined in. Ortiz, who hasn’t been on AEW TV since suffering a torn pectoral muscle in January 2024, returned to save Kingston from GYV.
Next was the Ring of Honor World Champion Bandido teaming with CMLL’s Mascara Dorada versus Mark Davis and Rocky Romero of the Don Callis Family. Another relatively short match, Bandido and Dorada picked up the win after a back-and-forth match where the luchadors got to show off their athleticism, Davis was fittingly physical, and Romero was the proverbial “weasal” in the match. After the win, another tease for Clon interrupted and revealed he would be making his in-ring debut in January 2026 on Collision.
Last on Zero Hour was an eight-man tag match that pitted Kevin Knight and ‘Speedball’ Mike Bailey of JetSpeed and ‘Jungle’ Jack Perry and Luchasaurus, aka Jurassic Express, against The Don Callis Family’s Josh Alexander and The Demand, comprised of Ricochet, Toa Liona, Bishop Kaun. Given the eight involved, it was a fun, quick, chaotic match to bring the pre-show to a close. It ended with Perry scoring the pinfall against Ricochet, the current AEW National Champion, earning Perry a shot at the National Title on AEW Dynamite: New Year’s Bash on Wednesday, December 31.
RATING – 3/5
While there was some big news coming out of the Zero Hour, it was largely what fans have come to expect from AEW’s pay-per-view pre-shows. The matches were varying degrees of good, but nothing fans need to go out of their way to see.
Continental Classic Semi-Final – Kazuchika Okada vs. Konosuke Takeshita
Worlds End started big with the first of two Continental Classic, or C2, semi-final matches on the show as Kazuchika Okada, the defending champion, took on his stablemate in the Don Callis Family, Konosuke Takeshita.
Aside from the C2 league play resulting in Okada and Takeshita finally facing off one-on-one, tensions had been building between the two for several months.
Things started slow between the two as the match began as they felt each other out for several minutes. Okada would then take control of the match and kept things slow as he worked on breaking his opponent down. Takeshita would fight back at multiple points, landing some big strikes, but would quickly get shut down by Okada.
Okada would eventually set up for the Rainmaker when Takeshita is finally able to swing back control and land some big offense on Okada. This forced the defending Continental Champion to match Takeshita’s offense for a physical closing stretch. However, Okada ultimately punched his ticket to the finals thanks to a screwdriver planted in the top turnbuckle and would leave with Don Callis in tow, leaving Takeshita in the ring confused at what just happened.
RATING – 3.5/5
Okada and Takeshita’s first pay-per-view singles match got the show kicked off right with a very good match that let both wrestlers shine. That said, it was also clear that these two were holding back and setting the stage for more to come in 2026, especially with AEW Revolution right around the corner.
Continental Classic Semi-Final – Kyle Fletcher vs. Jon Moxley
The second C2 semi-final match quickly followed as the Don Callis Family’s Kyle Fletcher battled Jon Moxley of the Death Riders in what was easily the match of the night.
Heading into the semi-finals, Fletcher had been part of a competitive Gold League field that saw all six participants tied heading into the final day of group play matches where Fletcher punched his ticket. Meanwhile, Moxley secured his spot in the semi-finals on the same night to end group play with nine points in the Blue League.
Moxley had also been wrestling and sounding more like he did before the Death Riders started over the course of the C2, hinting that a full babyface turn is in the near future. This continued into the semi-final match in arguably the best match in the tournament and the best match of World’s End.
After a back-and-forth first few minutes, Fletcher was able to take control when the two began brawling on the floor. Fletcher then trapped Moxley’s left leg between the stairs and post and dropkicked the stairs on the leg that has been a consistent issue for Moxley since match with Kyle O’Reilly at Full Gear. The next stretch saw Fletcher control the pace of the match, with Moxley only getting brief bursts of offense before Fletcher shuts him down.
In the closing stretch, Moxley would start regaining momentum and force Fletcher to try and put the match away quickly. He would hit Moxley time after time, even putting him in multiple submission locks, but couldn’t keep Moxley down. Fletcher then goes looking for the hidden screwdriver Okada used in the previous match, but is shocked when it missing. After scrambling momentarily, Fletcher tried to go back on offense but was ultimately caught in a sleeper hold by Moxley and passes out, forcing the referee to call the match and send Moxley to the C2 finals.
RATING – 4.75/5
Easily the match of the night, Fletcher and Moxley were on point for this entire match. Fletcher continues to shine, even in losses, as he marches toward the main event scene while Moxley is looking more and more like the Moxley fans loved. It has also introduced many interesting wrinkles to stories surrounding both the Don Callis Family and Death Riders, and even more would be introduced during the C2 finals.
AEW Men’s World Tag Team Championship Chicago Street Fight – FTR vs. Bang Bang Gang
Third up on the show was the Chicago street fight that saw the AEW Men’s World Tag Team Champions FTR defend against Austin Gunn and Juice Robinson of the Bang Bang Gang.
After failing to win the titles at AEW Dynamite: Holiday Bash thanks to Dax Harwood’s foot being on the rope, Gunn and Robinson challenged FTR to a street fight at Worlds End for the titles to take the ropes out of the equation which Stokely Hathaway accepted on behalf of FTR.
The match was largely a fun, if messy, brawl between the two teams that seemed to be fighting an uphill battle with the live crowd after the opening two matches. Trash cans, can lids, and tables saw plenty of action in the match, too, especially the latter between a massive suicide dive by Cash Wheeler onto Gunn and Stokely missing a table set up at ringside after being knocked off the apron.
FTR seemingly had it won after isolating Robinson and hitting him with a Shatter Machine, only for Gunn to break up the pin attempt.
FTR then focused their attention on Gunn, who attempted to fight back by hitting Wheeler with a low blow and then going for a Fame-Asser on Harwood. Harwood was able to sidestep and then hit Gunn with a piledriver on a trash can and went for a pin, but Gunn kicked out. FTR quickly hit two stuff-piledrivers on Gunn and were able to keep his shoulders down to successfully retain the Tag Team titles.
RATING – 3/5
Whatever was forced to follow the opening C2 semi-final matches was always going to have an uphill battle with the crowd, and that is just what happened. It was by no means a bad match, but it was definitely one of FTR’s less-memorable tag title matches in their AEW careers.
AEW Women’s World Tag Team Championship – Babes of Wrath vs. Athena and Mercedes Mone
One tag title match deserves another as the first pay-per-view defense of the AEW Women’s World Tag Team Championship followed the men’s tag title match. Willow Nightingale and Harley Cameron, aka the Babes of Wrath, defended their newly won titles against the TBS Champion Mercedes Mone and Ring of Honor Women’s World Champion Athena in a rematch of their first round bout in the women’s tag title tournament.
The women didn’t waste time as they came out the gate fast and kept the pace up all match. Any bit of momentum one team would get going would immediately swing back to the other team one way or another, such as Nightingale hitting Mone with a powerbomb on the ring apron before Athena takes out Nightingale with an extremely fast suicide dive between the bottom ropes.
Cameron continued to shine, as well, and show why she is a top contender for most improved wrestler of the year. She was able to keep up with veterans like Mone and Athena with seemingly no issue and gave as good as she got against the team of champions.
The match’s home stretch started in big fashion as Mone and Athena hit Nightingale with a Tower of Doom, followed by Athena using Mone to hit a Gory Bomb on a prone Nightingale. Mone went for the pin only for Cameron to rush in and break it up.
A brief exchange followed between the four women that ended with Mone alone in the ring with Nightingale, who attempted a Babe with the Powerbomb. Mone managed to escape and go for a backslide pin, but Nightingale caught it and synched in a pin for the three to retain the tag titles.
RATING – 3.75/5
These two teams delivered in their opening round tournament match and they delivered once again on pay-per-view. It also furthers Mone’s spiral as it is another high-profile loss at a big show since Full Gear. Later in the show, Mone would challenge Nightingale to a TBS title match at Dynamite: New Year’s Bash, which was confirmed a short time later.
Darby Allin vs. Gabe Kidd
Next on Worlds End saw New Japan star and “mercenary” for the Death Riders Gabe Kidd taking on Darby Allin.
The match came about after Kidd attacked and challenged Allin at Dynamite on 34th Street, laying out Allin backstage when he jumped him during an interview. Allin responded the following night on Christmas Collision, interrupting Kidd’s promo.
As fans have come to expect, the match was a physical war between Kidd and Allin as they did everything within the bounds of a normal singles match to try and hurt each other. Allin suffered perhaps the worst blow when Kidd caught him while they brawled on the floor and slingshot Allin into a metal plate covering the top of one of the steps, busting Allin open.
Allin gave as good as he got, though, throwing himself at Kidd with reckless abandon has he is known for. This included Allin hitting his diving dropkick from the top turnbuckle to the floor, with Kidd seated in a metal chair before getting hit by Allin. He’d return the favor on Kidd, as well, and bust the New Japan star wide open.
Allin would eventually catch Kidd and lock in the Scorpion Deathlock in the middle of the ring, looking poised to win the match. Allin broke the hold, though, due to what appeared to be exhaustion and gave Kidd enough room to land a massive lariat. Kidd attempted a sleeper shortly after but was caught by Allin, who flipped out and kept Kidd down long enough to get the pin.
RATING – 3.5/5
The match was as physical as fans would expect between these two, with Allin hitting all his recognizable offense while Kidd swung for the proverbial fences on all his strikes. The finish, along with the roughly-12 minute match time, also hinted that this could just be the first of multiple matches between these two depending on what Kidd’s New Japan future holds.
Mixed Nuts Mayhem – Death Riders vs. The Conglomeration and ‘Timeless’ Toni Storm
Before heading into the homestretch of Worlds End card, there was the Mixed Nuts Mayhem match pitting Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta, Daniel Garcia, and Marina Shafir of the Death Riders against ‘Timeless’ Toni Storm and the Conglomeration’s Orange Cassidy, Roderick Strong, and TNT Champion Mark Briscoe.
It was as much of a house match on pay-per-view as fans could have been treated to here.
The match, itself, lived up to the name as it was mayhem from the first bell, with both teams brawling wildly in and around the ring. Most of the early action was just brawling, with two sliding in to the ring at different points to get their moment to shine.
As with many mixed tags in AEW, recently, it also featured a fair share of intergender action as Storm and Shafir had no problem mixing it up and besting the men. These included Shafir going kick-for-kick with Cassidy, Storm hitting big German suplexes on Yuta and Garcia, and Strong and Shafir trading blows.
The general chaos continued into the ending stretch as both teams traded big offense in between pin attempts. Storm and Briscoe were ultimately able to isolate Yuta, with Briscoe hitting a Jay Driller to secure the win.
RATING – 3.25/5
Mixed Nuts Mayhem was the exact match it needed to be, right where it needed to be. A chaotic, fun match to give fans a moment before the two World Title matches and the C2 final. And given where the night ends, even this could play into the Death Riders’ immediate future.
AEW Women’s World Championship – Kris Statlander vs. Jamie Hayter
It is time for the first for two world title matches as Kris Statlander defended the AEW Women’s World Championship against the former champion, Jamie Hayter.
Compared to some of the other matches, the build for this was about as straightforward as it possibly could have been. – Hayter wanted the Women’s World title back and Statlander was determined to continue her reign as champion after scoring pay-per-view wins against Toni Storm and Mercedes Mone.
The offense of both women meant this was a physical, hard-hitting affair from the start of the match. Hayter and Statlander traded momentum over the course of the 18-minute match, with every shoulder tackle or forearm strike being returned in kind. It escalated as time passed as both women pulled out bigger and bigger offense to try and keep the other’s shoulders down for the three count.
Hayter had one of the biggest pieces of offense when she and Statlander were trading blows on one of the turnbuckles. She then synched-in on Statlander and hit her with an exploder suplex from the top turnbuckle that looked like it hurt for both women.
Not wanting to be outdone, Statlander eventually catches Hayter on the top turnbuckle and hit Hayter with an avalanche Michunoku driver.
After all the heavy offense, Hayter and Statlander began trading finishers to bring the match to a close. Statlander would then get caught in a fireman’s carry, but escaped and picked up Hayter to hit her with the Staturday Night Fever to retain the Women’s World Championship.
RATING – 4/5
While the crowd didn’t do the match any favors, Statlander and Hayter was as physical as fans could have hoped to see. Hayter will absolutely hold the World Title again, but it was not meant to be at Worlds End and Statlander now moves on to her next opponent.
Continental Classic Finals – Jon Moxley vs. Kazuchika Okada
The semi-main event of the evening saw Jon Moxley and Kazuchika Okada face off in the finals of the 2025 Continental Classic.
While both wrestlers were tired heading into the match, Moxley was in much worse shape due to how much Kyle Fletcher focused on his leg and not to mention the broken tooth he suffered. Okada would continue this approach for the finals, targeting Moxley’s leg at several points in the hopes of retaining the Continental Championship.
Okada would remain on top for most of the match and forcing Moxley to fight for ever bit of offense he is able to get in on Okada. It got worse for Moxley as things went, though, as Okada would lock in multiple submissions on Moxley’s bad leg to try and get him to tap.
Moxley would manage to escape, but he was slowly being broken down over the match. Moxley did get a measure of payback on Okada for a low-blow to him, hitting one in return to reset overall momentum in the match.
Okada would then attempt to hit a Rainmaker on Moxley, who used every evasion he could think of to avoid the Rainmaker without Okada losing wrist control. Moxley would manage to turn one of these into an Rainmaker of his own on Okada and quickly following up with the Death Rider DDT to synch the 2025 Continental Classic.
RATING – 3.75/5
Another physical match on a night of physical matches, the first singles match between Okada and Moxley delivered in the ring. Many fans were seemingly caught off-guard when Moxley won, with many presuming Okada would retain the Continental Title. Instead, it was made clear Moxley is being positioned to a babyface turn, especially with his post-match promo, and possibly a short feud with the Don Callis Family to help build to it.
AEW Men’s World Championship – Samoa Joe vs. MJF vs. ‘Hangman’ Adam Page vs. Swerve Strickland
Bringing the evening to a close, the AEW Men’s World Championship was on the line as the champion Samoa Joe defended the title against ‘Hangman’ Adam Page, Swerve Strickland, and MJF.
Originally announced as a three-way following Joe’s victory over Page and Strickland’s return at Full Gear, it became a four-way when MJF returned to execute his Casino Gauntlet contract for a Men’s World Title match. MJF made it clear he was doing this as a way to shove it in Page’s face and prove he is still better than his three opponents at Worlds End.
The four would hit the ground running after the bell rings and didn’t slow down much over the course of the roughly 20-minute match. It began with Page pairing off with Joe while Strickland went after MJF, and the four would trade direct opponents at multiple points during the match.
Highlights included MJF and Strickland trading crotch bumps to the other’s head, Joe hitting a diving elbow strike on both of them, and Page and Strickland trading blows in a match for the first time in well over a year and the first time since burying the hatchet at All In Texas.
The Opps would eventually run down to help Joe try to retain the title, opening the door for him to hit a muscle buster on Page. However, Page managed to kick out and Strickland hit a Swerve stomp to the outside to take out Joe’s teammates Katsuyori Shibata and Powerhouse Hobbs. Joe attempted to choke out Page with a Coquina Clutch, only for Strickland to break that up as well. He looked poised to possibly win with a Swerve Stomp to Joe when MJF pushed Strickland off the top turnbuckle to the floor.
Page would take the opportunity to knock MJF to the floor and go for two Buckshot lariats on Joe, only for MJF to low blow Page on the second attempt. MJF quickly hit a Heatseeker on Joe and rolled him back into the ring to secure the pinfall, becoming a two-time AEW Men’s World Champion.
RATING – 4/5
Another strong pay-per-view main event to close out AEW’s 2025 and head into 2026 with a new champion at the top of the promotion. All four wrestlers looked in top form as they traded offense over the course of the match. MJF being champion heading into the new year also has multiple opponents lined up or being lined up to defend the title, starting with AEW Dynamite: Maximum Carnage against Bandido. As for where Strickland and Page go after Worlds End, but their willingness to work together after everything they’ve been through almost guarantees anything they do in AEW going forward will be something of interest.
OVERALL SHOW RATING – 3.75/5
Worlds End was an overall good pay-per-view from AEW, but hardly on the level of some blow-away shows they have had in 2025. Fletcher vs. Moxley was easily the match of the night while Moxley walking away with the Continental Championship was the most surprising and intriguing outcome going forward for Moxley, the Death Riders, and The Don Callis Family, which itself has plenty of issues it may need to resolve thanks to the planted screwdriver. Where it actually ends up going, only time will tell.
2025 was another interesting year for the world of professional wrestling, with no shortage of high quality shows produced amidst tougher economic times for consumers. WWE may encapsulate this best as business hit record highs on the back of John Cena’s retirement tour, despite growing criticism for WWE’s creative direction and warning signs of inflated ticket prices driving away customers.
This is not about the state of the industry. This is about the talent that give life to professional wrestling and some names to watch out for in 2026.
From the breakout rookies to 20-year veteran that became an overnight sensation, it is the people that run those ropes and put “butts in the seats” poised to have their moment in the coming year.
Bayley
There may be no better place to start than with one of the most recognized faces in modern women’s wrestling – Bayley.
The longtime WWE veteran has had fans talking for most of 2025 in the wake of her interview over Wrestlemania Weekend with Chris Van Vliet. In it, she spoke about fans believing she had been “underutilized” in recent years and how these ideas still affect her in a clip that quickly went viral with fans. This was due to Bayley being pulled from the Women’s Tag Team Championship match on night 2 of Wrestlemania 41 on night one, with Bayley being written off on the preshow after being attacked backstage.
It was reported shortly after that these plans had been set in place weeks before Wrestlemania weekend and that Bayley was likely aware of the reported plans ahead of time.
Bayley appeared to slyly confirm this in her interview with Van Vliet as during the interview, filmed days before Wrestlemania, she appears to hint her awareness of fan reaction to her being pulled from the show. She doesn’t outright say anything, but many fans quickly connected the dots after the interview released on Van Vliet’s YouTube channel two days after Wrestlemania.
The interview, along with her subsequent usage in WWE, has led many fans to speculate if she may leave the promotion in 2026. Her contract is reportedly set to end sometime in 2026 and there has been no notable update to her situation to close out 2025.
A popular idea is that she could make the jump to AEW and join her longtime friend Mercedes Mone, who had a hugely successful 2025. Especially now that AEW has women’s tag belts, many fans are hoping to see Mone and Bayley reunite and potentially even win those titles.
Regardless of what she does, it looks like Bayley will be the biggest name to keep an eye on in 2026.
Hyan and Maya World
So this next one is a bit of a cheat, but there is a reason for it.
Hyan and Maya World are widely considered two of the top standouts among independent women wrestlers. They also ended up being in the right place, at the right time while backstage at AEW Collision, November 8 edition. The pair ended up being called on short notice to wrestle Tay Melo and Anna Jay, widely considered AEW’s longest-tenured team in the women’s division. Hyan and World reportedly received praise for stepping up at the last minute and were brought back in the subsequent weeks for enhancement matches or backstage segments.
While it is not known if they are signed at the time of writing this but if they aren’t, it is considered almost inevitable they will be.
Either way, this has been the ultimate springboard the pair could have asked for heading into 2026.
Hyan, in particular, has been building a reputation over the last decade that resulted in her being among the most respected and in-demand women on the independent scene. ‘The Renaissance Woman of Pro-Wrestling’ isn’t just a clever title, its the truth.
By contrast, World only debuted in 2022 but has quickly turned heads with her talent between the ropes. It may not come as a surprise to some, though, that a reason for her success is training under Athena, widely regarded as one of the best wrestlers, man or woman, in the world today.
As for what 2026 could have in store, we finally come back to the cheat.
With AEW only just introducing women’s tag belts along with the Women’s Pure Championship in Ring of Honor, the promotion is going to need to add depth to the women’s roster. Hyan and World, given the circumstances that led to their current standing in AEW, would best be served as a tag team. The division only has two long-term teams and could use more dedicated teams. The women’s tag division is so wide open that it presents the perfect opening for Hyan and World to stand out in an extremely competitive women’s division.
Alec Price and Jordan Oliver
This is a another cheat but, Alec Price and Jordan Oliver are at least an established team on the independent scene.
‘Bustah and The Brain,’ as they are also known, were the standout team in Game Changer Wrestling for most of 2025 after the pair won the GCW tag titles in April. Oliver, himself already a former GCW tag champ with Nick Wayne, stepped in to tag with Alec Price at Joey Janela’s Spring Break 9 after Price’s previous tag partner, Cole Radrick, went down with an ACL injury in March.
Price and Oliver ultimately beat the team of Kevin Ku and Dominic Garrini, also known as ‘Violence is Forever,’ for the titles.
The team briefly lost the titles to the Brothers of Funstruction in September before winning them back a month later as part of several cross-promotional shows between GCW and Juggalo Championship Wrestling.
But even before their success as a team, the two have been widely considered among the top young standouts from the northeastern U.S. Oliver, in particular, has already gotten experience working on TV thanks to his time in Major League Wrestling from 2019 to 2021.
As with Hyan and World, it would not be a shock to see these two picked up by a major promotion to fill out their respective tag divisions. The team could easily be slotted into NXT, AEW, TNA, or New Japan, among others, as a standout young team scratching and clawing their way to tag title shots. It simply becomes a question of where they could end up in 2026 as their demand continues to grow.
Bandido
As far as in-ring performers go, no one may have had a better year in 2025 than the current Ring of Honor World Champion Bandido.
The luchador won the title for a second time, defeating Chris Jericho at AEW Dynasty in April to become a two-time champion. He has successfully defended it multiple times since then, defeating names like Konosuke Takeshita, Mascara Dorada, and Hechicero, among others, in multiple match of the year contenders.
Bandido and Takeshita’s match from July’s Supercard of Honor, in particular, is largely considered one of the frontrunners for award season.
On top of his singles success, Bandido played a major role in helping revitalize the AEW tag division alongside Brody King as the team Brodido. The two were seemingly thrown together as King’s normal partner, Buddy Matthews, went down with an ankle injury earlier in the year. The pair began tagging in normal tag and other multi-person tag matches over the summer as the team quickly picked up momentum. They ultimately won the AEW tag titles at Forbidden Door in August in a three-way match against FTR and then-defending champions The Hurt Syndicate.
Brodido would hold the belts until November, when they lost them to FTR.
Bandido hasn’t slowed down, though, as he closed out 2026 winning the Dynamite Diamond Ring and earning himself an AEW World Title match at AEW Dynamite: Maximum Carnage on January 14. There may be no better way to start off the new year than winning AEW’s top belt, but even if he losses, don’t be surprised to find Bandido mixing it up at the top of the card in AEW more often in 2026.
Oba Femi
When it comes to WWE, in particular NXT, there may be no star fans are eager to potentially see become a Wrestlemania main eventer than the NXT Champion Oba Femi.
Femi has been in WWE since 2022 as part of the company’s first wave of college athletes who signed with WWE as part of its new Next In Line, or NIL, program. While he signed his NIL deal in 2021, he didn’t begin his training until after his graduation in May 2022.
Despite not even a year of training, Femi made his proper debut on NXT in April 2023 and would spend most of the year on-and-off TV, typically winning in dominant fashion. He would win the 2023 Men’s NXT Breakout Tournament to earn a shot at any men’s title of his choice, which he used to win the NXT North American Championship from Dragon Lee in January 2024.
Femi would remain a fixture on NXT television for the next two years, typically atop WWE’s developmental brand as a two-time NXT champion.
They young star would make his WWE main roster in-ring debut in December 13, 2025, at Saturday Night’s Main Event: John Cena’s Final Match. As the show’s name points out, Cena’s retirement match against Gunther was the marquee attraction. NXT Champion Femi took on Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes in a special champion vs. champion match and was one of two NXT showcase matches Cena reportedly wanted on the show.
Rhodes vs. Femi ended in a no contest when Drew McIntyre ran in and attacked Rhodes before McIntyre was run off by Rhodes and Femi.
Under the WWE umbrella, Femi may not have been given a better springboard for 2026 than sharing the ring against one of WWE’s top stars at one of its biggest shows of 2025. Femi has built a dedicated following during his time in NXT, most of whom agree he could, and likely will, be one of WWE’s top stars in the coming years alongside the likes of Bron Breakker and Dominik Mysterio.
After taking his first steps toward that spot to end 2025, Femi will likely continue making strides toward that outcome if 2026 sees him called up to the main roster full-time.
Konosuke Takeshita
2025 has already been a great year for Konosuke Takeshita as the Osaka-native split his year between AEW and New Japan.
In AEW, Takeshita remained one of the spotlighted names in the Don Callis Family as it continued to grow in numbers over the year. Tensions would start appearing in the family, though, between Takeshita and relative-newcomer to the group, Kazuchika Okada, due to a clash of egos. Callis has made the two tag on multiple occasions, even challenging for the AEW tag titles, but tensions have only continued to simmer.
With both being in the 2025 Continental Classic, it would not be shocking to see things finally come to a head between Okada and Takeshita.
Takeshita has experienced equal, if not greater success in New Japan in 2025, as well.
It began over the summer when Takeshita won the G1 Climax, New Japan’s biggest tournament of the year. Takeshita earned a shot at the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship and like Zack Sabre Jr. in 2024, Takeshita didn’t wait until Wrestle Kingdom to get his title match. He would defeat then-champion Zack Sabre Jr. at King of Pro-Wrestling in October.
Takeshita is scheduled to defend the championship in a title vs. title match at Wrestle Kingdom 20 on January 4 against the defending IWGP Global Champion Yota Tsuji.
An already common belief among fans is that it appears like Takeshita is being position to become a main event fixture in AEW in 2026 based on his performance in the 2025 Continental Classic. He is the only wrestler left in the tournament to not be pinned, as of this writing, with three wins and one draw under his belt.
There is a chance, depending on how things shake out after AEW’s Christmas day Collision, he could finally face Okada in a singles match in the tournament’s semifinals at AEW World’s End. In turn, this has fans speculating Takeshita will win to set up a rematch against Okada at AEW Revolution to reunite the Unified Championship.
If a rematch were to happen, it opens the door to Takeshita potentially being kicked out of the Don Callis Family as a result. This would position Takeshita as possibly one of AEW’s biggest babyfaces, putting him right alongside top names like ‘Hangman’ Page, Swerve Strickland, and Will Ospreay.
It doesn’t hurt that the Don Callis Family also has plenty of talent to pit against Takeshita that would help build him as a top babyface and deliver great matches consistently with matchups like Josh Alexander and Kyle Fletcher.
Dragon Lee
Let’s close out this list with another interesting name to follow in 2026, and that’s Dragon Lee.
The luchador signed with WWE in December 2022 and debuted in NXT the next month, quickly turning heads with his in-ring ability. It was during this first period in NXT that Lee was typically seen chasing the NXT North American Championship, with the second half of 2023 centered on his rivalry with then-champion Dominik Mysterio.
After multiple matches, Lee would finally win the title from Mysterio in December at NXT Deadline. His reign wouldn’t be a long one, though, as he then lost it to Oba Femi after only a month-long reign. He would then join the Latino World Order on the main roster, but would still make sporadic appearances in NXT.
As time went on, though, Lee was appearing on TV less and less, causing fans to speculate about his contract status. It would then be reported his contract ran through mid-2026, quickly prompting speculation about his future.
The belief is if Lee were to leave WWE, he’d end up in AEW in relatively short order since his brothers Rush and Dralistico are signed to the promotion. Lee, himself, wrestled one match for AEW in August 2022 as part of the AEW World Trios Championship Tournament, teaming with Rush and Andrade El Idolo as part of La Faccion Ingobernable.
LFI would lose to Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks, aka The Elite, and Lee had his mask ripped off by Rush and Andrade. He was signed by WWE shortly after.
If Lee were to go back, there is already an in-built story to set him in a collision course with his brothers, especially Rush for attacking and unmasking him in 2022.
So those are just a few of what could have easily been many more names to keep a close eye on in 2026. There are plenty more worth keeping track of, too, given how flush with talent the modern professional wrestling scene is. And if the last several years are any indication, 2026 will be another eventful year in the industry.
Another Game Awards has come and past and with it, another slew of updates and premieres for every type of game imaginable. Show creator and host Geoff Keighley typically lands some big reveals for any show he is affiliated with since most developers and publishers know the size of the audience watching those shows.
2025’s iteration easily had some of the biggest reveals and announcements in the show’s history, and plenty of head turning trailers to accompany them. Five, in particular, caught my eye and immediately shot to the top of my personal interested list, regardless of how long the wait could end up being.
1. Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic
What else could it have been?
It has been roughly 22 years since Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic originally released, but the desire to return to that era of Star Wars has not faded. While it remains to be seen if the Knights of the Old Republic remake ever sees the light of day, The Game Awards treated players to something arguably even better – a new game set in the Old Republic.
Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic will send players back to the Old Republic to take the role of a Force user exploring a galaxy “on the edge of rebirth,” according to the official Star Wars website.
The debut trailer didn’t give much, if anything, away for fans to dissect short of a crashed Sith cruiser. All that was clear is that it is a brand new story set in the Old Republic Era, and that’s it.
Something that is definitely worth getting excited about this early, though, is who will be leading up development on this new game – Casey Hudson.
A veteran of the industry, Hudson is best known for his tenure at BioWare where he served as the project director on Knights of the Old Republic and game director on the Mass Effect trilogy. Hudson will oversee the project developed by his new studio, Arcanaut Games, as part of its partnership with Lucasfilm Games.
With not even a target year provided in the announcement trailer, Fate of the Old Republic is still a long way out.
2. Divinity
Directly following Fate of the Old Republic, both in the countdown and in the show, is the next game from acclaimed developers Larian Studio, Divinity.
The studio had been quiet about its next project after the sweeping critical and commercial success of Baldur’s Gate 3 in 2023. The first teases of what was to come appeared on Nov. 28 courtesy of Geoff Keighley when he posted a picture of a strange statue to X. Speculation immediately began running wild as to what this could be, with the only thing most agreed on was the game was going to be set in an extremely dark fantasy world.
Larian Studios lifted the veil on Divinity at the Game Awards with a trailer clearly designed to get people talking. It portrayed a village partaking in ritualistic displays of sex, gluttony, and self-mutilation in front of a sacrificial pyre, with a man chained up inside a wooden statue burning alive. The ritual turns chaotic, though, as sacrifice’s blood bursts from his back and seemingly consumes the village, leaving a statue made of the village people in its wake.
The name of the statue was revealed as the Hell Stone.
Like Fate of the Old Republic, Divinity did not provide even a hint of a release date.
3. Total War: Warhammer 40,000
Next is Creative Assembly’s next entry in the long-running and extremely popular RTS series Total War – Total War: Warhammer 40,000.
While the studio has ventured into the fantasy-side of Warhammer in previous Total War entries, this will be the first to take the series to the grimdark future of the 42nd Millennia. The game will have players to take command of either the Space Marines, Astra Militarum, Orks, or Aeldari, assemble their fleet and resources, and finally set out to conquer the stars and their foes in epic battles across the Imperium.
The trailer offered a very brief glimpse at gameplay at the end to give players a quick tease of the game’s scale and how it will bring the epic, planet consuming battles of 40k to life.
As with Divinity and Fate of the Old Republic, Creative Assembly did not provide even a release year. This may not surprise some, though, as the studio is also working a sequel to Alien: Isolation.
It isn’t the only real-time strategy game on the way set in the 40k universe, either. As of December 2025, Dawn of War 4 was planned for a 2026 release to provide 40k fans that RTS fix until Total War is released.
4. Star Wars: Galactic Racer
Fourth on the list is Star Wars: Galactic Racer. And to get this out of the way now – no, no release window was announced for it.
The newest racing game set in the Star Wars universe also serves as the debut title for Fuse Games located in Guildford, England. Fuse was founded in 2023 by five former-Burnout and Need for Speed developers who, in partnership with Lucasfilm Games, will take their skills from the blacktop to a galaxy far, far away.
Star Wars’ doesn’t have a deep catalogue of racing games, but it still has a few.
The most popular and recognizable of those games is arguably 1999’s Star Wars Episode 1: Racer. Serving as a direct tie-in to The Phantom Menace, the game centered solely on the galaxy’s popular and dangerous pod-racing scene.
Star Wars: Racer Revenge and Star Wars: Super Bombad Racing are the other two notable racing games made, though neither proved particularly memorable.
The debut trailer for Galactic Racer confirmed players will be racing across Jakku and various other planets as the racer, Shade. It will also feature a wider selection of vehicles for players to choose from including speeder bikes, speeders, and what appear to be smaller pod-racers. It even revealed that Sebulba, a rival pod-racer from Anakin Skywalker’s childhood on Tatooine, will be making his return to the circuits.
5. Saros
While not a reveal, the latest trailer for Saros offered another look at the mind-bending world created by developer Housemarque for its next shooter.
Introduced by the game’s lead actor Rahul Kohli, the trailer offered a new look at the world of Carcosa and Soltari Enforcer Arjun Devraj’s mission to uncover the fate of the planet’s lost colony. What Devraj and his team walk into, though, is a bizarre world teeming with strange and dangerous Lovecraftian-style creatures Devraj will have to gun his way through to uncover the truth.
Anyone who played Returnal will immediately recognize the bullet hell-style gameplay on display in Saros, with players having to blend gunplay, abilities, and movement to survive the many dangers awaiting on Carcosa.
And players won’t have to wait too much longer for Saros as the game is scheduled to release on April 30, 2026, exclusively on PlayStation. It is part of what is already a crowded 2026 release calendar alongside major titles including Resident Evil: Requiem, Marvel’s Wolverine, Fable, 007: First Light, and as of this writing, Grand Theft Auto VI.
Minimum Wage Nerd 