Make no doubt about it, 2024 was a banner year for the sport of professional wrestling. With so many memorable matches in WWE, AEW, and other promotions around the world, there was a lot to enjoy. But now that the year is all but over, I can’t help but look forward to what’s to come in the stacked year ahead. Seriously, there’s a lot to be excited about in 2025. Like, a lot!
From WWE’s Raw moving to Netflix, AEW’s TV shows coming to Max, the farewell tours for two of the most consequential wrestlers of the 21st century, and more high-profile supershows than I can count, I’m extremely excited for wrestling in 2025. Here are the five things I’m most looking forward to…
Monday Night Raw's Netflix Debut Feels Like The Start Of A New Era
For the first time in its 30-plus-year history, Monday Night Raw won’t be on cable come January 6, 2025. Instead of needing a cable package, the only requirement for watching WWE’s flagship show is an active Netflix subscription, which feels like a seismic shift in the way we watch wrestling. And, I couldn’t be more excited.
I know that the golden rule of wrestling is “card subject to change” and that any promotion for the upcoming event doesn’t mean everything teased is going to happen, but those WWE ads hyping up the Netflix debut are working for me. With a stacked card that includes a match between Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa, Liv Morgan and Rhea Ripley tearing it up and a main event bout between CM Punk and Seth Rollins, this feels more like an upcoming WWE premium live event than a weekly TV show. Not only does this feel like the start of a new year, but also the beginning of a new era, and I can’t wait to see where it goes.
AEW's Weekly Shows Are Coming To Max (With PPVs To Follow)
Though AEW’s two big weekly shows – Dynamite and Collision – will still be broadcast on TBS and TNT, respectively, moving forward, 2025 is bringing some massive changes to the way we watch the promotion. Starting with the January 1, 2025, episode of Dynamite, anyone with a Max subscription will be able to watch the popular two-hour wrestling show, with Collision following on Saturday, January 4, 2025.
Warner Bros. Discovery and AEW announced what has been called the “new era of wrestling on TNT, TBS, and Max” in a December 2024 press release that ironed out a lot of the details. After going through the announcement, I’m honestly more excited about AEW than I’ve been in a long time. On top of that, upcoming AEW pay-per-view events will also be available to stream later in 2025, but the company has yet to announce any of the pricing information at this point.
In the meantime, I can’t wait to go back through the robust library of episodes of Dynamite, Collison, Rampage, and all those pay-per-view events from 2019-2024 on Max.
We're Not Even On The Road To WrestleMania 41 Yet, But There's So Much Momentum Heading Into Las Vegas
The Road to WrestleMania doesn’t officially kick off until the Royal Rumble, but I feel like the company already has a ton of momentum heading into the start of the new year. With WrestleMania 41 a little more than three months away, WWE is cooking at a level that hasn’t been seen in years, if not decades. I can’t wait to see what the company does with all this momentum and goodwill it’s built with the fans over the past couple of years; I think the April 2025 “Showcase of the Immortals” could be the biggest of all time.
With some promising match possibilities, John Cena wrestling his final WrestleMania match, a possible return of The Rock, and CM Punk potentially main-eventing for the first time in his career (something he’s wanted for a long time), and one of the best WWE rosters I’ve seen in years, there’s a lot to be excited about. Also, considering that the previous two WrestleManias were called two of the best shows in the event’s decades-long history, I don’t see the 41st “Granddaddy of Them All” being any different when WWE takes over Sin City in the spring.
John Cena And Hiroshi Tanahashi Are Both Kicking Off Their Farewell Tours
John Cena and Hiroshi Tanahashi, two of the most successful, transformative, and beloved wrestlers of the 21st century, are both planning epic farewell tours throughout 2025 before bringing their respective careers to an end. Though I am excited to see who Cena faces on his way out and how Tanahashi will handle his final year of in-ring work before hanging up his boots for good at the January 4, 2026 Tokyo Dome show, it’s overwhelmingly bittersweet.
John Cena’s Farewell Tour
After dropping hints about his future in the early part of the summer, John Cena announced at Money in the Bank 2024 that he was in the final stretch of his unparalleled in-ring career. A final match has not yet been announced, but the wrestler-turned-actor is focusing his efforts on wrestling in 2025, which means we’ll be seeing a lot of him these next 12 months. I’m hoping for some dream matches, callbacks to his past, and other exciting moments before Cena finally calls it a day.
Hiroshi Tanahashi’s Final Year
Hiroshi Tanahashi, who is pretty much the New Japan Pro Wrestling equivalent to John Cena, is also kicking off a farewell tour before he brings his 26-year in-ring career to an end in early 2026. Tanahashi broke the news to the world in an October 2024 press conference (via NJPW’s X account), where he announced January 4, 2026 was the “finish line” for his career. That means we have 12 months to see the homegrown star take on opponents both old and new, including a highly-anticipated bout against EVIL at Wrestle Kingdom 19 in January 2025.
With Wrestle Kingdom 19, SummerSlam, And All In: Texas, There Are Some BIG Shows That Have My Attention
One thing I’m most excited about heading into the new year is the staggering number of massive shows we’ll be seeing throughout the year. On top of the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania 41 in February and April, respectively, all the major promotions are hosting at least one BIG stadium show before the end of the year.
Wrestle Kingdom 19, essentially NJPW’s version of WrestleMania, will be the 34th annual January 4 show from the Tokyo Dome, and has an incredible card. If you’re not familiar with NJPW, or Japanese wrestling in general, this is something worth checking out. With Zack Sabre Jr. defending his IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Shota Umino, Hiroshi Tanahashi in his penultimate Tokyo Dome match against EVIL, and eight other bouts, this is going to be great. And then there’s the Wrestle Dynasty supershow (NJPW, AEW, CMLL, Ring of Honor, Stardom) with 11 more matches the next day.
The previous two All In events have been from London, but AEW is bringing its big end-of-summer event to the United States for the first time since the inaugural event in 2018. Nothing’s been announced, but All In: Texas at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, is going to be huge on July 12, 2025.
Then there’s the two-night SummerSlam, the first of its kind, which WWE is bringing to MetLife Stadium on August 2 and 3. I can’t wait to see how WWE stacks this card, especially with Cena in the mix.
All in all, I think 2025 is going to be one hell of a year to be a wrestling fan.
