Who was the very best wrestler of the year? Uncrowned hands out its top award of 2025 for the men and women who defined the business, both inside the ring and outside of it.
If 2024 saw "Hangman" Adam Page lose his mind, 2025 saw him find his soul.
After opening the year with big wins over Christopher Daniels and MJF, Page tore his way through AEW's Owen Hart Tournament to earn his title shot at July's All In: Texas grand finale, defeating the murderer's row of Josh Alexander, Kyle Fletcher and Will Ospreay along the way. But what separated "Hangman" from everyone else over the past 12 months is watching his character change over time. Once fixated on Swerve Strickland to the point of apathy, Page rekindled his passion for wrestling through his need to wrest the AEW Men’s World Championship away from Jon Moxley and the Death Riders.
In one of AEW's most violent and dramatic matches to date, the likes of Ospreay, The Young Bucks, and ultimately even Strickland provided callbacks to the years of buildup to this moment — and Page, to his credit, conveyed a level of clarity, and finality, in victory.
2025 was the year of the "Hangman," as a story that had been building and building was paid off properly to an audience that had given their time, energy and dollars to see it happen.
For that reason, Page's ultimate triumph not only earned Uncrowned's honors for professional wrestling's Storyline of the Year, the "Hangman" himself is our 2025 Men's Wrestler of the Year.
2. Will Ospreay
If Will Ospreay doesn’t take time off for surgery starting in late August, it’s hard to imagine he doesn’t run away with the top spot for the second year in a row.
Whether it was singles or tag, Ospreay put on many of 2025's most exciting wrestling matches, regardless of show or promotion. From his run through the Owen Hart Tournament, tag-team matches with Kenny Omega and Swerve Strickland, to the “Lights Out” Steel Cage Match that saw his year come to an end early, Ospreay was far and away the man you most had to watch between the bells.
3. Kyle Fletcher
If Kenny Omega pioneered it, and Will Ospreay perfected it, who knows how far Kyle Fletcher can take the hard-hitting, fast-paced, constantly-elevating style that AEW is built on.
Fletcher’s “Protostar” persona, with his pink gear, selfish attitude and willingness to do anything to win, coupled with his insane athleticism, is giving a new generation flashes of early '90s Owen Hart in all the best ways. His work as TNT Champion, and standout moments like his cage match with Ospreay, are just the tip of the iceberg for the 27-year-old, who already captured Uncrowned's 2025 Breakthrough Wrestler of the Year award but clearly has so much left to accomplish in the years to come.
4. Cody Rhodes
With his story finally finished, 2025 saw Cody Rhodes try to navigate a new landscape that wasn’t all about The Bloodline.
He became the early focus of John Cena’s heel turn, losing the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 41 only to knock some sense back into the retiring legend and regain his belt at SummerSlam in the best match of Cena’s retirement tour. He won this year's King of the Ring tournament to earn that rematch, last defeating Randy Orton in the tournament finals. With The Rock’s endorsement in hand, and great matches with Kevin Owens and Drew McIntyre, QB1 got more and more wins for his home team in 2025.
5. Gunther
In a world where the cool heel has reigned supreme, it’s nice to see someone that people truly hate.
Gunther spent the year telling you how the man across from him simply isn't as good as him, and he ultimately backed it up time and time again. He recaptured his World Heavyweight Championship from Jey Uso, avenging his WrestleMania 41 loss, and ran through a gauntlet of WWE’s best and brightest to earn the chance to face John Cena in the future Hall of Famer's final match.
After doing the unthinkable and forcing Cena to submit in his swan song, Gunther strides into 2026 as irritating and seemingly insurmountable as ever.
Uncrowned's voting breakdown for Men's Wrestler of 2025:
Honorable Mentions:
CM Punk
John Cena
Bandido
Oba Femi
Kevin Owens
Women's Wrestler of the Year: Iyo Sky
Iyo Sky has been one of WWE’s best in-ring talents since the day she stepped foot in NXT, but 2025 seemed to unleash something brand new in her.
There’s a new level of showmanship, a true connection with the crowd. You can see it not only in fans' reactions to her crazy athleticism, but also in helping perform her famed “Look, it’s me!” head point in stereo after taking control of a match.
Sky became WWE's seventh women’s Grand Slam Champion in 2025 after defeating Rhea Ripley for the Women’s World Championship in March, and went on to have what was overwhelmingly voted Uncrowned's Match of the Year against Ripley and Bianca Belair at WrestleMania 41. Playing into Ripley’s inability to defeat her, the two went on to headline the revived Evolution PLE, with Sky seemingly having a counter for every move Ripley attempted. Ultimately, the rivalry ended without a clear winner, as Naomi cashed in her Money in the Bank contract to defeat the pair in a triple-threat match.
Sky’s match résumé throughout 2025 stands up against just about anyone else’s, but it was her ability to produce moment after moment that propelled her to the top of this year’s awards ballots.
2. Mercedes Moné
Edged out by a single point for the top spot in our voting tally, 2025 saw Mercedes Moné travel the globe, capturing well-known titles like the RevPro Undisputed British Women’s Title, to newer, more obscure ones like the Winnipeg Pro Wrestling Women’s Title. Instead of leaving them with the promoters until it was time for a defense, she took each new belt along for the ride, proudly displaying them across her "AEW Dynamite" and "Collision" appearances — “Ultimo Mone,” a homage to the infamous photo of Ultimo Dragon with his entire top half covered in won championship belts.
In 2025, the CEO of AEW used her star power to help elevate promotions big and small across the world.
None of this took away from her AEW résumé, as she put on great matches for the home team, most notably her Owen Hart Cup semifinals match with Athena, and her two attempts to capture the AEW Women’s World Championship from Toni Storm and Kris Statlander. With an insane output of quality matches across the globe, Moné was probably an AEW World Title win away from 2025's top spot.
3. Toni Storm
It’s almost unfair, because how the hell could Toni Storm top her 2024? She was the best character in wrestling last year, she helped elevate a new talent to the main event, and seemed to be having the time of her life while doing so. Her well-executed mind games against protege-turned-predator Mariah May culminated in the properly over the top “Hollywood Ending” match in early 2025, with Storm putting a nail in the coffin of one of AEW’s best feuds to date.
Storm held the Women’s World Championship for the majority of 2025, and continues to exercise her wit and willingness to just have fun, now alongside Mina Shirakawa at “The Timeless Love Bombs.”
4. Stepanie Vaquer
In less than a year’s time, Stephanie Vaquer became the top female act in NXT. Winning the North American and Women’s Championships (and becoming the first to hold them both at once), it was clear she was being positioned as someone who'd get the call to WWE's main roster sooner rather than later.
But then Vaquer captured her first WWE world title in September, defeating Iyo Sky for the vacant Women’s World Championship at Wrestlepalooza, and suddenly, in just 14 months, she’s become one of the most accomplished women in all of WWE. That upward trend will surely continue into 2026.
5. Becky Lynch
Somehow, some way, Becky Lynch continues to find ways to reinvent herself.
Moreover, she’s very clearly invested in making sure new talent gets the chance to show and prove themselves.
Lynch returned to WWE in April to win the Women’s Tag Team Titles with Lyria Valkyria at WrestleMania 41, then immediately started a feud with her countrywomen, spending the next few months battling back and forth over the Women’s Intercontinental Championship. She furthered that investment with Maxxine Dupri, who after coming close on many occasions, finally defeated Lynch in November for the title.
This new paranoid, train-of-thought cadence and character Lynch has adopted has her as fresh as ever.
Uncrowned's voting breakdown for Women's Wrestler of 2025:
Honorable Mentions:
Naomi
Rhea Ripley
Jade Cargill
Lyra Valkyria
Mariah May/Blake Monroe
More from Uncrowned's 2025 Wrestling awards:
Category: General Sports
