With 2024 in the rearview mirror and a few big matches already announced for 2025, here are the top 10 matches we hope to see made official next year in pro wrestling.
10. The Hardys vs Motor City Machine Guns WWE/TNA
We aren’t sure this will happen and the WWE and TNA partnership has only extended to NXT, but it feels like a missed opportunity to not get two of the best tag teams ever in the ring together for the first time. The Hardys are currently the TNA tag team champions, so you either do it once they’ve dropped them or a match on both brands where the titles flip quickly.
9. Stephanie Vaquer vs. Giulia, NXT
NXT has been gradually and subtly building toward this match, and if Roxanne Perez moves to the main roster these two will be the bedrock of the women’s division for at least 2025 after being two of WWE’s bigger free agent signings. There is history to tap into here as Vaquer bested Giulia for the NJPW STRONG women’s championship in March.
8. Bianca Belair vs. Jade Cargill, WWE
The match was on wrestling fans’ list of dream encounters when the two worked in different companies as Cargill is one the few wrestlers who can claim to be bigger, faster and stronger than Belair. They have had two WWE Women’s tag team championship reigns together. It could be a perfect heel-turn opportunity for either, with Nia Jax already insinuating it was Belair who took Cargill out in the parking lot.
7. Darby Allin vs. Jon Moxley, AEW
This match should happen no earlier than Worlds End or Wrestle Dream so Moxley and the Death Riders can terrorize AEW until then. But it needs to be Allin who finally dethrones Moxley as AEW World champion with some help evening the odds from Bryan Danielson, Sting, Orange Cassidy and maybe others. The AEW original has been a constant thorn in the side of Moxley, who he looked up to.
6. Mercedes Mone vs. Toni Storm, AEW
Two of the biggest female stars in the industry have never had a single match together and there feels like no better time. Mone needs to be taken out of her sometimes bland comfort zone creatively and interacting with Storm’s “Timeless” persona could provide just that chance. Other than Thunder Rosa, I’m not sure AEW has a bigger star for Mone to have a program with.
5. Charlotte Flair vs. Tiffany Stratton, WWE
Stratton hasn’t been shy about how much she looked up to Flair and how much she wants a match with her now that they’re both on the main roster. The Queen was out all of 2024 recovering from a torn ACL, MCL and meniscus she suffered last December. There are many similarities in their movesets, look, unmatched athleticism and charisma with a clear generational story of the up-and-coming star versus the established one.
4. The Rock vs. Roman Reigns , WWE
We almost got this match a year ago at WrestleMania 40, but the fans stepped in and pushed for Cody Rhodes to finish his story in Philadelphia instead. With the Bloodline feuding over who is their Tribal Chief, it only seems right that The Rock takes his swing. Reigns not being the world champion means him winning is far less certain than it would have been last year.
3. Cody Rhodes vs. Randy Orton, WWE
This has been percolating since Rhodes returned to WWE in 2021 and has a slam-dunk storyline of teacher vs. pupil from their time in the Legacy faction. The 14-time world champion Orton, who keeps subtly looking at Rhodes’ Undisputed WWE championship, could blame the American Nightmare for sparking Kevin Owens’ attack on him. It’s one of the richest stories WWE can tell right now.
2. Kenny Omega vs. Kazuchika Okada, AEW
This is one of the most storied rivalries in the history of wrestling filled with some of the best matches ever. AEW teased this match — potentially for All In — when Omega made a surprise return from diverticulitis surgery to hand Okada his championship belt back after winning the Continental Classic at Worlds End on Saturday. Six-plus years have passed since their last one-on-one match in New Japan and this feels like the right time for AEW to cash in on their rivalry.
1. John Cena vs. CM Punk, WWE
Cena, who will be on a full-year retirement tour with WWE, needs one more chapter with one of his biggest rivals before he calls it quits. It was a match we believed would never happen again with Punk away from wrestling for seven years and in AEW as of last summer. They haven’t been in a match together since 2013 when they teamed against The Shield.