THE 2025 DAVE MELTZER AWARDS or EATING ABBIES FOR FUN AND PROFIT! (Frank & Gus 2.13.26)
WRESTLING SOUP
Wrestling Soup Network
4.3 • 753 Ratings
🗓️ 16 February 2026
⏱️ 95 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
5:00 - Vegas Travel Costs & Accessibility Issues How expensive flights and accommodations are affecting WrestleMania attendance
10:00 - WWE's Disconnect with Fan Base Discussion of WWE being out of touch with their core audience's economic reality
15:00 - Physical Media Comeback DVDs, records, and CDs returning due to streaming concerns
20:00 - WrestleMania Package Breakdown Detailed look at the $37,500 premium packages and what they include
30:00 - Economic Reality Check Comparing ticket prices to actual fan income levels and affordability
38:00 - The 2025 Dave Meltzer Wrestling Awards
39:00 - Worst Gimmicks Top 5 including Heel John Cena (#1), Wyatt Sicks (#2), House of Torture (#3)
42:00 - Toni Storm takes both worst (#4) and best (#1) gimmick awards
43:00 - Best Booker of the Year Tony Khan wins despite AEW's struggles
46:00 - Worst Promotion WWE takes the top spot
48:00 - Best Major Wrestling Shows All top 5 are AEW shows (All In, Double or Nothing, Revolution, All Out, Stardom)
50:00 - Worst TV Shows WWE NXT (#1), SmackDown (#2), with AEW Collision making the list at #5
58:00 - Best Non-Wrestlers Don Callis (#1), Paul Heyman (#2), discussion of manager roles
60:00 - Worst TV Announcers Booker T (#1), Pat McAfee (#2), debate about commentary styles
73:00 - Best TV Announcers Bryan Danielson (#1), Walker Stewart (#2), discussion of commentary quality
85:00 - Most Overrated Wrestlers Jay Uso (#1), CM Punk (#2), Jade Cargill (#3)
88:00 - Most Underrated Wrestlers Beast Mortos (#1), Chevon Evans (#2)
90:00 - Best Flying Wrestler Mascara Dorada (#1), Will Ospreay (#2)
91:00 - Best Technical Wrestler Zack Sabre Jr. (#1), discussion of technical wrestling standards
95:00 - Best Brawler John Moxley & Hangman Adam Page tie for top spots
98:00 - Wrestler of the Year (Lou Thesz Award) Mistico (#1), John Moxley (#3), Saya Kamitani (#4), John Cena (#5)
99:30 - Closing Remarks
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | All-in weekend for me was a roller coaster highs, lows, and I am not ashamed to say that in the, |
| 0:10.0 | in addition to buckets of blood, I did shed a few tears. |
| 0:19.0 | And there are people who would say that that makes me weak. |
| 0:27.0 | They would say that that makes me less of a man, but I want you to look at me. |
| 0:34.1 | I have a wife and two kids who love me. I have thousands and millions of people watching AEW fans who can look to me and who can respect me. And if you want to know what kind of man I am, you can look at me tonight, because I am |
| 1:07.0 | the champion of the fucking world. |
| 1:21.1 | Dude, it is fucking crazy to me. |
| 1:23.5 | Obviously, other than the news of them being like, |
| 1:26.0 | we're disappointed with ticket sales. |
| 1:26.7 | They're like, yeah. That's hilarious, dude. |
| 1:28.0 | That is fucking hilarious. |
| 1:29.5 | I saw that. |
| 1:30.3 | You and Dan were posting that in the private chat and they were like, yeah, let's do nothing. |
| 1:34.6 | Let's do absolutely nothing. |
| 1:37.5 | But I mean, they have nobody else to blame but themselves, right? |
| 1:40.6 | Like, I mean, they have to look at Saudi Rumble and think, wow, well, everybody loved the Saudi Rumble. |
| 1:47.0 | Yeah, that went over like fucking Rover, you know? |
| 1:50.8 | I think this might be the first time that WVE had to face the consequences of what Rumble means to Russellmania. |
| 1:58.4 | Like, we've always had the debate, and so is everybody about what are the four biggest, you know, like, of the year and shit. And now we've even joked and it's gone down to three. But it's like, is it even three anymore? It's just two now. It's just rumble and mania. And now if you fuck up rumumble, good luck with WrestleMania. |
| 2:18.3 | Right. |
| 2:19.4 | No, you're right. |
| 2:24.7 | If that's not on the fucking menu, then you are pretty fucking screwed. |
... |
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