Another bonkers week has concluded in the world of professional wrestling. John Cena make his final Raw appearance at MSG, NXT had themselves a Gold Rush, AEW went all Full Gear for the sickos, and much more. I’ll do my best to keep The Rizzler’s Full Gear Appearance off the Top 5 but there was no way I was leaving the Rizz man out of this. Wrestling is in such a sweet spot right now, as every week there is something fun happening. We are eating good right now as wrestling fans. So let’s jump into the Top 5 things that stood out this week.
Maxxine Dupri Beats The Man!
Maxxine Dupri is your new Women’s Intercontinental Champion. You heard that right. Maxxine Dupri shocked the world Monday night and beat Becky Lynch. Dupri has been on fire during against Becky Lynch, as she was up 2-0 against The Man. This has been played perfectly in my opinion. This is how you build stars. You let a up-and-coming talent have banger matches with your top stars. It’s that simple. Becky Lynch was the perfect dance partner, understanding they had a real opportunity with Maxxine and proceeded to help her have three of the best matches of her career, culminating with the Intercontinental Championship. Congratulations to Maxxine, who earned not only the title but incredible amounts of support and respect for all the hard work has she put in, well deserved.
Blake Monroe vs Sol Ruca Women’s North American Championship
Coming off a knee injury that sidelined Sol Ruca for a month, she jumped right back into the deep end to face Blake Monroe for the North American Championship that Zaria lost on her behalf.
This match was so well put together. Sol came out of the gate hot, looking like the knee issues were behind her. Monroe not immediately targeting the knee and controlling the whole match was a great touch. The ring rust showed as Sol’s knee became an issue, and once that happened Blake went into killer mode. Zaria ended up throwing in the towel as Monroe looked to rip Ruca’s knee from its socket.
Well done all around. Sol Ruca has come so far, from just a “Surfer Girl” with cool moves to a bonafide NXT main event player with cool moves. As for Blake Monroe, she continues to be more impressive with each showing in NXT. I talked at length about her on last week’s top 5 – check it out!
AEW Has Themselves a Great Women’s Tag Division
This week the Women’s Tag Division was on display coming off a fantastic Blood and Guts match. You could convince me that any of the four teams in the Tag Tournament could win. It’s no secret that anything Toni Storm touches in AEW is a hit. Her partnership with Mina Shirakawa as the Timeless Love Bombs has already hit the ground running, and they added a win at Full Gear to have the advantage heading into the semifinals against Megan Bayne and Marina Shafir. This team, thrown together last minute due to injury, has absolutely jelled and is easily the scariest team left. Then on the other side of the bracket, the Sisters of Sin have been a little overshadowed by the star power of the other 3 teams. Sky Blue and Julia Hart are a well-rounded team that on any given night could beat you handily. Add in Thekla to the mix and they are dangerous. We round out the tournament with Harley Cameron and Willow Nightengale, aka the Babes of Wrath. This is easily the most baby-faced team in the field. They are simply fun to watch. We all know just how special a talent Willow Nightengale is, but it’s the rapid improvement in Harley Cameron’s short career that has been fantastic. If you’ve read any of my articles, you know just how much I enjoy what she brings to AEW.
For years, AEW (rightfully so) had issues booking the Women’s division, but in 2025 they have vastly improved. All signs point to an even more improved focus with the addition to not only the Women’s Tag Division but building up quality teams.
Kyle O’Riley to the Moon!
Us sickos know how incredibly talented Kyle O’Riley is. For whatever reasons you want to guess, he hasn’t been truly positioned as the killer that we know he can be. The injuries didn’t help his AEW run, and couple that with the fun side that Kyle tends to show in the Conglomeration, you might not believe he could make a Death Riders leader tap out – let alone TWICE! Last week he did just that at Blood and Guts to win it for the face team. Then, on one of AEW’s biggest PPVs – Full Gear – he did it again in a No Holds Barred match. I was one of the shocked ones, as up until recently the idea of beating Jon Moxley seemed far-fetched. Moxley didn’t make it easy on KOR, as this match was as brutal and violent as they come, but O’Riley, with blood dripping down his face, had a sense of relief when Moxley tapped. What’s next for O’Riley? Let’s hope it’s the moon, as AEW should capitalize on his massive achievement.
Mark Briscoe wins The TNT Championship
Mark Briscoe shocked everyone and beat the Protostar, Kyle Fletcher, at Full Gear to win his 1st TNT Championship. That’s great for him, as he avoids having to join the Don Calis Family. It wasn’t an easy job to follow Moxley/O’Riley, who had just had a match that was full of blood and violence, but they did just that and told their own story. Kudos to Fletcher for being a champion who doesn’t back down from these matches, but unfortunately for him the power of Mark Briscoe and his brand of crazy was simply too much. What a night for the Conglomeration.
This week wasn’t an easy one, as there were so many fantastic and shocking moments during the week. If your favorite moments didn’t make the list, drop them in the chat! Shoutout to my dudes in The Kicking Out Podcast for being so bad at predicting wrestling that I am their new KOP Predictions champion!! What a wild week it was. See you all next week off the heels of Thanksgiving and Survivor Series!
