4 WWE & AEW Stars Whose Careers Collapsed In 2025
WWE and AEW both proved in 2025 that you can start the year red‑hot and still crash hard if the booking isn’t there to back you up.
Both companies booked several talented stars with big opening chapters for the year, then let the stories fall apart as time passed by.
Here are 5 stars who witnessed this tragic fate this year.
#1 Jey Uso
Jey Uso’s 2025 looked like a dream on paper. He won the men’s Royal Rumble and punched his ticket to WrestleMania 41.
He then headlined Night 1, and eventually got his World Heavyweight Title moment, with WWE marketing 2025 as “the year of Main Event Jey.”
But after the big crowning and a high‑profile defense against Gunther on Raw in June, the crowd energy cooled fast.
Fans never fully embraced him as the guy. By the end of the year, WWE put him back into the tag division.
#2 Solo Sikoa
Solo Sikoa kicked off 2025 in one of WWE’s hottest stories. In early January, Roman Reigns faced him in Tribal Combat for the Ula Fala and control of The Bloodline.
Solo even built his own crew, the MFTs, and rolled into a heated program with Jacob Fatu this year that had fans convinced he was the next breakout monster.
Then the momentum stalled. Instead of keeping him in that main‑event orbit, WWE steered Solo into a long, spooky, stop‑start feud against the Wyatt Sicks, with his MFTs brawling in repetitive multi‑man chaos.
#3 Adam “Cope” Copeland
Adam Copeland made his return to AEW after fracturing his tibia in 2024 around the Revolution season. He targeted Jon Moxley and the Death Riders for a World Title shot.
The Revolution 2025 main event against Moxley landed with a thud. Fans and critics blasted it as slow, oddly laid out, and boring.
The post‑PPV Death Riders storyline was called “nonsensical,” and Copeland’s schedule became irregular, killing the buzz that his comeback had built.
#4 Jeff Jarrett
Jeff Jarrett is maybe the purest example of a start‑hot, die‑cold arc.
At the beginning of this year, he announced he’d re‑signed with AEW for his last wrestling contract and was going on one last run to chase the AEW World Championship.
For a few weeks, TV framed him as a sentimental dark‑horse contender.
But Tony Khan quietly pulled the plug. By spring, Jarrett was mostly back to pre‑show panels and occasional tags, and his “final world title run” angle was abandoned.