• January 1 – •
Fight for the Fallen special of
AEW Dynamite began
All Elite Wrestling's (AEW) new media rights deal with
Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), where
Dynamite,
AEW Collision, and other
television specials would be
simulcast on their respective TV channels (
TBS and
TNT) and WBD's streaming platform
Max. •
WWE Network nearly worldwide shut down, with
WWE content moved to
Netflix in international markets where WWE Network was still available. A select few territories maintained the WWE Network throughout 2025 due to pre-existing contracts. Most of these transitioned to Netflix on January 1, 2026, with only Austria, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland still on the Network in 2026 for an undetermined period of time, while Sub-Saharan Africa and Japan remain on
SuperSport and
Abema, respectively. • January 3 –
WWE SmackDown expanded to three hours for the first time since its inception. • January 6 –
WWE Raw premiered on
Netflix after airing on the
USA Network since 2005, also marking the first time in the show's history in which it did not air on
linear television. Also for the first time and due to the advantage of the streaming platform over set runtimes on cable, the show became flexible, with WWE Chief Content Officer
Paul "Triple H" Levesque stating the average runtime would be around 2.5 hours. • January 16 –
WWE and
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) announced a multi-year partnership, allowing more opportunities for wrestlers from WWE's
NXT brand to perform at TNA events and vice versa. An agreement between the two companies began in January 2024, which saw various wrestlers from each company appearing and performing on the other's shows. • February 12 – Carlos Silva was appointed President of
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), after the resignation of Anthony Cicone. • February 15 –
Grand Slam Australia and
Global Wars Australia were
All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and
Ring of Honor's (ROH) first events in Australia, respectively; AEW's event aired on
tape delay later that same day in the United States while ROH's event aired on tape delay on February 17. • February 16 –
WWE LFG premiered on
A&E. • March 1 – At
WWE Elimination Chamber,
John Cena turned heel for the first time since 2003. • March 5 –
WWE Evolve, a relaunch of the defunct
Evolve promotion under
WWE as the
Evolve brand, premiered on
Tubi in the United States and
YouTube internationally. • March 9 – After winning the
AEW International Championship at
Revolution,
Kenny Omega became recognized as
All Elite Wrestling's (AEW) first
Grand Slam Champion, after previously holding the
AEW World Championship,
AEW World Tag Team Championship, and
AEW World Trios Championship. • April 16 – The
Spring BreakThru special of
AEW Dynamite was the program's 289th episode, making it the longest-running prime time weekly pro-wrestling program in
Turner Sports history, surpassing the former
World Championship Wrestling's
Monday Nitro, which had a total of 288 episodes. • April 19 –
WWE announced their acquisition of
Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide, and the return of
WWE Worlds Collide involving AAA. • April 28 –
Mayu Iwatani announced her departure from
World Wonder Ring Stardom, later signing with
Dream Star Fighting Marigold on May 1. • April 30 –
Hulk Hogan,
Eric Bischoff, and
freestyle wrestling trainer
Izzy Martinez announced the formation of
Real American Freestyle (RAF), an unscripted freestyle wrestling league that launched on August 30. • May 25 –
Trick Williams became the first
WWE-contracted wrestler to hold a
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) title by defeating
Joe Hendry for the
TNA World Championship at
NXT Battleground. • July 4 –
WWE SmackDown returned to two hours after airing for three hours since January 3. • July 6 –
Tiger Mask officially announced that 2026 would be his final year as an in-ring performer, retiring in June of that year. • July 9 –
WWE Speed aired its final episode. No official statement was made regarding the future of the series, but on August 24, it was confirmed that the program's championships would be defended on
WWE's
NXT brand going forward, effectively confirming that the series had been quietly cancelled. • July 12 –
All In: Texas was
All Elite Wrestling's (AEW) first event in a
Major League Baseball stadium and the first professional wrestling event held at
Globe Life Field. During the main event,
Darby Allin made his AEW return for the first time since 2024 after taking a hiatus to successfully climb
Mount Everest. • July 20 –
NXT Women's Champion Jacy Jayne became the first wrestler to simultaneously hold titles in both
WWE and
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) by defeating
Masha Slamovich for the
TNA Knockouts World Championship at
Slammiversary. • July 24 –
Hulk Hogan died at the age of 71 as a result of a
cardiac arrest. • July 29 – •
NWA Powerrr premiered on
The Roku Channel in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, after streaming on
X since October 2024. •
WWE: Unreal premiered on
Netflix, a docuseries going behind-the-scenes of various
WWE events. • August 2 and 3 – First two-night
WWE SummerSlam. • August 3 – At the conclusion of Night 2 of
SummerSlam,
Brock Lesnar made his
WWE return for the first time since
SummerSlam in 2023 after being on hiatus due to being named in the
Vince McMahon sex trafficking scandal. • August 24 – The
All Elite Wrestling and
New Japan Pro-Wrestling cross-promoted event,
Forbidden Door, broke
The O2 Arena's attendance record for a professional wrestling event. • August 31 –
Clash in Paris was
WWE's final main roster
pay-per-view and
livestreaming event to air on
Peacock, which had exclusive distribution rights to
WWE Network content in the United States since March 2021. Peacock will maintain
NXT's livestreaming events until at least March 2026, as well as other content, such as ''
Saturday Night's Main Event'', for the next several years. • September 5 – On
WWE SmackDown,
AJ Lee made her return to
WWE for the first time since initially retiring from in-ring competition on April 3, 2015. • September 12 –
WWE announced that
WrestleMania 43 in 2027 would be held in
Saudi Arabia, marking the first-ever
WrestleMania to be held outside of
North America. • September 20 – •
All Out was
All Elite Wrestling's first
pay-per-view event available to livestream on
HBO Max, with subscribers getting a discount (US$39.99 as opposed to US$49.99). •
Wrestlepalooza was
WWE's first main roster
pay-per-view and
livestreaming event to air on
ESPN's
direct-to-consumer streaming service in the United States (this changeover was originally slated to begin with
WrestleMania 42 in April 2026). • September 24 –
All Elite Wrestling (AEW) announced the establishment of the
AEW Women's World Tag Team Championship. • October 7 – A special episode of
WWE NXT aired titled
NXT vs. TNA Showdown (originally titled Invasion), which featured wrestlers from
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) facing off against
NXT wrestlers for promotional supremacy, marking the first "invasion" angle since
WWE acquired
World Championship Wrestling in 2001. At the event,
The Hardys (
Matt Hardy and
Jeff Hardy) became the first TNA-contracted wrestlers to hold
WWE titles by defeating
DarkState (
Dion Lennox and Osiris Griffin) for the
NXT Tag Team Championship. • October 10 – During
WWE's
Crown Jewel Kickoff event,
AJ Styles officially announced that 2026 would be his final year as an in-ring performer, retiring at the end of that year. • October 15 –
WWE Evolve aired its first
television special titled "Succession", which was taped on September 23 and aired on
tape delay. • November 8 –
Deadlock Pro-Wrestling announced the company would be going on an indefinite hiatus in 2026, with
4th Anniversary being its last ever show in the United States. • November 10 – During
WWE Raw,
John Cena defeated
Dominik Mysterio to win the
WWE Intercontinental Championship for the first time, thus simultaneously completing the
WWE Triple Crown and
WWE Grand Slam. • November 13 – During
TNA Impact!,
JDC officially announced that he would retire in 2026 following January's
Genesis event. • November 14 –
WWE SmackDown was announced to return to three hours on January 2, 2026, after reverting to two hours on July 4, 2025. • December 2 –
TNA Wrestling and
AMC Networks announced a multi-year television deal to air TNA's flagship weekly television series,
TNA Impact! on Thursday nights, beginning January 15, 2026, marking TNA's return to a major cable television channel for the first time since 2014. • December 13 – At
WWE's
Saturday Night's Main Event XLII: John Cena's Final Match,
John Cena tapped out to
Gunther in the former's
retirement match, marking the first time that Cena had tapped out since
2004 to
Kurt Angle. • December 24 – At
All Elite Wrestling's (AEW)
Dynamite on 34th Street special, which was
taped on December 20,
Bandido became only the second wrestler to win the
AEW Dynamite Diamond Ring since its inception in 2019;
MJF had won it every year from 2019 to 2024 but was excluded from the 2025 event. ==Accomplishments and tournaments==