SkitZ Presents the NoDQ Christmas Wishlist Extravaganza — Our Desperate Wrestling Pleas for 2026

Greetings my fellow degenerates and welcome to a special needs Christmas edition of IWC Scum. I’m a festive freak named SkitZ who gets his jollies by assembling a group of wrestling nerds to bear their innermost thoughts and desires. Seeing as I’m neither clairvoyant nor a mind reader, this seemed like the best course of action. 

We’re a week and some change away from updating our calendars, and what a wild trip around the sun it’s been. While Hunter & Co. failed to reach the level of critical acclaim they had in previous years, 2025 still proved to be more of the same. WWE’s been naughty, AEW’s been nice, yet the nice guys still finished last where it counted most. Determining that however depends on which side of the coin you fall on, so good luck making heads or tails of how today’s fans analyze and critique pro wrestling.  

Rather than focus on the negatives like social media has conditioned us to do, I opted for a merrier, more uplifting approach. That’s right, Santa SkitZ reached out to a bunch of NoDQ columnists and old buddies from back in the message board days. And I made one simple request: send me a wish list of what you want to see from the world of wrestling in 2026. Easy enough, right? Yeah well I emailed Tito an invite and he gave me the silent treatment. The nerve of that ancient relic! Where the hell is his holiday spirit!? Eh, readers will just have to settle for the dozen or so dorks I convinced to take part in this fantastical charade. 

Let’s get it rolling then. Bring forth my scroll, elf! 

Mizfan ~ Oh boy, I haven’t done this in awhile but I’ll do most anything for the fruity Skitzoid… Well, anything but that. So, what do I want for wrestling Christmas? Let me count the ways:

Is it too much to ask for a viable third brand of wrestling in the US? I’m not saying we need another one on the level of WWE and AEW, but I feel like we’re sorely lacking even a small third option right now. TNA is doing the whole NXT Junior thing and ROH is part and parcel just another piece of AEW now. Fun promotions that were around 10 years ago like CHIKARA, PWG, and Lucha Underground are long gone. DPW is shutting down soon and even GCW has some kind of weird WWE relationship now. I feel like for the health of everybody working the scene a stronger third option would be a huge benefit.

I’d also love to see WWE do some spring cleaning. I don’t think their roster has ever been more bloated, which I guess makes sense between Raw / Smackdown / NXT / AAA / Evolve / LFG / WWEID and probably even more shows to fill, but still they’ve got so many world class talents locked up without much to do. Not saying I want folks to be without a job, but I guess that would fit well with my #1 wish. Surely there’s some other rich person who wants to throw money at the wrestling biz?

I’m a self-professed AEW fan and I like a lot of what they do, but there’s definitely room for improvement. I’d love to see them double down on elevating fresh talent up to the main event, and taking pains to make sure they stay there. Samoa Joe is a legend, sure, but it ain’t 2005 you know? I’d also be happy to be done and dusted with the drama between The Elite members, but I’m guessing even Santa can’t grant my wish on that.

Last and definitely not least, I wish most of all for all the wrestling scenes of the world to have as much success as possible. Lucha libre, joshi wrestling, those folks in Europe trying to put the pieces back together after NXT UK wrecked everything up, Australia, lucharesu, anywhere there is wrestling, let there be success!

Joseph Davis ~ I hope 2026 is a good year for pro wrestling for starters. 2025 started off with so much promise, but it kinda fizzled towards the end. But here are my wishes for 2026 in no particular order.

I wish for The Rock to not return to the WWE. I love The Final Boss character, but he just doesn’t have the time to dedicate to make it actually work. So instead of him showing up for something cool only to ditch all of us again…I wish he doesn’t come back at all.

I wish for AEW to have a comeback year and channel what they were doing in their beginning. For pro wrestling to be viable you need competition. AEW still puts on good shows and great pay per view’s but none of that seems to click where it counts. With TNA going on AMC, the wrestling audience is going to be compacted even more. AEW wants to be number two, well I wish they would start acting like it.

Finally, I wish for any call up’s from NXT to be successful. NXT has a plethora of stars that would work wonders for RAW and Smackdown. So I wish for any NXT call up’s to have that chance at success instead of finding out creative has nothing for them.

Here’s to a good and healthy 2026 for all.

Rey Ca$h ~ Dear Santa,

Or whichever elf/mail room clerk really gets these,

What it do? That’s how we say hi down here in Houston. I take it with how much we like to hunt down here, you don’t bring the reindeer down here much. Probably why you created Amazon, amirite??

Anyway, my good friend SkitZ convinced me you’re real again, and made me decide to tell you what you want for Christmas. In a world where you don’t know what to believe anymore, you can always believe in a homoerotic, foul mouthed, weird dude from up north.

And SkitZ too.

Anyway, let me get to the point of this. I’ve written a ton of these letters over the years, and you’ve convinced me that you don’t give a flying fuck about anything I want. So let me ask for something for the people. For Christmas this year (and Hanukkah – shout out to the Jewish homies), I want peace and good will to all!

Nah, who am I kidding? Fuck all that noise.

Can I just get some good, sensible booking?

Can I get the world to understand that Triple H doesn’t hate Black people? And can I get Triple H to understand that Samoans, as much as they are urban, aren’t black?

Can I never hear the words workrate, botch, or ratings ever again?

Can you send Meltzie poo some coal? Like A LOT of coal?

Can you tell the Saudis to chill with all the money they’re giving to TKO. I was looking forward to New Orleans in April.

Can you give a MASSIVE raise to whoever is keeping Tony Khan away from Twitter. That dude is BALLING!

Can you remind bookers that it’s ok to give the guy the fans want to see win that big win every once in a while? And remind fans that I’m not talking about John Cena, who died for our sins? Much like your boss, Santa? You know who I’m talking about.

And finally, can you bless my good friend SkitZ, who year after year, site after site, lawsuit after lawsuit, always cares enough to remember a never was contrarian who was hot for like 9 months that one time at that one place. I’ll always truly appreciate that. And him. And you, Big Kris.

Yours truly,
Rey Ca$h

PS – You got a good lawyer? I know a few guys who might need ’em. And no, it’s not SkitZ this time.

Cooleidoscope ~ I actually only have one main wish for pro wrestling next year, which is that both AEW and WWE, as two separate promotions, will co-exist with each other (not something like a AEW-ROH or WWE-AAA type relationship) and do a huge PPV collaboration in the future. Both promotions have contrasting approaches and target audiences. If old rivals such as WWE and TNA can work together in 2025, why can’t AEW and WWE do the same, and do a grand spectacle pay per view event in a sold out outdoor stadium with an 80,000+ capacity crowd? That sounds fun!

If I may add also, I wish for wrestlers from different parts of the world, not just in the United States or Europe, to be better exposed to a wider audience. I heard that there are several great wrestlers from Southeast Asian countries like The Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, among others. So I suppose that makes two wishes in total. The third one would be just selfishly wanting to see both of my wishes come true in the New Year.

Bones ~ it’s that time of year again, where in exchange for a Christmas wish, Santa has me sit on his alcohol soaked lap for an uncomfortable amount of time, whispering fantasies so disgusting even three of Skitz’s personalities would be sick, for the simple promise that my wish will come true. My Christmas wish might be considered harsh or unfair, but dammit, it needs to be done. I want a talent purge! Pretty, pretty please, Santa – get rid of all the stagnant talent in WWE that isn’t putting any butts in seats. The talent who haven’t improved one iota except for a bodily augmentation or a gear glow up. I’m not just talking about the main roster where easily 50% could be cut for talent waiting in the wings of NXT, but also the talent floating around down there. Too many spots wasted from the top to the bottom, with a lot of talent just sitting around waiting for the failed projects to get out of the way. Harsh? Nah. It’ll be helpful to the indies and other wrestling companies who get a few good hands and quasi famous names to promote. Make this wish come true!

Breast wishes,
Bones

Andrew ~ Ahhhh, a Christmas wish, eh? Where do I begin? A booze-soaked mall Santa does sound pretty good… oh, a wrestling wish. Okay then.

A purge honestly doesn’t sound too bad, and unfortunately, it feels much needed. The product in general has been rather lackluster; especially SmackDown, which is somehow becoming a dreadful three hours again in the new year. If a purge and a fresh talent refresh really do happen, my wish is for mid-card feuds (on the men’s side, anyway).

They don’t even need to be for mid-card titles; just feuds you actually care about following week to week. Who remembers Bossman vs. Al Snow? It only lasted maybe three months, but we all wanted to see what happened to Pepper. HBK/Jannetty, Goldust/Razor, Triple H/Mankind, Owen/Shamrock. Throughout the ’90s, the mid-card was loaded with compelling rivalries.

I can honestly say I can’t remember any mid-card feuds from this year. Raw in particular has been carried by the women for most of the year, while the men’s side seems completely intertwined with the nWo—sorry, The Vision. Please, Santa, finish that bottle of whiskey and give us mid-card feuds.

Happy Holidays to all.

Wrestle G ~ 2025 was another wild year in wrestling. I personally enjoyed just sitting back and watching everything that was awesome, and equally enjoying the fallout from the missteps that people took. 2025 was one for the history books that’s for sure.

But for 2026, there are a few things I’d love to see come true from my wishlist.

Drew McIntyre becomes WWE Champion – No one has done more with what they have been given booking wise than Drew McIntyre. Continual losses he has managed to overcome by having great matches and talking his way back into the main event picture. He deserves his reward, he deserves a proper run with the World Title. Not World Heavyweight Champion, the WWE Champion. And on similar thoughts…

Will Ospreay to become AEW World Champion at Wembley – I will be there in person, and hope and pray that Will Ospreay’s neck is fully healed by then. I want to see him have his British Bulldog moment in front of tens of thousands of fans at Wembley Stadium. Will for me has been the guy since he got to AEW. And for him to be a World Champion in the city where he made a name for himself would be poetic.

Finally – my biggest wish for 2026 is for everyone to start enjoying wrestling and stop worrying about what everyone else is watching and enjoying. Wherever you get your graps, just remember that you watch wrestling for an escape, and for entertainment. If you want ratings info, go work for Nielsen. If you want to know the distributed ticket numbers, go work for Ticketmaster. Otherwise, don’t sweat it and enjoy your wrestling the way God intended. Have a merry Christmas and a happy new year everyone.

Cheers,
G

Jack Murray ~ I wish I could grant the naysayers the clarity of mind to appreciate the beauty and grace of John Cena’s final act. And I REALLY wish he stays retired and doesn’t “do a Shawn” and break my heart. I really hope that ending eventually gets the universal credit I believe it deserves.

I wish for a WWE-based Jericho swansong, a WWE-based Paige return, and for 2026 to feel seismic in its shift towards the next gen of Breakker, Reed, Oba Femi, Hendry, Theory, and more.

Most of all, I wish for CM Punk to continue proving that he is everything he says he is. Witnessing him back and thriving in WWE would be inconceivable to me ten years ago and I’m still beyond thrilled to be watching it unfold now. Long may it continue. Merry Christmas!

Tim Rose ~ In 2026, pro wrestling needs to remember how to feel again.

Not louder. Not faster. Heavier.

I want stories that breathe; where characters aren’t just catchphrases and entrance music, but people with contradictions, obsessions, and something to lose. Wrestling works best when everyone on screen feels like the lead of their own story, not background noise in someone else’s highlight reel.

I want shows that end with the kind of final image that sits in your stomach all week. The kind that makes you check the calendar and mutter, “How is it only Tuesday?” Cliffhangers. Moral dilemmas. Moments that don’t explain themselves right away, because trust in the audience should be the default again.

I want champions who are written like champions. Not guest stars. Not props. Not side characters orbiting louder personalities. Titles should elevate the person holding them, and the person chasing them should feel like they’re clawing toward something sacred, not just waiting for their turn in a rotation.

Most of all, I want another wrestling boom; not one built on algorithms or discourse, but on anticipation. The kind where fans argue in good faith, where surprises feel earned, and where the product believes in its own mythos enough to let silence, tension, and patience do the work.

Pro wrestling doesn’t need to reinvent itself in 2026. It just needs to remember why we couldn’t wait for next week in the first place.

Also, I want a puppy. Thx.

Psykohurricane ~

For WWE, my wish is for Sami Zayn and L.A. Knight to finally get their time on top and win a World Championship. Those 2 guys are way over with the fans and deserve to get a title run, even if it’s a short one.

For AEW, the first wish would be for Tony Khan to take criticism from those wrestling legends seriously instead of listening only to Meltzer and Alvarez and believing his own hype. The AEW product has been stale for a while and we see it in ticket sales for their TV shows and ratings. They really need to grow, especially now.

My third wish is that the WBD sales and merger doesn’t affect the AEW deal too much. The last thing we want as fans is to see AEW lose their TV deal because of that. They will probably lose their streaming deal since HBO Max will be merging with whatever service buys the company, but it’s easier to negotiate a new streaming deal than a new TV deal.

For TNA’s new TV deal to be successful and help them keep riding this wave of momentum, as we fans need more than one major alternative and TNA now has the means to become a strong number 3.

Finally, while not really pro wrestling, I just wish the best for Bischoff’s new freestyle wrestling company and hope it continues to be as successful as it’s been lately.

Type ~ My wish list doesn’t involve zooming in. It involves zooming out.

My demands for 2026 are simple:

Let’s stop watching wrestling to win arguments. Let’s stop giving politics the last laugh, stop letting it dominate every conversation. I don’t need to know who supports who or why they support them. That noise disappears the moment a story actually works. The truth is wrestling has always covered a multitude of sins. It supersedes real-world politics, blood money, logos on the mat, all the things we swear will finally ruin it this time. Tell me a good story, and the rest doesn’t matter. It never has.

We leave, we complain, we draw lines in the sand—and then the right story pulls us right back in. Ratings are dead. Let’s finally say it out loud. Think about your favorite show on a streaming platform—how many times did you wonder what its ratings were? Never. You didn’t, because all that mattered was how it made you feel when the episode ended. Wrestling shouldn’t be watched like a scoreboard, it should be felt like a memory.

We can talk about convictions and deal breakers, sure, but history tells the truth every time. Bret Hart came back after Montreal. CM Punk came back after saying never. When wrestling clicks, forgiveness follows. That’s not weakness—that’s the platform. It might be the coolest engine of forgiveness we’ve ever had. WrestleMania 40 proved it again. Not because of metrics or optics, but because it felt right. Because stories ended the way they were supposed to. That’s the blueprint.

Find the right story more often, and suddenly the background fades exactly where it belongs. Wrestling can be for everyone without being the same thing. WWE can give us spectacle, mythology, nights that feel historic. AEW can give us complexity—heroes like Hangman Page who don’t fit neatly into black-and-white boxes. Fix the feeling. Protect the moment.

How cool would it be, as far fetched as it may seem, if we were the generation of fans that stopped tribalism in its tracks?

SkitZ ~ Surely you didn’t think I’d Irish goodbye this shindig without sharing my own laundry list of unreasonable wishes? Might as well make yourselves comfortable because I’ve got a lot to get off my chest.

— I want JD McDonagh to branch out from being Finn’s big-headed little bro and capture a singles title in 2026, even if it means a move to SmackDown. As a fellow short dude lugging around a Jimmy Neutron-sized noggin, I have great admiration for JD. He consistently wins over crowds as a heel with his selling and toughness, so how about showing McDonagh more love than just well wishes while he recovers in a hospital bed?

— I want Gunther to keep building a legacy around retiring old legends. First AJ Styles at WrestleMania 42, and then Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam. I would include Chris Jericho, but he’ll probably wrestle another 5 years just to spite his critics whilst spitting on his own legacy.

— I wish John Cena had one more match left in him – a complete and utter annihilation of David Otunga. The suckiest and unlikeliest of leeches for relevance during the GOAT’s retirement tour. This guy really believes he was gonna be the leader of the New Nexus… or ever amount to anything more than an errand boy for John Laurinaitis. Somebody hand me a shovel and a pitchfork and step aside!

— I want Bret Hart to start his own podcast – call it The Hitman Shoots on Wrestling or something to that effect – and it’s just him shitting on everybody not named Bret Hart. His only guests are family members and people who praise him in interviews. Give this uber villain the platform he’s been destined to assume ever since riding off into early retirement with a few screws loose.

— I want the “WHAT” chants to finally meet their long overdue demise. That shit is so damn forced, it makes Ron Simmons sound like the Steve Austin of catchphrases by comparison. Pro wrestling’s most obnoxiously rhetorical chant has me yearning for the days of no live crowds. Hence why I need someone like KO to come along in the New Year and shame wrestling fans so badly that they never utter the word again.

— I want the women better represented at WrestleMania; not just in 3 or 4 matches spread across two nights. Give me Stephanie versus Rhea, Jade versus Charlotte, Becky versus AJ Lee, Liv versus Roxanne versus Raquel, Maxxine versus Nattie, the Tag Titles being properly showcased, Bianca back in the swing of things with a bionic fist, and Bayley actually making it onto the main card. These ladies have collectively been the best part of the product all year long, so book them as such on WWE’s biggest stage.

— I want Trips to move Giulia over to RAW and pair her with the Kabuki Warriors ASAP. The former United States Champion would be the perfect recruit for Kairi & Asuka to stack the odds against all these tag teams coming for their titles. But more importantly, Giulia just needs to get away from SmackDown. The discrepancy between her first year on the main roster and Stephanie Vaquer’s is staggering. And realistically, what good is the extra hour starting in January going to do her? So Giulia can get squashed by Jade or fed to Tiffany once she returns? Bah humbug to that bullshit. Do right by Giulia before this woman goes running back to Japan.

— I wish people would shut the fuck up already about Dean Ambrose returning to WWE. Jon Moxley probably cringes at the mere mention of that name.

— I want WWE to stick the landing more often with these reveals. More in the realm of how Jade exacted revenge on Naomi at Elimination Chamber, and less like the fart you could hear from the cheap seats when Theory made himself known. Skewed vision is a masked man disrupting the flow of a group that was perfectly in sync without him. You wanna know what current day Austin Theory and Justin Timberlake have in common aside from a slight resemblance? The fact that nobody cares in 2025, unless it involves a mugshot or secret identity.

— I really wish Hunter would roll the dice and put the belts on Bron and Drew in their upcoming World Title bouts. He won’t, but it would be a nice belated birthday present for yours truly since mine falls on January 3rd. And on the flip side of me turning 39 before WrestleMania, I wish there was some way of avoiding Roman versus Cody III. What does Reigns or Rhodes – or WWE for that matter – stand to gain from The Tribal Chief reclaiming gold? Triple H even said himself recently how Roman’s become bigger than the World Heavyweight Championship, so then why go down that road again? If we must, please build the third match around literally anything other than a title.

— I want Vince McMahon to stay gone. It’s easy to miss his antics when WWE hits a lull, but people have some short ass memories. Did ya’ll really forget already about the man’s deteriorating mindset for what’s good and what should never be? If Vince were still in charge today, he’d make the perpetual lapse in judgment known as Road Dogg look like a creative genius. VKM would take Bron’s signature woof and the recent death of Punk’s dog Larry, and book the two in a Kennel From Hell Match for the World Title; complete with the other members of The Vision at ringside shackled to the cage via dog collars. Poor taste? Of course. That’s the old man’s bread and butter.

— I want this writing streak to continue, and the motivation to keep flowing from these arthritic fingertips. I’ve posted 40 columns and counting in 2025, which is by far the most for your boy SkitZ in a calendar year since… 2017? That’s crazy. Writing for NoDQ has been an absolute blast, and I’m grateful to Aaron Rift for giving me a spot on the roster. My goal for 2026 is to drop at least one column per week for all 52 of them.

— I also wish Old Saint Mick had waited a little longer to cut ties with WWE, as my next column was originally slated to be a tribute piece titled For the Love of Foley (A Message to Mankind). Not saying I’m a Trump supporter, but politics aren’t really my bag unless we’re talking about whose chimney Nikki Bella’s climbing to get ahead in WWE this go-around. And on that note, I bid you all goodnight. Merry Christmas to everybody except the Philadelphia Eagles. As a bitter Kansas City Chiefs fan, I can’t help but be a Scrooge in that regard.

Oh, and screw Travis Kelce too. That dude is so far up Taylor Swift’s asshole that he makes Diddy jealous. I wish T’s boo had retired after last season, because he’s straight booty now.