The latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards stirred up controversy this week after John Cena vs. Cody Rhodes from WrestleMania 41 was voted the “Worst Match” of 2025.
The result didn’t sit well with Eric Bischoff, who addressed the outcome on his podcast and strongly criticized the voting body behind the awards.
Bischoff questioned the credibility of the Observer readership, mocking the idea of a room filled with voters who, in his words, view wrestling “through the Dave Meltzer lens.” He suggested the results were predictable given what he described as a culturally isolated fan base aligned closely with Dave Meltzer’s perspective.
“Can you imagine what that group of Observer voters in a room would be like?” Bischoff said. “You’ve got Dave as the head gooner that they all look up to and view the world of wrestling through the Dave Meltzer lens. Of course you’re going to get these kinds of responses.”
He went on to call the group “the most culturally isolated, irrelevant group of people you could ever imagine,” adding that he doesn’t believe the categories reflect anything sensible or representative of the broader wrestling audience.
The Cena vs. Rhodes bout was one of the marquee matches on the WrestleMania 41 card and drew significant mainstream attention. While critical reception may have been mixed among certain segments of hardcore fans, the match featured two of WWE’s biggest names and played a major role in the company’s 2025 narrative direction.
As is often the case with Observer Awards, the results have reignited the ongoing debate between industry insiders and critics over how wrestling should be evaluated—whether by in-ring technical standards, storytelling impact, crowd reaction, or overall business success.
