3 Worst Characters in AEW in 2025

The professional wrestling industry has seen a lot of colorful cast of characters come into existence, and that rings true for AEW as well. The Jacksonville-based promotion has many stars portraying a different set of characters, whether it's a comedic, serious, villainous, or heroic act.

Now, amidst all of these gimmicks, not every one of them is going to be a solid hit, and you can guess there are a few that have been particularly lackluster this year. So, we're here to point out the worst characters in AEW in 2025.

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#3. Chris Jericho's The Learning Tree gimmick has received a lot of hate in AEW

Chris Jericho has reinvented himself many times over his long-running career, and mostly all of them went over positively with the fans. However, by the time he reached this phase in his career, his fans had grown tired of seeing him.

So it didn't help when this Learning Tree character came forward as an ignorant mentor to the young stars, emphasizing his veteran status. The former AEW World Champion had previously been criticized for using the younger talent in long-running feuds and hurting their momentum.

So, this character is also a dig at those criticisms, but it comes off as forced rather than a clever comeback at his critics. Many fans have pointed to this version of the current ROH World Champion as having become a shell of himself.

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#2. Max Caster

Max Caster has gone from one of the most beloved characters in All Elite Wrestling to one of the most annoying in 2025. It had seemed for some time that Caster wanted to separate himself from The Acclaimed and finally made the call to walk out on his group on an episode of Collision.

Now, it was quite the bold move to split one of the most fan-favorite AEW groups in the company and focus on Caster as a singles star. However, his attempt at branding himself the 'Best Wrestler Alive' and then failing miserably to prove it wrong has been cringy to watch.

Now, we're sure he meant to distinguish himself as a cocky and cowardly heel, but Caster has yet to prove anything as a single character rather than being overconfident and scared.

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#1. 'Death Rider' Marina Shafir

The Death Riders storyline in AEW has been sort of a mess for some time now with many fans growing sour on the whole group. However, poor booking decisions aside, many of the characters within the faction have played their part well especially, Jon Moxley and Claudio Castagnoli.

So, we're here to point out the only star who seems to have an undefined character with much less depth than anyone else in the group, Marina Shafir. She has been appointed as Moxley's protector and entrusted to guard the briefcase that holds the AEW World Championship.

An episode of Close Up with Renee Paquette also helped highlight that it's only Shafir who has the least amount of character value other than being Jon Moxley's bodyguard. It also hasn't helped that she has regularly interfered in almost every pivotal match involving The One and Only King to the point that fans don't want to see more of her.