wrestling / Columns
411’s AEW WrestleDream Preview
Image Credit: AEW
Well, hello, fellow SICKOS, and welcome back to my expected and (somewhat) anticipated preview for WrestleDream coming to us this Saturday! Emanating from the Addition Financial Arena in Orlando, Florida, the fourth addition of WrestleDream, which started out as a tribute to the late and great Antonio Inoki in 2023, has become the focal point of all things AEW in the month of October.
Seven of the company’s ten titles will be defended, starting with the Continental and National Titles. Both the Men’s and the Women’s World Tag Team Titles will be on the line, while the Trio’s Titles will be defended in a 2-out-of-3 falls match. The Women’s World Title and TBS Title be on the line, as well as the Men’s World Title in a match that is the first of its kind in AEW.
For more on this and everything else, let’s roll our Headlines for WrestleDream!
All of this and, of course, so much more in store for us! So, walk with me and talk with me as we explore the entire card for WrestleDream!
There was a time not too long ago that Megan Bayne and Lena Kross were the most intimidating team in the Women’s Division and, hell, the entire company at large. Many teams tried and failed to take away their tag team titles. That was, until they ran into Brawling Birds, who took their titles at All-In London and retained the titles against Bayne and Kross at All-Out. With the team on a skid of sorts, they will look to get back on track when they face the Sisters of Sin.
Skye Blue and Julia Hart have continued to grow and shine within AEW, to the point that both ladies and Thekla won the equivalent of the Trio’s Titles in STARDOM. A win here for Skye and Julia would be the biggest win of their careers in AEW, and least we take that for granted just because they aren’t as big and strong as Divine Dominion are.
Bayne and Kross need this win more than Blue and Hart do, and a win by the former tag team Champions could also set them up for a future shot at the Triangle of Madness and their STARDOM titles. And who knows, Megan and Lena have been working with Mercedes Mone a lot lately, and Mone loves her titles.
WIINERS: The Goddesses of the Divine
Under the most normal of circumstances, a match between FTR and the Motor City Machine Guns would be an exhilarating event. After a couple of months away from spending time with their families, FTR are back and atop the Tag Team Title scene. Meanwhile, after wrapping up a tour with their band on the road, Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley are here to begin their run to the top of the tag division as well. In short, you can see where the problem lies.
But wait, not only will we get ONE match between these great teams, but we will also get SECOND and THIRD and, depending upon the count, FOURTH and FIFTH match between the teams! After issuing the challenge to FTR and Big Stoke on this week’s episode of Dynamite/Collision for a best-out-of-five series, Stoke accepted on the condition that the first match takes place at WrestleDream. I mean, granted, it takes place on the Tailgate Hour (which it shouldn’t, because it is main show material), but at least they are here.
It becomes more valiant for the faces to rally and make a comeback as the series goes on, so my thought process here is that FTR wins the opening match and makes MCMG fight from underneath. I suppose that is the reason that this match is on the Tailgate Hour then, because if it were on the main card, it would indicate a win for Sabin and Shelley. No matter, this will still be a great match and, undoubtedly, a greater series of matches.
WINNERS: Uncle Dax and Cousin Cash
The natural progression of the wrestling business is for the older wrestlers to put over the young and up-and-coming talent. Case in point, the longtime and Hall-of-Fame caliber veteran Jericho and the Prodigy of Professional Wrestling Nick Wayne. So far, Jericho got the first win over Wayne to establish his presence and to remind Wayne that he may be the future, but Jericho is the here and now. Wayne would go on to win the second match, forcing this third and final encounter between the two.
One of the hardest things to do is to apologize and say you are sorry, but for Jericho to get his revenge on Wayne, should he lose, Jericho will have to apologize to Nick. I hear you asking why, and it is because Nick was all in his feels about Jericho calling him a douchebag, breaking his necklace, and telling Nick he isn’t handsome. This is, to put it bluntly, elementary reasoning for ANOTHER match between these two, and so we can only hope that the feud ends here.
It seems logical that Jericho will put Wayne over in the match that matters most. The renewed sense of a push that Wayne is getting seems to indicate that he will also be the victor here as well, despite the valiant effort of Jericho to try and win. Whether the apology is sincere or not is another story entirely, but Wayne should move on from here and in the direction of a feud with one of the title holders in AEW.
WINNER: Wayne’s World, Party On!
Blessed are we to not just have Persephone put up her TBS Title, but in a 4-Way no less including Dani Luna, Hyan, and the one true Queen! While this means, simply put, that Persephone has just a 25% chance of retaining her title, it also means that every other woman in the match stands the same chance of dethroning the Champion.
Well, at face value, those percentages hold true. With Dr. Britt Baker DMD in support of Persephone, she has someone to watch her back, whereas the other three ladies don’t have that luxury. Exploitation of this loophole should allow Persephone a better chance to be victorious and retain the TBS Title.
Out of the three challengers in the match, I feel like Queen Aminata has the best chance of winning the title. There has been a renewed sense of a push after she’s been sitting on the doorstep of a title win, and she has a brand new theme song that sounds like it came from the Lion King. Hyan had her chance at the TBS title and has come up short, and the same holds for Luna, who lost in her AEW debut at All-Out. This is the Queen’s chance to pair the TBS Title with her crown, and she gets it done here.
WINNER: One Queen! (AND NEW!)
When it comes to the track record of success that Jon Moxley has had since he showed up in AEW, very few compare. The man has done everything there is to do in AEW, from being a four-time World Heavyweight Champion, to holding the International and Continental Titles, to winning the Continental Classic last year and the Continental Challenge Cup this past summer. Heck, Moxley has been in two of the more nefarious and toughest groups in AEW history with the BCC and the Death Riders.
And yet, even the best of us have an off day. Case in point, All-Out last month, where Moxley challenged Will Ospreay to win the World Heavyweight Title for a fifth time only to come up short. And now, Moxley must turn his attention to a menacing Hulk of a man known as Mark Davis aka Dunkzilla to retain his Continental Title. Davis, while not on the level that Moxley is on, is no stranger to gold in AEW, having held the National Title and a part of the Trio’s Titles in the past. Based on his sheer power and his ability to throw hands with the best of them, Davis poses a serious threat to do massive damage and win the title as well.
There is going to be a point in time where Moxley loses the Continental Title, but I don’t see it happening here. While Davis uses his raw strength and incredible bear-like power to batter Jon, I think Moxley uses his cunning wit, technical skills, and ring psychology to take down Davis. I could be wrong in that assertion, and somebody might look at this to get another title over to the Don Callis Family, but in the end, I think Moxley pulls it out.
WINNER: Moxley, thy Captain! (And still!)
At All-Out last month, Tommaso Ciampa challenged Kazuchika Okada to a match for his International Title, a bout that did not go his way. Having stated previously that he was going to win gold in AEW once again after having previously held the TNT Title, Ciampa has now turned his attention to Andrade El Idolo and his National Title. And while Andrade has a guaranteed World Title shot at his disposal, he wants to enter said match with his title intact.
On the surface, this match has a lot of potential, with both men being extraordinary wrestlers and good method actors. Also, from a theological perspective, this match features contrasting character traits, with Ciampa falling into his Psycho Killer traits, while Andrade is the real Latino Man who hunts for the baddies. There is also a little bit of history between these men going back to their time in NXT (then known as the Black and Gold brand), with both men having held that respective World Title.
As mentioned in the opening paragraph, because he won the Casino Gauntlet match at All-In for a guaranteed World Title shot, Andrade can cash it in with seven days’ advance notice. It could be argued that, for him to do this, he should drop his National Title before pursuing fellow United Empire stablemate Will Ospreay. And while Ciampa would make a very believable National Champion, it doesn’t make sense to cut out Andrade’s legs with the run he is on, especially since they’ve let Ciampa bounce from title to title.
WINNER: HOW YOU KNOW! (And still!)
To steal a line from one of my absolute favorite films of all-time, it seems that Hangman Adam Page and Swerve Strickland are destined to do this forever! And while the roles of Heath Ledger’s Joker and Christian Bale’s Batman can be assigned to either man at random, all their interactions have compelling, riveting, and can’t miss television. This time around, Strickland and Hangman will only be one-third of the equation when their respective teams throw down in a two-out-of-three falls match.
Back in All-In London, Bandido, Brody King, and Page walked into the Casino Gauntlet Trio’s match as the Champions. But by the time the match was over (which bled into the main card), the talk of the event was the not-so-subtle debut of Kofi and Austin Creed to team with Strickland and become the new Champions. Since then, the new trio have defended the titles against all comers, although the former Champions are next in line with their contractual rematch at stake.
One thing that should not be taken for granted is the run that Strickland, Creed, and Kofi are on. For a set of titles that have changed hands as quickly as the weather does in Western Pennsylvania in October, their reign has been a revelation. Not only do they defend the titles against all challengers, but all they do is win. And, despite how great of a unit that Hangman and Brodido have been since they came together, I don’t see where it makes much sense to move the titles back to them from the Champions. Let the reign of the Swerve Level continue!
WINNERS: WHOSE HOUSE? NEW LEV-ELS HOUSE! (Two-falls-to-one, and still!)
The Young Bucks broke a tie at All-Out when they became four-time Tag Team Champions, dethroning Christian Cage and Adam Copeland while also breaking the tie they had been in with FTR. In doing so, they have cemented what was already an exquisite resume since AEW started in 2019 and will look to remind those who forgot about them or wrote them off that they are, in fact, still as good as they once were.
On the other side of the ring stands Kyle Fletcher and Kevin Knight. While both men have had great success on their own, the pairing, which seems like the newest version of the wrestling Odd Couple, have been successful since being put together by Don Callis. And while their union is one that is far more professional than one on a personal level, the results cannot be denied, and they get on well together.
And yet, for as good as the chemistry is between Knight and Fletcher, it doesn’t even match a fraction of the chemistry that exists between Nick and Matt Jackson. Being brothers has given them a great advantage over many of their opponents, and they use it to great success. After all, you don’t win as many titles as they have without being as good as they have for such a sustained amount of time. The Young Bucks just won the titles a month ago, and that reign is far from being done.
WINNERS: The Bucks of Youth turned middle-aged (And still!)
What will happen when the leader of the DUMB BITCHES faces off with the World Champion who swings a Big D? We have been close to a one-on-one encounter between Mercedes Mone and Thekla recently, but with the conduit between them out of the picture, these two ladies will finally throw down in the middle of the ring.
Thekla, who was the Women’s World Champion heading into Redemption back in July when she lost to Willow Nightingale, is back on the trail to become a two-time Champion. In the events that would follow, Thekla looked to win her title back from Willow, but first, she had to get drunk and entertain us all with her sarcasm and witticisms.
In the meantime, however, the picture at the top of the Women’s World Championship scene changed. At All-In London, Mone dethroned Nightingale and added the one title that alluded her during her tyrannical run of title winning. Mercedes, two months into her first Women’s World Title reign, has valiantly fought through a nose injury to defend her title and compete despite it. And while Thekla winning the title back here would be great, I can’t see Mone dropping the title so soon. There may be a time down the line where Thekla prevails, but Saturday is not that day.
WINNER: CEO! CEO! (And still!)
Before we get into my predictions, I want to go over the rules, for those who are unaware or need a friendly reminder:
Phase One: the men mentioned above will enter the match. Two wrestlers will be randomly selected to start the match, and at intervals of three minutes, the other six wrestlers will enter. During this part of the match, any wrestler who is pinned or submitted before the eighth entrant makes his appearance is ELIMINATED from moving on to the next stage.
Phase Two: After the entrance of the eighth and final wrestler, there will be a 15-minute scoring period. During this quarter of an hour, pinfalls and submissions will count as one point for the wrestler who scores them. Once the 15-minute period has elapsed, the wrestler with the most points will win the match and the World Heavyweight Title.
With that out of the way, let’s examine our field of eight men heading into this match. Five out of the men in this match have yet to hold the AEW World Heavyweight Title, with Ospreay, Joe, and Allin holding the big gold belt. From that field of five, Okada, Takeshita, and Copeland are credible threats to win the title, and for Copeland, it’s a hunt for the World Title before he retires in 2027. That leaves Ricochet and Bailey, who have long odds to win the title, but should provide some thrills during the match.
Ospreay hasn’t even reached the zenith of his title reign, so there is no reason to assume a title change is coming. However, that doesn’t mean that there will not be some high drama that unfolds. The fifteen minutes for Phase Two seems to be a small amount of time, and I feel like there might be a need for Sudden Death should two or more wrestlers end up tying in points. The match is an interesting concept in theory, but we’ll have to see how it plays out in execution. No matter what happens, this is Will’s match to lose.
WINNER: Willy Goat BRUV! (And still!)
And that’ll do it for my preview of All-In! I will wrap this up by saying what I always do, and that is if you clicked on my article, read it, and posted a comment, I thank you for the support! It means a lot to me as do the responses, whether good, bad, or indifferent!
You can catch WrestleDream in all the usual places, starting this Saturday at 7:00PM for the Tailgate Hour, and 8:00PM for the main show!
